sex education - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

US Christian right has taken aim at LGBTIQ+ rights, sex education and abortion in Africa – new book

A new book – The US Christian Right and Pro-Family Politics in 21st Century Africa – reveals the role played by some right-wing US Christian groups in trying to spread their social and moral influence in African countries. Sociologist Haley McEwen, who specialises in the subject, answers five questions about her book. HALEY MCEWEN, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Gothenburg What do you want readers to take away? I hope that readers can better understand the reasons why lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) rights, abortion and sexuality education have become so highly politicised in African countries (and other…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

ANALYSIS-Sex education becomes battlefield in U.S. culture war over LGBT+ rights

LGBT+

SYDNEY BAUER SEX education is emerging as the next battleground in a U.S. culture war over LGBT+ rights, as some conservative state legislators seek to keep discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity out of the nation's classrooms. Lawmakers in three Republican-led states backed legislation this year to let parents take children out of classes covering LGBT+ identity - a step critics said will deprive gay and transgender youth of vital information and fuel discrimination. The governors of Arizona and Arkansas later vetoed their bills, fearing legal challenges, but Tennessee's sex education law came into force in May, with conservatives…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Lebanese sexologist lambasts ridicule by ‘childish’ TV hosts

WORLD

SEXOLOGIST Sandrine Atallah thought she had been asked on TV to debate sex education in Lebanon - instead, she was ridiculed by her male hosts, unleashing a firestorm about misogyny in the Middle East. In a country where sex education is all but absent from schooling and discussions on sex remains taboo, Atallah hoped to bring facts to the table and dispel disinformation. But even before she went on air, a panel of mostly male hosts tore into educational videos she had posted online, including one about arousal and another on masturbation. "Sometimes it's sexual education, sometimes it's sexy, I…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Childhood sex education reduces risky sexual behaviour: a Nigerian case study

HEALTH

THE World Health Organisation has marked significant improvements in some aspects of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Young people are having their first sexual encounters at a later age and are more likely to use condoms. But HIV infections in this age group are not decreasing and sexually transmitted infections remain high. ALOYSIUS ODII, Ph.D. candidate in Demography and population studies, University of Nigeria NKECHI G. ONYENEHO, Researcher, University of Nigeria The World Health Organisation defines an adolescent as a person between the ages of 10 and 19. Adolescents make up 22.3% of Nigeria’s population. The country is home to…