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This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AFP
China teens get sex ed from porn
15aug02
NEARLY 70 per cent of Chinese teenagers get their information about sex from pornography, prompting experts to worry they may pick up skewed ideas, according to state media.
The problem is a lack of sex education in the classroom and at home, forcing many youngsters to seek knowledge about the birds and the bees from adult websites and porn videos, the China Daily reported.
"Both schools and families should set up appropriate channels and provide easy access to sex education for pubescent children," Zhang Chungai, a Beijing-based psychologist, said.
Teachers and parents fail miserably in performing that duty, according to a recent survey of youths aged 15 to 17 in Beijing, Shanghai and other large cities.
The survey, which also identified pornography as the main information source, showed that just 1.7 per cent got most of their sex education in school.
Even fewer - 1.3 per cent - said their parents had provided them with any useful knowledge about sexual matters, the survey indicated.
The issue is becoming increasingly urgent as better health conditions mean most Chinese now reach sexual maturity at the age of 12 or 13, one year earlier than a decade ago, the paper said.
Lack of sex education in many cases can have severe consequences, Zhang warned.
China additionally faces what the United Nations labelled in June a potential "AIDS catastrophe", due in part to ignorance about the spread of the HIV virus via sex.
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