Japan sex-ed group faces tough requests on ‘taboo’ topic: ‘Don’t talk about intercourse’

KAKAMIGAHARA, Gifu — When a citizens group in this city that provides sex education to children was preparing for a talk at an elementary school, it received a request from the school: “Please don’t talk about intercourse.”

It’s not unusual for sex education group “Kokoiku” to receive such requests from facilities they visit. As requested, members used dummies and other materials to teach about the mechanisms of the human body, menstruation, ejaculation, pregnancy and childbirth as usual, but did not teach about sexual intercourse. However, after the lecture, children asked them, “Where do babies come from?”

Kokoiku was founded in 2010 mainly by mothers raising children, including 54-year-old head Akiko Nakamura. It aims to deliver accurate knowledge to children amid a flood of dubious information about sex on the internet. Nakamura, who is also a midwife, came to realize the lack of sexual knowledge among women through her interactions with those who had unwanted pregnancies. Thirty to 40 times a year, the group receives requests for lectures from institutions including preschools, elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools in Gifu, Aichi and Shiga prefectures.

‘No need to teach such things as sexual intercourse’

Kokoiku visited the municipal Shimouchi Elementary School in the city of Seki, Gifu Prefecture, on Jan. 18. Members began delivering their lecture in front of fourth graders who looked eager to learn.

After talking about the mechanisms of the human body, they read aloud a “kamishibai” paper play that illustrated an encounter between a man and a woman and scenes of sexual intercourse, and explained, “You were born after an egg and a sperm became one.” Touching on equal human relationships and sexual diversity, they added, “Thank you for being born.”

This type of class is called “comprehensive sexuality education.” International organizations such as UNESCO have prepared guidance outlining how to proceed with lessons, and it is considered the international standard for sex education. Eight concepts such as understanding gender, the human body and its development, and sexual and reproductive health are gradually and consistently taught from ages 5 to 18.

Children aged between 9 and 12 are taught that pregnancy can occur as a result of sexual intercourse. This aims to teach children to make their own informed decisions about when and with whom to have sexual intercourse, and that the safest way to prevent premature pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is to avoid sex.

Despite global trends, teaching about sexual intercourse tends to be seen as taboo in Japanese public education. One of the reasons for this is restrictions implemented in the curriculum guidelines for elementary and junior high schools, which regulate what can or cannot be taught to students. These state that science class for fifth graders “should not cover the process of human fertilization,” and the health and physical education course for junior high schoolers “should not cover the process of pregnancy.”

There have been many cases where lectures by Kokoiku have been canceled due to these restrictions. Nakamura told the Mainichi Shimbun, “In addition to complaints from parents who say, ‘There’s no need to teach such things as sexual intercourse,’ in many cases, there are cancellations due to (school) policy shifts based on personnel changes.”

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, however, has presented the view that “it is possible to teach content that isn’t specified in the curriculum guidelines as needed, regardless of the restrictions.” But it is unclear what “as needed” means, and some education boards in central Japan’s Tokai region stated, “It’s difficult to decide how to move forward with procedures,” and, “We only tell schools to follow the curriculum guidelines.”

Children informed by friends, seniors, internet

Under such circumstances, where do children get their information?

According to a survey of about 10,000 junior and senior high school and university students conducted in 2017 by the Japanese Association for Sex Education under the Tokyo-based Foundation for the Advancement of Juvenile Education in Japan, 40% to 60% of respondents chose “friends and elder peers” as their source of information about sexual intercourse, forming the largest group. In particular, male senior high school and university students tended to obtain information from the internet, social media and porn videos rather than from school classes and textbooks.

Akemi Furukawa, 57, who is involved in the operation of Kokoiku, fears that some children regard online information and porn videos as their “textbooks.” Her concern stems from the fact that many such sources are created with a male-dominated mindset that is far removed from reality.

While sex is still often perceived as something shameful and obscene in Japan, Furukawa explained that “topics relating to sex are wonderful, playing a part in the chain of life.” She added, “We accordingly need to carefully teach people that forcing others to have sex is wrong.”

Kokoiku receives letters of feedback from the schools they visit. One child wrote, “I’m happy I got to know how I was born,” while another wrote, “I want to say ‘thank you’ to my mother.”

The group aspires to teach the entire process including sexual intercourse because members don’t want to see anyone become unhappy. Unwanted pregnancies and sexual violence keep on occurring. But with her group’s teaching, Nakamura says, “I want children to know that their existence is important, and that they were born as a result of their parents’ love for each other. If they understand that, then they should also understand that the child next to them, and the one after that and so on, are all equally precious.”

(Japanese original by Richi Tanaka, Nagoya News Center)