Time to Talk: Comprehensive Sexuality Education - A Toolkit for Faith-based Journalists and Media Houses

“Children face confusing and often inaccurate information about sex and sexuality. Despite the need for clarity and guidance, there is still a resounding silence on sexuality in homes, schools and communities.”

This toolkit is designed to assist media houses, journalists, and radio presenters working in faith-based organisations to help audiences explore a range of questions and hold effective conversations about sexuality within a faith context. The toolkit simplifies the complex nature of the topic, and stresses the social, cultural, and economic benefits of educating young people on sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues.

The media and journalists play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and dialogue on a range of issues, including sexuality. Journalists can, for example, contribute to promote a comprehensive and positive understanding of sexuality by:

• Responding to the audience’s information needs by talking about issues of sexuality that affect individuals, families, and communities.
• Using and promoting positive and non-threatening ways of addressing sexuality that engage hesitant audiences.
• Gently bringing taboo and sensitive subjects into the open so they can be discussed.
• Providing opportunities for dialogue and diverse perspectives to be heard.
• Dispelling myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes.
• Bringing sexual and reproductive health matters to the attention of people who can influence public health policies – such as government officials, leaders of non-governmental and faith-based organisations, academics, and health experts.
• Monitoring the government’s progress towards achieving stated goals and agreed policies regarding sexuality education and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, and holding government officials accountable to the public.
• Investigating and sharing key data to increase public knowledge and confidence around sexuality education.

The toolkit focuses specifically on faith-based journalists and media houses, as “faith-based organisations wield substantial influence in communities and are crucial gatekeepers to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide. However, these organisations face the additional challenge of differing or even conflicting interpretations of religious texts on sexuality, and often struggle to align their faith with open dialogue on the topic. Christian and Muslim belief systems co-exist alongside various traditional African beliefs on the continent. This creates a convoluted and often contradictory belief system, making it even more difficult for leaders and members to grapple with sexuality and sexuality education.”

Specifically, the toolkit seeks to build the the capacity of journalists and presenters to strengthen the delivery of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for children and young adolescents, and is based on a comprehensive sexuality conceptual framework rather than an abstinence-only approach. As explained in the toolkit, “CSE employs a positive approach to sexuality or a sexual health paradigm, which is not to be confused with being pro-sex. Rather, this approach is far more comprehensive, addressing issues of identity, diversity, body acceptance, self-esteem, communication and consent. It seeks to remove the attachment of shame and stigma from sexuality, while equipping people with the necessary information to engage in informed and safer sexual practices. There is overwhelming evidence that abstinence-only education is not only ineffective in delaying sexual debut, but in fact increases the likelihood of unsafe sexual practices, as young people lack sufficient information and confidence to access safer sex methods and contraception. Abstinence-only sexual education is also grounded in the core assumption that sex is negative, problematic, shameful and risky. In contrast, CSE has demonstrated positive results in both delaying sexual debut and increasing the likelihood of safer sexual practices.”

The guide contains reporting tools and tips, background information, discussion points, guidelines, case studies, and relevant passages from the Bible and the Qur’an. It also offers information about CSE regulatory frameworks from select countries in East and Southern Africa, where this guide forms part of a pilot project.

It is divided into the following three sections:

• Section 1: Introduction: Sexuality Education, Faith and the Media - provides an introduction to the toolkit.
• Section 2: Breaking the Silence: Key Concepts and Tools for the Media - outlines a few cross-cutting concepts and tools that journalists may find helpful.
• Section 3: Topical Reporting Guidelines - provides six thematic reporting guideline sheets for starting conversations about sexuality education. These topics are: Healthy relationships, love and dating; positive aspects of sexuality and intimacy; young people’s sexual orientation and gender identity; contraception and family planning; teen pregnancy; and puberty, body image and peer pressure.