Take It Off: Sex Education in Africa
By Kaesha-Leigh Martin
On the 26th of April 2020, I was sitting like everyone else, stuck in lockdown with my 50-year-old aunt and 14-year-old niece. I think it started with my niece saying that she heard her friends talk about sex, and somehow we ended up talking about the anatomy of women and men, how they are different from person to person, and this is when I realised they were listening to me talk, and I even did an impromptu Google search to show them how different each of them looked.I was basically giving a mini lecture on the misconceptions of porn and how genitalia differ from person to person. I was surprised that my 50-year-old aunt was willing to sit and listen and even ask questions while admitting that she didn’t know half of what I was talking about. My thoughts quickly turned to worry that my 14-year-old niece would start experimenting with sex by literally jumping in the deep end and not knowing anything. Soon, I was thinking about all the teenagers who had already done that, as well as those who would soon be having sex for the first time, and recalling what I had learned in Life Orientation (a life skills subject in high school), I realised it was simply not enough.
I, like many African youths, did not get the “birds and bees” talk. Most of us were given “don’t do it,” “you’ll fall pregnant,” or “it’s for married people anyway.” Understandably, that’s probably what most parents were given by their parents, and what they, in turn, were given by their parents. We have inherited our definitions of sex mostly from our parents and other influences in our lives, especially the internet. The World Health Organisation recommends that children as young as 4 years old be taught sex education. It has also been proven that teaching comprehensive sex education does NOT make them want to engage in sexual activity.
I wanted to start a sex-positive conversation because what we usually find online is “smash or pass” and things that shame women for wanting pleasure. I wanted this sex-positive conversation to address topics that we as Africans find hard to speak about, because in Africa, sex is still a very taboo subject to talk about. It is not spoken about in an open and positive environment or attitude. So I created the Take If Off Podcast in August 2020, with the hope that one day there will be a generation of African young adults who make informed and responsible decisions around sex for themselves. The Take It Off Podcast is a platform to promote open and sex-positive conversation, where we will journey together to take off the shame and negativity that come with talking about sex and address questions that we may feel too scared or too shy to ask. I also completed the Menstruation, Sexual, and Reproductive Health course offered by Global Changemakers in March 2021 because I am passionate about improving sex education. I thoroughly enjoyed the instructors and their presentations during the course, and I was introduced to new terminology which helped when I interviewed medical professionals.
So far on the podcast, I’ve interviewed medical professionals, sexologists, therapists, and organisations dealing with sexual and reproductive health, such as My Sexual Health , Marie Stopes , and Sexy Smarts . The topics we have discussed so far include sex and religion, mental health, sex addiction, reproduction, and contraception.
The podcast is just the start of what I have planned to tackle this issue that is important to me. I hope to soon register a non-profit company (NPC) with no headquarters because we will always be travelling to schools and rural areas, hosting workshops to teach young children about their bodies and sex education, as well as lobbying the government and the department of basic education to improve the sex education model in South Africa.
I hope that one day, a generation of African youths will be able to make safer, informed, and responsible decisions about sex for themselves.
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