Sex education in Japan

[Crescent Pulsar]

Something came to mind as a potential plot device, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to check with someone more knowledgeable on this subject. A lot of people tend to think that Ranma's a bit ignorant when it comes to sex, so I was wondering if there's sex education in Japanese schools. If so, are the details any different from what you'd find in the US? And what's the potential of Ranma attending such a class, either back when Takahashi was working on the series, or these days.

[ckosacranoid]

did you try doing a web search to try finding any thing out about it? there has to be something on the net somewhere?

[Crescent Pulsar]

Yeah, I did some searching, but what I found was mostly news articles that didn't really tell me the kind of specifics that I'm looking for, if for no other reason than most of said articles not covering what kind it is, or at what grade/age group it's introduced to (but instead its effectiveness or lack of it in comparison to other countries). However, since I browse the Internet carefully, there were sites that I wasn't willing to check out, what with "sex" being in the search criteria and all... and something about the information or address made me wary. One site said that sex education has videos showing real sex, like a porno, and I'm unsure if I'm supposed to believe that as valid or not, so... you can understand why I'm looking for a more reliable source, here.

[ckosacranoid]

good luck, if nothing else make a note in the fic that since you could not find info you are basing it off the us standard stuff......

[Spokavriel]

Just don't end up going along with what Great Brittan is proposing. They are attempting to pass a law to make it compulsory for students entering actual school (First Grade) begin learning Sex education. Even though at the same time Brittan schools are having trouble dealing with having first graders that their parents haven't bothered to potty train yet.

[Cheb]

Just random googling
>But what about countries like Japan, which has a very low teenage pregnancy rate but does not have a national sex-education program? Japan was excluded from the final "close" comparison of countries.
>Should sex education be taught in schools? # In Japan? Absolutely YES! With an awareness of responsibility if there is a pregnancy thrown in! # Couldn't agree more. I was so shocked when I first learned that sex-ed wasn't taught in schools. And I soon noticed how much it showed. So many women know nothing about their own bodies, contraception etc that it is just startling
>The most effective way to prevent AIDS, STDs, and abortion is through education. Starting next year, public schools will begin sex education at the 4th grade. Even though they made the starting age earlier than it is currently, the content of sex education remains the same, and it lacks what is really needed.
>Poor education "We never had much sex education at school. We were taught little about contraception, or how you catch HIV or other diseases. Teachers just don't feel comfortable talking about sex," she said.
>In Japan sex education has been introduced into the general curriculum of primary schools since 1992. But due to the lack of cooperation between schools and health organisations, it cannot always be said that an effective and proper sex education has been given to students.
In short, everything you find on the subject says "It sucks!" or "It's barely there!". Hmm... Reminds me of the lone article on the human reproductive system timidly hiding between the pages of the Soviet 8th grade Biology textbook. The more I dig the more parallels I find between Japan and USSR.

[three headed dog]

I don't know much about it but according to google the schools that do teach it separate the boy and the girls (similarly to other classes like gym) . So girls do not really learn about boys and boys don't learn much about the girls reproductive systems.

The book contemporary portraits of japanese women page 93 states that the main reason to teach about sex was to condemn it outside the sanctified realm of marriage and until very recently was limited to the physicals changes of accompanying puberty.

Basically everything I've seen on it says you aren't going to get very much of an education on sex in japan.

[Crescent Pulsar]

Alright. Thanks for your help, guys. ^^

[ckosacranoid]

Just don't end up going along with what Great Brittan is proposing. They are attempting to pass a law to make it compulsory for students entering actual school (First Grade) begin learning Sex education. Even though at the same time Brittan schools are having trouble dealing with having first graders that their parents haven't bothered to potty train yet.

first graders that are not potty trained????
wow that really is screwed up to say the least......then again there is things about enland that are just plain weird though.....''

sex ed in 1st grade also?......wow.....just alittle bit early though....

good thing i caught this...i had the line of sex in first grade, not sex ed.....that would have been very wrong though....

[Seraphim]

Spok, first to point out that it's spelled 'Britain', secondly England isn't Great Britain, thirdly that it isn't full on sex-ed at the begining, it more about how you interact, and relate to people, God know some little idiots need to be made aware of the impact of what they do, and say, can have on other people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7684810.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/200 ... on.schools

That should clear some stuff up.

[lwf58]

My own rather limited exposure to the subject of sex education in Japan is that it mostly focuses on hygiene, and for one or two days the girls are separated from the boys for a class about their needs, while the boys have a self-study period.

Contraception is a strange topic there. It's actually illegal to sell birth control pills, and the only readily available method is to use condoms... which can be tough on Western men living with Japanese girls - the "large" size condoms are rather small for non-Japanese! This mirrors the fact that Japanese sizes in general are different than we expect. "Large" in reference to Japanese clothing sizes would be "medium" in the US.

[Neko-]

while the boys have a self-study period

Is that what they call it nowadays? (sorry, couldn't resist).

It's actually kind of interesting to see how Japan runs with this stuff, in comparison to the West. You'd almost get scared at the perceived lack of knowledge there is in that country

[three headed dog]

My own rather limited exposure to the subject of sex education in Japan is that it mostly focuses on hygiene, and for one or two days the girls are separated from the boys for a class about their needs, while the boys have a self-study period.

Contraception is a strange topic there. It's actually illegal to sell birth control pills, and the only readily available method is to use condoms... which can be tough on Western men living with Japanese girls - the "large" size condoms are rather small for non-Japanese! This mirrors the fact that Japanese sizes in general are different than we expect. "Large" in reference to Japanese clothing sizes would be "medium" in the US.

Actually birth control pills have been legal in Japan since 1999, though the majority of women do not use them or trust them.

[kurushi]

Though this thread has been a little inactive, thought I could put in my two bits: In 2001, in my one week in a school in Osaka, koukou year one... a male sports teacher came in, and with the entire class in the room (no gender separation) we discussed openly the differences between attitudes within our two countries towards teen sex, and the differences in price and availability of condoms, contraceptive pill, that sort of thing. We had two sessions in the classroom, about 15 minutes long each, if I remember correctly.

I'm not sure if this was atypical for the school (i.e. a show for the foreign students), but everyone seemed quite relaxed and comfortable with things. Perhaps they simply had a great health teacher, or perhaps a lot more sex ed is done on-the-fly and informally than is officially scheduled into the curriculum, or talked about in polite society.