{"id":6287,"date":"2021-01-18T02:23:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T07:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=6287"},"modified":"2021-09-07T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T19:24:22","slug":"meet-paulina-and-her-innovative-way-to-teach-students-about-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2021\/01\/18\/meet-paulina-and-her-innovative-way-to-teach-students-about-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Paulina And Her Innovative Way To Teach Students About Sex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By:<\/strong> Susannah Birkwood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Women Across Frontiers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Date: <\/strong>Unknown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the teachers at a school in Chimborazo, a rural, heavily indigenous province in the Ecuadorian Andes, started showing their pupils how to use condoms during class time, it caused quite a stir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the wooden dildo was brought in, it was like you\u2019d put a gun on the table,\u201d recalls Paulina, the school\u2019s head teacher. \u201cThe girls were so shocked. They went bright red.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young people\u2019s behaviour was typical for Chimborazo, where sex is a taboo subject rarely discussed at home. Until 2017, schools across Ecuador promoted abstinence in their sex education programs, forcing adolescents to rely on incomplete or false information from peers, pornography, or sex workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But slowly this is changing. With Plan International\u2019s support, more schools are introducing \u201ccomprehensive sexuality education,\u201d which gives pupils the full range of information and skills they need to make informed decisions about their health and sexuality. The hope is that this will help reverse the worrying increase in pregnancy among girls under 15 in Ecuador.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paulina<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulina is one of 200 teachers across the country who has received training and teaching aids from Plan International to help develop young people\u2019s awareness of their sexual and reproductive health. She\u2019s seen with her own eyes why this is so important: \u201cI had two pupils aged 15 who got married,\u201d she says. \u201cAnother couple got married at 16. After one or two years, they have kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, her pupils are losing their shyness to talk about sex. Every week they attend a workshop where they\u2019re encouraged to discuss their values and use dance and mime to explore questions around sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the students have been known to engage so enthusiastically as to dress up as condoms and contraceptive pills and put on performances of inventive modern fables for their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education aimed at preventing sexual violence is also making its way into the curriculum here. It\u2019s not a moment too soon: on average, more than 2,000 girls under 14 give birth every year in Ecuador, all victims of sexual violence \u2013 often by a family member. Pregnant girls in Chimborazo and other indigenous areas of the country are not an uncommon sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe run a program called \u2018Don\u2019t touch me\u2019 for children of all ages,\u201d says Paulina. \u201cAt a very young age, we use drama and literature to introduce them to their body parts and make it clear that they shouldn\u2019t let people touch their bodies \u2013 not family members, not teachers, not strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe teachers also monitor the students\u2019 welfare very closely,\u201d she continues. \u201cThey know when kids are absent from class or when they\u2019re going through a difficult time at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents also receive training from teachers like Paulina to encourage them to embrace their children\u2019s sexuality education. Before, parents who saw young couples together would invariably tell them to get married, leading to many teenagers having clandestine relationships, which often resulted in unplanned pregnancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paulina speaks to students ahead of a performance on how to prevent teenage pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to have these conversations with parents so they support us in what we\u2019re teaching and help guide their children not to have babies so early,\u201d explains Paulina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first, some of the mothers went red when we broached the subject. They said sex was something they didn\u2019t talk about, they just did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, though, they\u2019re more open about it. They talk to their children and find out when they\u2019re having relations. Instead of pushing them to get married, they urge them to use contraception, and they tell us about any marriage plans, which gives us the chance to talk to the kids about whether it\u2019s really the right decision for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy is clearly starting to pay off. In the area where the school is based, there were six teenage pregnancies last year compared to an average of around 40 in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe try and be practical,\u201d says Paulina. \u201cWe tell our young people, \u2018If you\u2019re going to have sex, protect yourselves, so you don\u2019t have children so early.\u2019 And most of them listen to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt starts with their realizing that the human body and sexuality are nothing to be embarrassed about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Between 1990 and 2009, pregnancy among girls under 15 in Ecuador increased by 78% (source: UN Women).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> https:\/\/wafmag.org\/2019\/02\/meet-paulina-and-her-innovative-way-to-teach-her-students-in-ecuador-about-sex\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comment:<\/strong> This article presents an innovative approach to Sex Ed in Ecuador. The reason I chose this article, is because there are two things to learn from it. One is the importance of parent involvement in Sexual Education. Parents receive training from other teachers like Paulina that equips them to better assist their own children’s development. Unlike things in the U.S. where parents are not trained at all. The other point to consider is how powerful drama and stories can be for young kids as well. Paulina discusses how this can easily help gear young kids even to understand the value of their body and proper boundaries. By teaching and using methods suitable to younger children, when the teenage years are reached, one likely will have developed a healthier and more informative perspective than normal of sex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Susannah Birkwood Publisher: Women Across Frontiers Date: Unknown When the teachers at a school in Chimborazo, a rural, heavily indigenous province in the Ecuadorian Andes, started showing their pupils how to use condoms during class time, it caused quite a stir. \u201cWhen the wooden dildo was brought in, it was like you\u2019d put a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":6288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6291,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6287\/revisions\/6291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}