Dear Editor,
On October 27, 2014 a member of the group Jamaicans United Against Domestic Violence and Child Abuse shared the following article with the group:
"A family planning official is encouraging parents to talk with their children about sex at an early age as an increasing number of children are experimenting with sexual intercourse.
"Shauna-Kay Rowe of the Family Planning and Education Unit of the Jamaica Red Cross told the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange meeting of editors and reporters that children are becoming more exposed to sex through cellphones and other devices.
"She said that parents need to educate their children about sex and monitor their use of the Internet closely.
"Meanwhile, Dr Sandra Knight said parents should start talking to their kids 'as young as they need it'.
"'We have kids who are masturbating at age five...,' she said."
Members were appalled that as prestigious an organisation as the Family Planning and Education Unit of the Jamaica Red Cross could be so narrow-minded as to point to children experimenting with sexual intercourse as a result of exposure through cellphones and other devices, while totally sidestepping the scourge of sexual violations against children at an early age in Jamaica. The current statistical evidence highlights the need to teach children about sex at an early age. It would appear that, based on the current Office of the Children's Registry final quarterly 2013 report, an intolerable number of children, 3,386 to be exact, were sexually abused. Of that whopping number of reported cases (bearing in mind that rural cases are seldom reported) 56 per cent were children under the age of 16, the majority being female.
Ms Rowe could have engaged in more effectual public parental education by pointing out the necessity to employ modesty in the presence of children. She seems to forget that there are certain sectors of Jamaican society where parents and children share the same bedroom. Jamaican society has entered a period of moral decay as never before. The images of inappropriate sexual conduct by teenagers and adults alike as demonstrated in manner of dance and bodily language bared open to the child's view, without shame. And while the media plays a role, the dominant factor remains what children see as normal behaviour at home.
The reader is left with the impression that the Family Planning and Education Unit is merely dressing up an awkward topic for discussion, which is the early sexualisation of Jamaican children by the reckless behaviour of adults. This does no justice to the audience they are seeking to educate, let alone the children who now appear victimised when one considers what children are undergoing at an early age in Jamaica.
Dorian Douglas
Founder
Jamaicans United Against Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
Children being sexualised too early
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On October 27, 2014 a member of the group Jamaicans United Against Domestic Violence and Child Abuse shared the following article with the group:
"A family planning official is encouraging parents to talk with their children about sex at an early age as an increasing number of children are experimenting with sexual intercourse.
"Shauna-Kay Rowe of the Family Planning and Education Unit of the Jamaica Red Cross told the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange meeting of editors and reporters that children are becoming more exposed to sex through cellphones and other devices.
"She said that parents need to educate their children about sex and monitor their use of the Internet closely.
"Meanwhile, Dr Sandra Knight said parents should start talking to their kids 'as young as they need it'.
"'We have kids who are masturbating at age five...,' she said."
Members were appalled that as prestigious an organisation as the Family Planning and Education Unit of the Jamaica Red Cross could be so narrow-minded as to point to children experimenting with sexual intercourse as a result of exposure through cellphones and other devices, while totally sidestepping the scourge of sexual violations against children at an early age in Jamaica. The current statistical evidence highlights the need to teach children about sex at an early age. It would appear that, based on the current Office of the Children's Registry final quarterly 2013 report, an intolerable number of children, 3,386 to be exact, were sexually abused. Of that whopping number of reported cases (bearing in mind that rural cases are seldom reported) 56 per cent were children under the age of 16, the majority being female.
Ms Rowe could have engaged in more effectual public parental education by pointing out the necessity to employ modesty in the presence of children. She seems to forget that there are certain sectors of Jamaican society where parents and children share the same bedroom. Jamaican society has entered a period of moral decay as never before. The images of inappropriate sexual conduct by teenagers and adults alike as demonstrated in manner of dance and bodily language bared open to the child's view, without shame. And while the media plays a role, the dominant factor remains what children see as normal behaviour at home.
The reader is left with the impression that the Family Planning and Education Unit is merely dressing up an awkward topic for discussion, which is the early sexualisation of Jamaican children by the reckless behaviour of adults. This does no justice to the audience they are seeking to educate, let alone the children who now appear victimised when one considers what children are undergoing at an early age in Jamaica.
Dorian Douglas
Founder
Jamaicans United Against Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
Children being sexualised too early
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