The pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter and VTsIOM presented the results of a study in which they interviewed Russian women aged 18 to 45 about the importance of sex education for children. Among them, more than half acquired knowledge of puberty during childhood . The majority of women surveyed (93%) believe that sex education helps a child to accept his body and not be ashamed of it in the future .
Attila Varadi, Plenipotentiary Representative of Gedeon Richter in Russia, said: “The results of the study showed that women with whom they discussed issues of puberty and upbringing in childhood feel more comfortable at a gynecologist’s appointment, are open to discussing reproductive health with your partner. Among these women, there are 10% more of those who support the discussion of this topic with the child and share the opinion that such conversations help to accept their body and not be ashamed of it. ”
At the same time, the women interviewed noted that it may be difficult for many parents to speak with their children because of shyness (73%) or not knowing how to correctly present information to a teenager (63%).
The respondents identified the following topics that they consider important to discuss with adolescents: genital hygiene (86%), methods of contraception and protection from STDs (83%) of participants, menstrual cycle (76%) and physiological changes during puberty in adolescents (73%) , partner relationships and protection from violence (72%), self-monitoring of genital health (72%). About half of the respondents believe that they could talk with adolescents about orientation, 47 % – discuss the topic of erection and wet dreams.
The authors of the study noted that “there are, on average, 10 % fewer people who are ready to speak than those who consider it necessary to cover these issues.”