Outside the highest court in the land where oral arguments against the constitutionality of the RH Law were intensely being debated, another debate was taking place between two groups on opposite sides of the street.

The group dressed in green was fervently kneeling and praying the rosary and the other group in purple was singing a jingle about the urgent need for the RH Law.

At some point, the heat of being outdoors added to the tension and the green side started shouting, “Ang sarap ng magka-anak at magka-apo!” [It’s nice to have children and grandchildren!] and “Mga bading kasi kayo” [You’re all gay!].  On the purple side, a straight-faced man dressed in religious robes held onto a sign that read: Contraception is a sin. The Church always wins.

Former Manila Mayor and Buhay party list representative Lito Atienza, president of Pro-Life Philippines, was among the crowd in green. I pulled him aside and asked him why the RH Law was being questioned. Didn’t the current statistics such as the rising incidence of teen pregnancy, the exponential rise in HIV infection underscore the need for the RH Law and teaching responsible sexual behavior?

“Absolutely not. It will only promote promiscuity,” said Atienza. “Condoms will give people a false notion of security; alam natin pumapalpak din yan. [We know the condoms fail.] What we really need to teach people are good values and morals.”

“Today is a very important day,” Atienza went on. “The future of our country is at stake. Maling turuan ang mga mahihirap na wag mag anak, ang dapat ituro ay positive values. [It is wrong to teach poor people not to have children when what we should teach are positive values.] If we start teaching sex ed (ayon sa RH Law), it  will open the floodgates to all other anti-life laws like divorce, abortion, at iba pa. The sanctity of life should be upheld.”

Sexuality education is a human right

But sexuality education is internationally recognized not just as a human right, but also a necessity.  This is for the very practical reason that sexuality education and its coverage of knowledge and information about sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and HIV is essential for the realization of other human rights.  

If effectively used and taught in a culturally-nuanced and non-judgmental manner, sexuality education can teach the basic concept of respect for one’s self and one’s body; the basic human courtesy of extending this same respect to others regardless of gender and orientation. In the end, sexuality education is like biology with life lessons about relationships, equality, and non-discrimination.

In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, sexuality education was identified as a “human right, essential to development and human well-being.”

In this study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the right to comprehensive and non-discriminatory sexuality education is based on rights protected by several human rights agreements and documents such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) among others.

Tenets of sexuality education

The resistance to giving young people access to sexuality education needs is linked to our limited understanding and thinking of sexuality education as the equivalent of telling young people to “go forth and multiply”.

As the UNFPA study states, among the principles of effective sexuality education:

• Uses scientifically accurate information about all relevant psychosocial and health topics
• Addresses personal values and perceptions of family, peer and wider social-cultural norms.
• Be culturally appropriate and sensitive to community values
• Uses multiple activities to teach critical thinking
• Deliver clear messages that are appropriate for age, sexual experience, gender and culture
• Design programs that start at a young age and continue through adolescence, reinforcing messages over time through age-appropriate content and methodology

I like to simplify the teachings of sexuality education into three C’s: Consent (respect), cause and effect (critical thinking) and consequence (accountability for the actions you take).

In this light, sexuality education could counter the societal norms of entitlement that propagate violence against women; it could rectify the fatalistic attitude that we have little control over our lives outside of what fate has already destined for us; and a woman is meant to get pregnant because all babies are blessings; it could teach that engaging in sex is equally about being prepared for all possibilities.

It’s about time we start thinking of sexuality education as values formation because it teaches the values of responsibility, self-respect and self-worth. In that sense, sexuality education could be equated to good manners and right conduct. And when it comes to the subject of plain and simple manners, maybe the greens and purples don’t have to be on opposing sides. – Rappler.com