By Shreya Tomar
This past SexualI got an intercultural tour of sexual health around the world with Sha. From learning about integrated sexual education to hear about ancient Roman contraception methods, I was fascinated by knowledge and curiosity, all speakers, teachers and sexual (somehow people) came to this fact!
Sex and Culture: Clitoris training
The first day started by Anna Jansen, an educational sex and a sexual development expert. It provides a holistic presentation to the Dutch Sexual Education Program in school systems. He also stressed the importance of Closing the orgasm gap in heterosexual relationships and understanding the pleasure of women as part of the human experience. Anna continued to emphasize how sexual education in the Netherlands includes modules ranging from abstinence to pleasure with sexual positivity as the basic concept.
The idea of parents’ participation in learning about sexual development was also brought up to further highlight the collaborative process of teaching sexual education in schools. Being available for parents to answer any questions are an important part of Dutch educational development. However, the most amazing fact I learned was that only recently in 2020 the word clitoris was added to biology books. This reflected how hesitant society is regardless of culture, even today to draw attention to the clitoris – a part of our typical anatomy. As someone who has a clitoris, this makes me furious every time! What is so dangerous for an instrument that is not even visible?
The great impact of small community support on raising sexual education
After a training ride through the Netherlands, we landed in Lebanon with Dr. Sarine El Dabouk. He explained the various ways in which Lebanon faces sexual and reproductive health challenges, including early marriage rates in specific areas, lack of use and awareness of contraception and stigma around sexual health. There was an attempt in 1998 to incorporate sexual education into school programs, but strong religious and social groups opposed its integration into schools. The lesson was left to focus only on biological understanding of reproduction. Dr. Dabouk referred in an inspirational ways in which sex teachers in Lebanon go beyond resistance and support building. The twist of the titles and the labeling of the terms with more cultures and religious ways have helped promote education and gain more acceptance. At the end of the day, what matters increases access to accurate sexual health information using our creative tools.
Moving from Lebanon to Ghana and India, we heard from Dr. Joshua Amo Adjei, a researcher and Dr. Rajesh mehta md respectively. Both discussed the challenges and opportunities for integrating integrated sexuality education in their countries. Dr. Mehta explained how Indian culture went from celebrating its erotic story as shown in 12th century temples to take a 360 turn and declare sex as a taboo and immoral theme. This shift of ideology can be better understood if we look at how colonization oppresses the ways in which sexuality has appeared in Indian arts, literature and culture. In addition, given the large youth population in India, it also concerns how much sex education is learned through the use of media.
Nevertheless, there are small but important success stories such as one of the Udaan – an NGO in India that provides access to sexual education. It is important to recognize the greatest impact of smaller communities that support positive sexual and integrated educational programs for adolescents. Dr. Joshua also explained how sexual education was implemented with different names, such as citizens’ education, school health education and the alert of HIV. Similar to other places, the push of large political and religious groups causes a simple application. Outside of school systems, there are smaller organizations that work inspired to provide integrated sexual education through different media, including channels in local radio stations.
Sex and Culture: indigenous concepts of sexuality and the future of sex
After lunch, we learned from James Pfaus about the domestic history of contraception, pleasure and gender identity. Of Bedouins using polished stones to check female camel from getting pregnant about 7000 years ago Romans using the Pessary Ring As female contraception, the anatomical perceptions of the reproductive organs date back to ancient times. In addition, during the 12th century CE, Inca women had a applicable knowledge of their vulva and their pleasure. This is evident in their fertility statues with long penis and were probably used as sex games for women to sit and stimulate all their different parts Vulvas including CLIT, CUV complex and A-SPOT. Isn’t it exciting to learn that in centuries ago, Inca women had more knowledge of the pleasure of the vulva than most women today? This emphasizes how healthy gender cultural depictions lead to better care and pleasure for all people. Since the Inca Empire was colonized by the Spanish, sexual ethics became more conservative and as we know today, the normalization of sex toys is still a challenge as female sexuality is considered something dangerous and unnatural.
In addition, James Pfaus shared the different gender narratives of the American tribes of the first nations. In particular, the Cree Tribe differentiated identities with at least 6 sexes and other indigenous groups believed that the third sex is the fight against both female and male characteristics called two spirits. This was seen as something positive, healthy and special that is so far away from the violence that the gender community is facing today. Therefore, it is important to learn the historical accounts of different cultures in order to understand the holistic perspective of the pleasure and diversity of gender and to create a greater awareness of the way the modern world is actually running far behind what we are traditionally made.
Speaking of the modern world, Bryony Cole presented the ways in which Increased use of AI and technology shape the world of sex. Technology such as virtual reality, applications, robotics and AI are gradually used in sexual education, health and attack reporting. When we think about AI and sexuality, usually the basic ideas of sex robots and sex dolls enter our minds. However, the expansion of AI to our workplaces can help a lot to support the sexuality sector, including the therapeutic note or the training of consent. Bryony set an example of how a woman used the social media platform to launch a reference site to ask for consent to Australian schools. Another example was the successful emerging Elephant Ed-a program conducted by the youth and the interactive sex education program in Australia.
Different sexual behaviors
On the second day, we heard more different narratives about the sexuality and relationships of Iceland, Spain and Ireland. Jamie Oliver said that traditional gender roles are widely present in relationships, even though the Catanians and the Spaniards are considered more progressive. Gender power dynamics have a huge impact on the success of long -term relationships and adheres to the values of cultural maintenance. Another interesting thing Jamie talked about was the current climate of sexual labor in Spain. Although we believe that Spain is one of the most positive sex countries in the EU, it is limited to regulating sexual labor, as 80% of workers are victims of trafficking. However, I want to make it clear that sex and sexual labor are often used synonymous but they have completely different definitions. Sexual work involves age -appropriate, consensual sale of sex, while sexual trafficking is a violation of human rights and is non -consensual through violence and abduction. It is important to understand the difference, as we want to continue to support the rights of sex workers and to support the abolition of sexual trafficking.
Going forward, we worked through the sexual culture of Iceland and Ireland. First, Sigga Dögg is reflected in how there is a lot that goes on to determine what Iceland’s sexual rural-not all glow and gold as television in the world. For example, contraception is available, but in small rural cities there are limited pharmacies that are also closed on weekends. This negatively affects access to everyone. Secondly, Lee Tracey shared Irish mythologies against the reality of sex rules. It was magical to learn about the spiritual perspective of sexual well -being and female sexuality, as it was added to the varied spectrum of normal sexual behavior dating back to the 5th century. In another note, Tracey emphasized the control of the Church and the religion in sexuality that later caused several feminist and queer movements. His presence Magdalene washing machines It is one of the most visible frightening examples of how women who do not adhere to the Catholic rules of gender roles were imprisoned in his name if it was an immoral part of society. This goes back to the idea that female sexuality is dangerous and must be maintained by religion and patriarchy.
Why do we need to have an intercultural lens to understand sexuality?
Finally, Dr. Justin Lenhmiller noted the value of using different biological, psychological and cultural lenses to understand the multiple expressions of sexuality. Most studies we see about sexual health are manufactured using American theories and methods and lacks representative data. This restriction must be taken into account in order to question ourselves when thinking about what regulatory sexual behavior is. More, as therapeutic professionals, It is vital to understand the impact of cultural values on sex on clinical presentations of sexual malfunctions and symptoms. For example, in Japan menopause is considered a typical part of aging and human development while America, regarded as a “state” to be treated. In addition, he presented research on fantasies and desires, which also have no culturally different. Cultural values can greatly affect the content of fantasies and desires. Therefore, the study of how sexuality is expressed, evaluated and maintains space in a culture is harmful to research, clinical and educational work.
