Ignorance goes a long way....or something.

In this part of my world, sex talk is still a taboo... calling your private parts in their own name, even in medical context, can even cause red faces and crossed eyebrows. But the catch is...everyone assumes almost everyone is doing IT.

I'm not saying sex talk is a must over every cup of coffee shared with a friend -- what I am driving at is, let's face the fact that some 4.9 million young adults, with ages raging from 15 ( yes, you read it right, one and five, fifTEEN) to 24 are sexually active even before they tie the knot. Statistically speaking, 1.6 million of them are not only active, but are actually doing it with multiple partners and some 400,000 did it with the same sex. That's a freakin high number with a crazy low percentage of only 19% who are smart enough to use contraception to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases like HIV-AIDS.

Did I scare you? ok, don't get carried away and let me stop you from buying your kids condoms and don't even think about the phrase "Go out and multiply" as an opening line to your kids as you picture yourself handing them the goods...Noooooo -- sending them armed but not teaching them how to use the weapon is like but sending a kid to battle with an uzi -- by the time the war starts -- he scrambles, only to have the weapon backfire to his face, he'll surely come running back with an accusing finger shouting "it's your fault!"... well, that is, if he survives the bang... as most kids don't, especially women. With our patriarchal society in constant watch for unwed mothers, "loose" girls, and the like, we find ourselves in the midst of struggling teens trying to grow up too soon because of necessity and guilt...ending up more confused and shattered than before.

So pretending that a rise in number of unwanted pregnancies is not happening is just downright dumb... Well, there is that occasional parent that really believes that their children are not doing it and was only able to find out otherwise when- surprise! surprise! - she found out she was pregnant. Babies are bundles of joy, of course... and when they come, you just have to welcome them with open arms...but babies are also very expensive bundles of joy...lucky for those who can afford...unlucky for the 80% Filipinos who dwells at the bottom of the pyramid ( inverted or not - bleah!)... STDs (or STIs - Sexually transmitted Infections - as it is fondly called now), on the other hand will never be bundles of joys...they itch and they produce foul smells -- and 80% of peole who have them, don't even know they have them...now, let me ask you -- would you rather have a pasaway kid or would you rather have a pasaway kid with STD? hmmm.... I hope that made you stop and think.

Anyways, I don't see parents anxiously pushing their children to an open sex talk soon -- most of the parents don't know how to start it. Who could blame them...most likely, their parents didn't do it either...and also, timing is everything...and timing can be a bit --- hard to figure out. To pre-empt the talk would be like pushing them to war prematurely, doing it too late can be --- well, too late. *slaps my forehead!

So why is sex a taboo? maybe it's not...we just mistook it as one...a child asked her mom, "what is sex?" -- the mom, wide-eyed, embarrassed, and definitely stunned-- she spats, "shut up!"... child goes to dad, asks the same question and gets the same response...Child goes away thinking..."sex is shut up (?)"...what is shut up? a playmate offers...."something the french invented?"... Waaaah! *tagem!