Sexual Education In Lebanon

In Lebanon, resistance from governmental and religious leaders to sexual education is as vigorous as that from parents and the society. Sex is still considered a taboo in the Lebanese culture, leaving educators and parents exceedingly reluctant to deal with this “delicate” topic. With premarital sex still considered “morally unacceptable” by society, it is deemed inappropriate to educate the young and unmarried by professionals in public settings such as schools and even in private settings such as in clinics about sexual health care. This caused most information received to be false and misguiding. Data for the 2005 WHO Lebanese national study that included more than 5,000 student aged 13-15 year olds shows: only three-fifths of these students

We sought out experts in the field of health, education, religion, and politics to get a clearer picture of where Lebanon stands with regards to Sexual education. Several themes emerged, and will be discussed in the following paper. These include the importance of sexual education, the need for SE in Lebanon, the process of implementing a comprehensive, well organized, and large-scale program, and the obstacles

Since the 1950s, schools have started integrating SE in their programs (Stewart-Brown 2006). Through schools, sexual education reached a vast number of students before they become sexually active (Blake et al, 2001). It has been shown to reduce misinformation and increase correct knowledge (UNESCO,2009), it delays the initiation of sexual relations; reduces the occurrence of unprotected sexual activity; the number of sexual partners; number of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during sexual intercourse (Kirby, 2002; Kirby et al, 2007). It is for all these reasons that WHO advocates implementation of SE starting in primary schools (WHO, 2006). However, there was resistance to the integration of sexuality into school curricula. The resistance stem from deeply embedded cultural values about sexuality, intimacy, sex role appropriateness, and religiosity. Opponents of sex education often think that sexuality should only be taught within the home. Many parents, however, report that they are not comfortable or skilled at addressing sexuality with their children (DeJong, 2005). They also believe that providing information about reproductive health can increase adolescent sexual activity (Pokharel et al,