When moral policing trumps sex education

As of today, I am certain that most of you would have read the news on Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) new set of regulations for stage shows. I must admit that it is quite a handful, especially when the emphasis is on outward expression of supposed inner goodness. Or so you would be led to believe.

With guidelines such as gender segregation for the audience and “artists possessing ‘noble and good character’ and should not have any criminal record, whether in civil or shariah cases”, I do wonder what exactly are the folk at Jakim afraid could happen within the 90 minutes or so of a show.

I am certain though that the case would be made on the “bad influence” public personalities have on the young.  I could say the same about our politicians, but that might land me in hot soup, so I shall steer clear from that thread of discussion.

What I find ironic (or not) is that Jakim comes out with this set of guidelines that seeks to regulate public conduct during stage shows in a move to maintain the moral code when the PT Foundation releases a series of infographics on the 2014 Malaysian HIV/AIDS Registry which revealed that 75% of all new HIV cases in Malaysia are sexually transmitted.

A further read into Global AIDS Response Progress Report 2014 by the HIV/STI Section of Ministry of Health Malaysia reveals that while new HIV cases has been declining since 2003, the proportion of infection among women to men has been increasing. In 1990, the rate of infection among women was one to every 99 men, and in 2013, it was one woman to every four men.

“The [Ministry of Health] profile of female HIV cases in 2013 indicated that more than two thirds (70.3%) were between 20-39 years of age, about half (45.7%) were Malays, 88.5% had acquired HIV through heterosexual transmission and 34.9% were housewives,” states the report.

What’s more, the report also indicates that “there is significant increase in proportion of newly infected cases acquired through heterosexual contact from 4.9% in 1990 to 51.3% in 2013” while the transmission through homosexual intercourse increased from 0.4% to 22.3% and a decrease from 60.4% to 21.5% through injecting drug use into same period.

Let’s look at the intersections that are at play here: sex, age, race, and occupation and relationship. What the report does not tell us is the class – income and education levels, though we might have some indication from the profiling that they might be from the lower income rung and with basic education. Then again, this is my deduction, which could be off from the whole picture.

With 88.5% of the female HIV cases having contracted the virus through heterosexual transmission, it is very likely that these women are in situations where the power lies in the hands of their male partners or spouses. Regardless of race or religion, sex within a marriage is generally seen as a duty the wife must perform, addled with the age-old expectation of “keeping your man happy” that girls and women are indoctrinated with.

In my article “Malaysia needs sex education more than ever” in this very column on February 15, I argued that “sex education, when planned and executed properly, instils a sense of responsibility. Without sex education, our youths (who in a few years become adults) are not informed about sexually transmitted diseases and infections …”

True enough, the Ministry of Health report cites a nationwide survey conducted in secondary schools that found only 30.8% of young women and men between ages 15 to 24 correctly identified “ways of preventing sexual transmission of HIV and reject major misconceptions about HIV transmission”.

This should not come as a surprise in a nation that is more concerned on policing the public conduct of its people and promoting abstinence as the ideal form of sex education.

With a lack of access to information on safe sex or even having the choice in terms of sexual activities within the relationship, women from certain pockets of society are at higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases as well as unwanted pregnancies.

Would it not be more effective to educate the people on the risks of certain activities and behaviours rather than impose restrictions upon restrictions? Just like how it is ineffective to tell a child not to play with fire or punish the child for playing with fire without explaining to it the dangers of playing with fire.

You can segregate the genders in concerts, make Beyoncé and Lady Gaga wear long dresses and censor jokes that cause obsessive laughter as much as you want, but unless you educate the masses on safety, respect, consent and responsibility in sex, you are fighting a losing battle.  – April 19, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.