Teaching Our Girls to Love Men Who Are Bad for Them

Teaching Our Girls to Love Men Who Are Bad for Them

Spank vs no spanking

Posted by: Brigitte Rozario, 26-Feb-2010

Is it okay to spank or cane your child? It's an age-old question. Some people believe that if you spare the cane, you will spoil the child. Others advocate there is never a good enough reason to resort to hitting, spanking or caning the child.

Let's see what other bloggers have to say about this issue. I'm in a dilemma...

Female woes

Thursday April 22, 2010

By PATSY KAM

Bridging the information gap on body knowledge is crucial so that girls don’t grow up believing half-baked truths and myths.

taps@thestar.com.my

WHEN it comes to the female body, it pays to know more.

So, how much do young women understand their bodies? Obviously, not enough, judging from a recent study on Myth, Misinformation And Mystery – The Kotex BodyLife IQ Study Of Young Women In South Asia.

It would appear that most girls grow into adulthood relying on half-baked truths shared by friends, snatches of information gleaned from women’s magazines, and old wives tales passed down by their mothers and grandmothers.

It’s hilarious when you read that some girls believe that stamping on their towel during menses will shorten their period to three days. Or, that many young women don’t know that menses and urine don’t flow from the same opening. And, old wives tales such as you can get sexually transmitted diseases from sitting on dirty toilet seats still persist.

But it’s not so funny when you realise that your own daughter could be part of the statistics.

The study revealed a shocking information gap whereby many young women nowadays are still ignorant of even the most basic facts when it comes to how their body works.

Conducted amongst 1,800 young women aged between 16 and 24 in India, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, the participants were asked 10 questions divided into five categories related to myths about their bodies and essential aspects of being a woman: female biology, pregnancy, virginity and health.

The answers were obtained via an online questionaire and face-to-face interviews.

The results of the study were compiled in April last year by international research company Millward Brown and were relatively consistent across participating countries despite social, cultural and economic differences.

Key findings showed that across South Asia, more than 60% didn’t know where their hymen was, almost 70% believed in some prevalent local myth and 40% of young women wondered why they have periods. Amongst the six countries in the study, Malaysian women ranked the lowest when it comes to understanding pregnancy and virginity issues, and only 3% were able to answer all questions correctly.

Several reasons accounted for the extent of the female body-knowledge gap in South Asia.

Firstly, young women surveyed highlighted a lack of formal education or instruction by qualified professionals. Almost 40% of those surveyed have never received a sex talk from either a medical practitioner, at school or a parent.

Dissatisfaction with the quantity of education given or information provided was also evident in the research.

Many of the young women expressed a need for more access to accurate information on every aspect of the female body, ranging from wanting to know how their body functioned to the first steps of understanding and coping with menstrual cycles, right up to pregnancy and motherhood.

Over half the women surveyed said that society doesn’t allow them to talk openly about their bodies, especially when it concerned “taboo” topics like periods and pregnancy. And, while many of the young women surveyed indicated they wanted to ask questions, they felt “it may be wrong to ask”.

Despite increased access to the Internet and the outward sophistication of young women today, a combination of misinformation and mystery have allowed myths to thrive in the countries surveyed.

In all aspects of their lives apart from their bodies, all the young women revealed a contemporary and confident outlook with their sights set on a career in addition to becoming wives and mothers one day.

The top concerns cited were school and career, relationships with family and friends, and their bodies. Better body knowledge emerged as a priority amongst this group of young women, with 92% believing that having body knowledge is important as it will allow them to feel more comfortable with themselves.

Equipping our young women with the right facts about their bodies will empower them to make informed choices when it comes to relationships, marriage, motherhood and long-term health.

Orang Edgecumbe Road: During my younger days, it was almost impossible to talk about these things with my mom or even my elder sisters. I hope the younger generations would be able to do so with their moms and siblings...otherwise, where do they turn to. Glad that I could talk about it with my girl...