KUCHING: Sarawak Women for Women (SWWS) wants every young person to develop healthy relationships where they feel valued, respected and able to grow and reach their potential.
SWWS President Dr Angie Garet said young people should not feel pressured to be physically intimate before they are psychologically ready and have thought through the implications.
She said it was concerning many teens for various reasons are sexually active especially as for many – boys as well as girls – they either are not aware or do not heed the risk of pregnancy or contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
She said therefore, awareness of the consequences is very important to these young students.
“Whether students are already sexually active or not, we have to start by listening empathetically to them with open minds to hear how they see things.”
“Only when there is trust and genuine concern will people share any concerns they may have,” she added.
She was commenting on Women, Early Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah Minister’s recent statement that some students may be already sexually active, despite still being in their schooling years.
She said this was based on their statistics and this was the reality and thus, it was vital to highlight the risks and the consequences of such risky behaviour to their health, their future and their families.
Fatimah said her ministry had teamed up with other agencies and stakeholders to ensure that school students could be better educated on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the consequences on their lives, and sometimes, the programmes would involve inviting HIV patients for sharing-sessions at school.
Meanwhile, SWWS said their approach was to encourage young people to think things through so they are happy, safe and not trapped in situations which could adversely affect their life chances – rather than telling them what to do.
“We help them think through the dynamics, choices they have in handling situations and what are the red flags,” Dr Angie explained.
“We also share that sexual abuse of those who are children needs to be reported and anyone having sex with a girl under 16 is committing statutory rape – something some young dating teens do not realise,” she added.
SWWS, she said, has conducted many talks to young people about healthy relationships as one of the awareness programmes.
In this module, she said, it discussed what is a healthy relationship and what is not, consequences of intimate relationships such as pregnancy, Child Act and what to do if they are involved in a violent relationship.
“We did this topic with the Social Development Council (MPS) Randau Programme too where we go to the rural community in Sarawak,” she added.
