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A Worldwide Problem
The communications gap in sex–
ual matters is a worldwide phenom–
enon. For example, aspects of the
problem have come to light in a
recent French study.
According to Dr. Pierre Simon,
85% of all Frenchmen feel that
young people should be given sorne
form of sex education. However,
62% declared that they never talked
about sex with their parents, and
only 40% thought they were capable
of discussing the subject with their
own children.
O bviously , there is a con–
tradiction here. And the gap is only
too evident. As one French teache.r
concluded, "Many parents consider
this subject [sex) taboo. As a result,
there is a total gap between adults
and young people on this matter."
In many cases, parents prefer that
their children obtain sex education
in
classes or seminars outside the
home. During the numerous " dis–
cussion groups" on sex in France,
young people remarked, "We can't
talk about it at home because we get
the feeling that it makes the grown–
ups ashamed."
The Communications Gap
in British Families
In Britain, social psychologist Mi–
chael Schofield has done much pio–
neering work regarding the sexual
attitudes of young people. In 1965,
the results of his three-year research
project covering all sexual activities
and related information were pub–
lished. Schofield and his statf had
interviewed 1,873 boys and girls,
chosen at random from seven areas
in England and Wales.
Parents generally did not fare too
well in the various aspects of their
communication with their offspring
on the matter of sex. Only 11% of
the boys and 28% of the girls said
that the source of knowledge about
contraception carne from either
father or mother.
" Everyone was asked if their par–
ents ever gave them any advice
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1973
about sex," said Schofield. "In fact
67 percent of the boys and
29
per–
cent of the girls replied that they
had never had any advice about sex
from their parents." (Schofield,
The
Sexual Behavior of Young People,
p.
99.)
It
is,
of course, possible that
sorne of the adolescents did not lis–
ten to advice or "perhaps found the
advice so unacceptable that they
dismissed it from their minds." Still,
it was remarkable to Schofield that
"over two thirds of the boys and a
quarter of the girls felt that neither
of their parents had helped them to
deal with the problem of sex."
Still more remarkable is the fact
that , of those
receiving
sexual ad–
vice, only 12% of the boys received
any "moral" advic;e. But even there,
the quality of the advice varied con–
siderably. One parent merely told
her daughter, "No one wants soiled
goods." This is hardly enough of a
philosophy to pattern one's life on.
Approximately 58% of the boys
and 53% of the girls felt that
"1
learn
more from friends of my own age
Communicating
About Sex
Teen-agers and parents hove difficulty
discussing sexual problems. In a study of
200 high school students ( 100 boys and
100 girls), the following percentages re–
ported difficulty in discussing matters of
sex with their parents:
Boys to Father
Courtship
Petting
lntercourse
Boys to Mother
Courtship
Petting
lntercourse
62%
66%
71 %
59%
72%
75%
Girls to Father
Courtship
Petting
lntercourse
Girls to Mother
Courtship
Petting
lntercourse
72%
72%
77%
59%
64%
62%
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