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Teen sex-ed Web animation causes uproar

"Everyone agreed that the animation must have an interesting plot to catch teenagers' attention. So we chose the most widely reported type of sexual harassment."

Wang Ying-wei, Bureau of Health Promotion deputy general director

After women's groups flayed the Bureau of Health Promotion for demonizing sexual desires in its official Web site, the Bureau yesterday rushed to defend its Web site on sex education for teenagers, retorting that the site's content teaches girls to protect themselves on the first date.

"The content of the animation, The Girl's First Time, only teaches girls to be watchful on their first date and to avoid sexual harassment," said Wang Ying-wei (王英偉), the bureau's deputy-general director in a press conference yesterday.

According to Wang, the allusion to sexual harassment and rape in the scenario was meant to highlight the risks of dating and to counter the "summer peak" of teenage sex.

The three-minute-long animation on the Web site (http://210.240.39.29/se/), visited by over 40,000 people already, dramatizes a girl's first date with a lecherous boy, whose mere intention is to coax the girl to a desolate park or KTV room and to drug her.

The women's groups criticized the scenario for reinforcing the stereotype of abusive male suitors, stigmatizing sexual desire and preaching female chastity.

"The content only exposes a patriarchal view of sexuality. While girls are told to save their virginity for their future husbands, boys are not taught to respect their partners," said Tsai Wuan-feng (蔡宛芬), the secretary of Taiwan Women's Link (台灣女人連線), in a press conference on Sunday.

"The biased representation did nothing to better sex education and relationships. Rather, the bureau misleads teenagers into considering sex bad and prohibited," Tsai said.

In response to the accusation, the bureau said that the plot was approved by its committee mem-bers of academics and doctors.

"Everyone agreed that the animation must have an interesting plot to catch teenagers' attention. So we chose the most widely reported type of sexual harassment," said Wang.

The bureau also cited polls showing that teenagers are generally satisfied with the animation. Some gave the animation 70 out of a possible 100 points.

Wang said that the gist of the bureau's teenage sex education has always been the same: ABC, meaning abstinence, be faithful and condom use.

According to the bureau, the number of teenage mothers has been climbing steadily over the past few years.

Last year, 11 out of 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years old gave birth, a relatively high figure compared to the teenage pregnancy rates of Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Given this context, the bureau contended, it is necessary to get the message of abstinence across using the animation.

"Nowadays, the open attitude towards sex and the increasingly early age of people's first sexual experience pose a severe challenge for sex education," Wang said.

"We are trying to keep up with the pace of the quickly changing social tide. In the meantime, we welcome every group's advice and opinions," he said

The bureau said they will convene a meeting with the women's groups to discuss whether to revise the Web site in two weeks.
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