Sex education should not only be the responsibility of girls, says social auxiliary worker for Songe Social Change Bongiswa Maliwa.
Maliwa on Wednesday told Sowetan that it was important for schools and society to educate boys about sex and teenage pregnancy – a role that has been largely put on girls’ shoulders.
“Sex and pregnancy is not only about girls. A boy becomes a father by virtue of impregnating a girl. Society needs to pay attention to the boys also because in most cases it is the boy that runs away leaving the girl pregnant. Fathers need to have sex education talk with their boy children from a young age. We can’t ignore the boy child,” said Maliwa.
Her organisation runs programmes for boys and young mothers in the Eastern Cape.
She said most young girls were being pressured into sex and unprotected intercourse by their boyfriends.
“Some girls abandon contraceptives because their partners tell them they make their vaginas too wet or make their bodies fat and wobbly. Unfortunately looks are important to girls and they would stop the contraceptives,” said Maliwa.
Bertha Maringi runs the Ray of Hope Foundation Young Mom’s Support Group in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
The programme was established earlier this year and has 22 young mothers, 18 of them below the age of 18.
The foundation offers counselling and parenting guidelines.
It also assists them to get into learnership programmes, colleges and get employment.
Maringi said most teenagers knew about sex education from school but fell pregnant because of bad decisions and being caught up in the moment.
“These kids know about sex from the age of 10 and the common stories we hear from them when they come to us is that they had made bad choices on the spur of the moment with their sexual partners. They are also scared of going to get contraceptives at the clinic because nurses shout at them,” said Maringi.
She said in most cases teenage girls fall into the trap of their home circumstances.
“Most of these girls we see come from broken homes where nobody tells them that they love them. They’d throw themselves at any boy or man who would tell them they love them.
“They then get abused and taken advantage of by sugar daddies. Another thing that makes it worse is that in the modern world the society no longer looks after its children. If the family structure crumbles, children are left to fend for themselves.”
Maringi added that most girls come to them desperate and on the brink of committing suicide or get into prostitution.
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