JAKARTA - Sex education is important because children often do not understand that they are being harassed or molested by adults they know. Early sex education can also protect children from sexual crimes.
Child observer Retno Listyarti who is also a former Commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) said parents can provide sexual education by mentioning male and female genitalia with the correct name, penises for men and vaginas for women.
"When bathing the child, (sex education) can be done, while saying which part of his body is only he can hold and see," said Retno as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, January 9.
Teach children that if someone wants to hold body parts that cannot be seen or held, it is an evil act that must be reported to their parents.
Retno said parents also need to teach what is the difference between a touch of affection and a touch of naughtyness. "The touch of love is when the mother hugs. If the touch is naughty, when hugging while touching the chest or buttocks," he said.
Furthermore, parents are asked to explain to their children that there are body parts that cannot be seen by others, meaning it is the same as not letting the body part be photographed by other people.
Stressing this is important, because there is a lot of sexual violence perpetrated online, for example by a boyfriend.
Online sexual violence can lead to other threats, such as the threat of nude photos being spread which makes children subject to doing whatever the child asks for.
For children who are teenagers, such as children over 13 years of age, the sex education that must be given includes reproductive health.
"If children have started to get to know the opposite sex, then that is where reproductive health education must begin to be taught to our children," he said.
Retno asked parents to teach their children about the impact of having sex at the age of their children, as well as the bad effects and the risk of pregnancy on children. "Sex education is not taboo, but needs to be done to protect children from sexual crimes," said Retno.
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