Kid Sex
Publication: Sun on Saturday
Paper Section And Page: 1
Paper Date: Sat, Dec 2, 2000
Byline: by Terry Ally
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION of young girls by adults with the consent of parents is a major concern of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA).
Executive director Elrene Sealy believes this "infiltration" of the ranks of Barbadian youth is what is contributing largely to the HIV/AIDS infection rate in Barbados.
Her comments came as the BFPA hosted an AIDS symposium yesterday for school students to mark World AIDS Day.
"There are parents who do not wish their children to get sexually involved, but there are others who see nothing wrong with it because it brings in money.
"There are some mothers who will say to their daughters: "Make sure if you have sex, you get something for it." This is something which goes on quite a bit," she added.
Sealy strongly believed that one way of reducing promiscuity among teenagers was for parents and adults to check the kind of messages their own sexual behaviour was sending to young people.
Added to that, she continued, today"s parents also needed to understand the true meaning of parenting. Too many parents felt that by providing a roof, clothing, and other material goods, they were fulfilling their parental responsibility.
Not so, she said. It also involves emotional caring.
BFPA officer DeJane Gibbons said teenagers and adolescents continued to practise "high risk" sex that included sex without condoms and anal sex.
She said there were no statistics to determine whether more young people were sexually active today, but what was sure was that teenage sex had been a fact of life through the ages.
It could not be stopped, but they could be taught responsible behaviour, which was a major goal of the BFPA, she said.