Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Sex education text 'too explicit'

Published on Jan 29, 2002 The Nation

Opposition intensified yesterday to a book distributed to schools that advises teenage students on how to have safe sex using what critics say is "dirty" and explicit language.

Copyrighting and printing of the book, "Manual for Teenagers", published by Siam-Care Thailand Organisation, was funded with a budget of more than Bt1 million supplied by the Prime Minister's Office.

Among other things, the book encourages teens to masturbate to relieve the urge to have sex. Critics say the language used to describe the act of masturbation is too explicit, and that the book is basically "pornographic".

Assoc Prof Sunee Sintudej, president of Ratana Bunthit University, said the language in the book clearly violated Thai standards of decency. The book's lessons could be taught using figurative expressions rather than such explicit language, she said.

"It's disgusting. This is dirty language and pornographic material," Sunee said.

"The publisher cannot claim that everybody has to engage in sexual behaviour. Our society does not tolerate such explicitness. We have our own culture and Western standards don't apply." While the government was enforcing its "social order" campaign to restore order to Thai youth culture, she said, the book was teaching teenagers to enjoy sex.

Dr Seri Wongmontha, an academic, said explicit language was not necessary when teaching sex education.

"There should be a middle path between academic and explicit language, and the sensitivities of Thai culture should also be taken into account," he said.

Defending the book, Siam-Care director Somsak Vienyangkoong said the manual was aimed at providing sex education for teenagers.

He said his organisation surveyed teenagers for two years before publishing the book. The surveys found that teenagers preferred to discuss the topic using "teenage language", which he said made it easier for them to comprehend.

"The book does not promote sex or cause teenagers to become obsessed with the subject. But it's time society accepted the truth - sex is not shameful and teenagers should be taught about it properly," Somsak said.

"I would like to know - how many teenagers have never masturbated? I believe 90 per cent of them do it. So this book isn't encouraging them to do anything they're not inclined to do anyway.

"We simply tell them how to avoid the negative consequences of sexual activity, such as unwanted pregnancies."

The initial print-run in 2000 was 5,000 copies. These ran out in a month, mostly due to high demand from school libraries. A second printing of 100,000 copies was done last year.

Plernpit Phothisat, an official from the Policy and Planning Division of the PM's Office, said the office granted more than Bt1 million to the organisation to publish the book for distribution free of charge to schools and public health offices nationwide.