Warum gibt es in Japan keine umfassende Sexualerziehung in den Schulen, obwohl 85 % der Eltern dies unterstützen? Das liegt zum Teil daran, dass rechte Politiker Lehrer disziplinieren, die versuchen, es zu lehren. Die Lehrer gewannen 2003 einen Fall vor dem Obersten Gerichtshof, doch es gibt immer noch Widerstand. Und heute weigert sich MEXT, das Problem anzusprechen.

To be fair, an introduction to safe sex and contraception isn’t exactly in line with the current need to boost the young population, so while I definitely agree that it should be taught, I am also not shocked that politicians aren’t exactly choosing that hill to die on, either.

Sadly, it would take something like a pretty major spike in HIV infections to get them to take it seriously, I reckon. But hey, if they continue to push the sex industry underground like they seem to want to do, they might get just that. I think there’s so much potential for Japan to be genuinely sex positive and safety-minded, too, which is what makes their failure to educate their children about it so disappointing.

Having been present for a sex ed class in Japanese junior high, I can summarize it as follows:

This is your body 

This is what happens

Masturbation is normal 

You’re forbidden from having sex 

No explanations about what to do if and how to be safe