Whither condoms in schools?

Ronald Mason, Contributor

Every society can be identified by easily discernible culture, mores and norms. Jamaica is no different. However, an argument can be made that Jamaican culture, especially in the areas of most appeal to the young, has been undergoing a lightning-quick transformation.

It has taken us less than 60 years to move in the arena of popular music. How many among us relate to mento, quadrille and calypso? These were all forms of music that had some widespread acceptance and following in the 1950s-1970s. Even then, the transition in popular music made its way through American rhythm and blues to ska, rocksteady, reggae, rap and now dancehall.

It is with difficulty that the general population can make the recollection of lyrics moving through double-entendre "out the light, give me what you gave my daddy last night" to the current, vulgar, debasing of women as 'ho's' and fit only for the 'tip pon yuh toe' and 'tan tuddy'. Daggering has become an art form.

Jamaican society now accepts as normal public transport buses which transport schoolchildren being selected on the basis of their musical playlist. The norms of the society now accept as human rights single female teachers' and police recruits' inalienable right to be pregnant without the benefit of anything remotely resembling marriage or a stable relationship.

This is the Jamaica in which we now live and have our being. Thirty-year-old grandmothers are not the exception. Teenagers live next door with adult men while attending school and with the mother living nearby in full knowledge of this circumstance. Young girls now wish to have the hot male as the babyfather. Each shot must score. Beauty queens and role models are not exempted.

This is the environment in which school is conducted for a population that has been bombarded with sexual stimuli. Music, YouTube, social media and smartphones all contribute to the sexual stimuli.

What are we doing to face this challenge as a society? For us to act in accord with values of old is to live in denial. The schools are, to my mind, not really equipped to provide the one-on-one value stimuli to students, male or female.

LIP SERVICE NOT ENOUGH

The Church has abdicated its role as moral arbiters to the society. There have been too many public reports of 'indiscretions' within the Church. I expect it will pay the normal lip service to being the bastion of values and attitudes, yet the Church is now better known for the annual prayer breakfast and its stance against horse racing. Interestingly, gaming lounges now proliferate across the country. So much for the leadership of Church and school.

How does society face the challenge of teen pregnancy and resultant parenthood? To preach abstinence is to fight a forest fire with a bucket of water at a time. To assume that because the children come from 'good homes', however defined, and attend name-brand schools is to believe wrongly that this is sufficient to counterbalance the culture, sexual stimuli, experimental time and the initial sure knowledge of the child. ('It won't happen to me.')

This is to adopt the ostrich plan, although this may not be an appropriate metaphor given the topic. We cannot ignore what is there in society. We must adopt an appropriate potential activity.

That activity is to recognise that condoms play dual roles: protection against sexually transmitted infections and reducing the risk of pregnancy. Both of these activities are admirable social goals, except where schoolchildren are concerned. This we must overcome.

Unplanned pregnancies must be minimised in Jamaican society. Schoolchildren are sexually active. Schoolchildren have limited disposable income and the embarrassment of approaching a condom vendor are all good and sufficient reasons for the society to engage on the topic of free condoms to the school-age population.

WEIGHING THREATS

There are implications that require thought and analysis before any condom policy can be implemented. Among the issues to be resolved would be the perception that this could be an inducement for those children who are not now sexually active to assume that this is a green light for them to engage in sex. This requires the counterbalance as to what is the greater societal threat: sexual activity or unplanned pregnancies. It is my opinion that the unplanned pregnancies repose the greater threat.

What age groups would be accommodated in this condom-distribution programme? Hard statistics need to be obtained. At what age group are they currently beginning sexual activity? Is this cohort accessible for the public-education campaign which would accompany this? What are the reactions of parents and guardians? Would it truly be a usurping of parental responsibility to impart morals and values and sexual abstinence?

It would be fair to assume in the absence of hard data that the parents are currently failing their children in this regard. Another issue to be studied is how many condoms are made available, and in what time period. Who would fund this condom-distribution programme, the education budget, the health budget or the social welfare programmes?

We would also need to think of the alternatives if society, in its righteous indignation, concluded that this would be a case of the cure being worse than the malady.

Let the conversation begin across the land.

Ronald Mason is an attorney-at-law/mediator. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and nationsagenda@gmail.com.