Soha Ali Khan Asks Experts, 'Is There A Right Age For Sex Education?'

"Sex is a 3-letter word, but it's the most feared word," author and sexuality educator Anju Kish said on Soha Ali Khan's podcast.

The latest episode was all about sex education, what it encompasses, age-appropriate charting, and the right time to begin having a conversation with your child. The actor got candid with Anju Kish and content creator Simone Khambatta to discuss the subject without taboos.

"For a lot of us who are parents, how should we break down sex education across different ages? At what age would it be appropriate to talk to your child about different topics?" Soha asked the expert.

Referring to her daughter, Inaaya Naumi Kemmu, who is now eight, she also asked the expert what subjects she should have covered by now.

What Is Sex Education

"Sex education has nothing to do with sex till a certain age. We don't even talk to a child till a child reaches a certain age," said the expert.

She explained that it is almost like driving, where you don't just have to know about the mechanics of a car but also about responsibility and road safety. She explained that sex education includes everything from talking about bodies to how to be safe online, apart from just the act of intercourse and reproduction.

According to the educator, the term encourages parents to talk about bodies, safe and unsafe touches, puberty, how to handle crushes, heartbreaks, how to handle heartbreaks responsibly, how not to tease others, how to tackle peer pressure, dating, consent, boundaries, pornography, sexting, how to be safe online, masturbation and its dos and don'ts, reproduction, consent, and pleasure.

"All of this is sex ed, and with each topic, there is so much depth," she added.

When Should Sex Education Start

"You need sex education from the time they (children) are born," said the expert, adding that the smallest of conversations can answer the queries of children, keep them safe, and prevent them from searching on the Internet, which can be a rabbit hole that may intimidate kids and bombard them with information that is difficult for them to fathom.

Charting sex education by age, Anju Kish said,

• 0-3 - The child should know the correct terms for body parts, including the genitals, and understand the concept of privacy
• 4-6 - Parents should teach their kids about body safety, general safety, and safe and unsafe touches
• 6-8- In this age group, children should be taught about safe and unwanted touches, ask-first touches, secret touches, and what they should do when things like this happen
• 9-12 - The young minds should be introduced to puberty and must be told in brief what sex is
• 13-15 - Teenagers need a deep talk on sexual literacy, which includes masturbation, pornography and its impact, intimacy and intimacy laws in India, sexual acts, sexual abuse, pornography laws, dating, dating laws in India, the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and what it includes, contraceptives, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• 16-18 - At this age, children should understand sex expectations, which means what to expect when having intercourse for the first time. Young adults should be taught about safe sex, contraceptives, types of contraceptives, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• 18+ - For adults, the conversation should continue around consent, gender, sexuality, sex, and inclusivity, in detail

How To Teach Young Children About Period

Soha Ali Khan highlighted that the sexuality educator has an interesting way to explain periods to young children without jarring them or leaving them afraid.

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Anju Kish began the explanation like a story, "A woman has a baby bag inside of her, and this baby bag is for the time when she gets older and is going to have a baby."

"But till then, this bag needs to be maintained. So the bag creates a thick lining for this egg that travels to the bag, hoping to turn into a baby. The lining is there to protect this little egg. But when there is no baby, the lining needs to come down, and that is a girl's period," she concluded.

Later, the sexuality educator also mentioned that parents should tell their children that for some girls or women, menstruation can be difficult as they experience cramps, but for others, it can be easy. Children need to know that not every menstruator's experience is the same.

During the podcast, the adults also discussed what they have taught their children, why sex education is important in schools, and how to talk to kids about other sensitive subjects.

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