lets talk about sex

or rather the lack of talk about it.

Being such a taboo topic in chinese culture, how often do you hear chinese parents talk to their kids about sex? The whole she-bang about the Birds and the Bees is often treated like a dirty dark secret. No one really talks about it because its uncomfortable and we know it.

I envy those white kids. For most western families that are liberal about such things, the assumption is that since communication is more open anyway, parents often sit and down and have serious talks with their kid when the time is ripe. Some parents even offer to buy condoms and offer advice about the starting on the pill. I stress the word, assumption, having seen many young girls stroll in and out of the General Practice with swollen bellies and worried-looking parents.

On the other hand, we pathetic Chinese kids often have to figure out about the mechanics of Reproduction through biology lessons, movies, tv shows like Sex-and-the-City, small talk with friends who had ''done it'', magazines or visual-aids on the internet. Doesn't help the fact that most Asian countries with overly strict and conservative rules of propriety, sex is taught from a black-and-white scientific point of view. We learn about how the wiggly sperm is equipped for survival with its flagella and hyaluronidase-containing acrosomal head. Who later meets the big furry ovum that puts up its multi-layered barrier that only allows the fittest competitor through. Eventually, we get the ''mulberry'', the embryonic fetal developmental process and the 4 stages of labour. Tired of hearing all that jargon? Actually, its an intended effect of Science, to make most things practical, neutral, objective and depersonalized. In the midst of all this, we somehow manage to avoid the ambiguity of it all. And because the grey areas are often best heard from experience, it is ironically the issue least talked about.

I'm no Love/Sex guru but I'm grateful for TV shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager because it offers an entertaining yet honest portrayal of the adolescents struggling to grow up in an image-conscious era called High school. I wished I had watched it as a teenager, having discovered more about Procreation through the tedious way of reading those coming-of-age books and having embarrassing moments with casual banter amongst pals.

Actually I can't wait for our media industry to come up with a local-based tv show about growing up and SEX. Because I know its gonna be so darn funny watching inexpressive shy chinese folk trying to talk about these ''forbidden things''.
Would that day ever come? I shall wait... be entertained by this new tv show in the meantime.