[건강한 가족] Sexual education, which will determine the future of youth, requires increased understanding of sexual and reproductive health rights.

Specialist Column: Koo Janam, Director of Ain Hospital

Recently, ‘deepfake’ (illegal synthetic video) digital sex crimes are rapidly increasing, especially in schools, raising alarms in the youth sex education field. Accordingly, the importance of comprehensive sex education based on gender sensitivity is emerging to create healthy sexual awareness and a correct sexual culture.

As a medical staff member who has been working in obstetrics and gynecology for decades, I deeply agree with the need to strengthen sex education. Sex education plays a major role in protecting the sexual health and future of adolescents and the health of society by raising awareness of sexual reproductive health rights. In fact, I often feel sad that some of the difficulties patients encounter in my clinic can be prepared for or prevented through sex education.

A representative example is unplanned pregnancy. If artificial abortion is performed due to an unplanned pregnancy, mental aftereffects such as guilt and depression, as well as diseases of the uterus and pelvis, may occur. In particular, it has a risk of leading to habitual miscarriage and infertility, which also affects family planning in the future. According to a domestic study, the risk of infertility for women who have experienced artificial abortion is 4.1 times higher than for women who have not.

The first step in preventing unplanned pregnancy is contraception. However, in our country, awareness and practice of contraception are lacking. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the proportion of adolescents and women aged 19 to 39 who used only modern contraceptive methods was only around 20%.

Modern contraceptive methods include condoms, birth control pills, and long-term reversible contraception (LARC), in addition to the menstrual cycle method and external vaginal ejaculation, which are natural contraceptive methods. Among adolescents, 22.9% responded that they did not always use contraception because they ‘did not know how to use contraception properly’ and 65.7% responded that they did not always use contraception because they ‘didn’t think it would be easy to get pregnant.’

Sexual reproductive health is the foundation for a healthy and safe daily life, as well as for raising a family and continuing social and economic activities. Especially considering that we are in a population crisis due to low birth rate and aging population, it is also a factor that supports the family and society as a whole. Education on crimes that violate the sexual rights of others, such as deepfakes

Of course, sex education that includes sexual and reproductive health rights education is needed to inform people that lack of understanding and practice of contraception can lead to unplanned pregnancy or deterioration of sexual health. I hope that effective sex education will be implemented so that teenagers can maintain a healthy daily life and future on their own.