University students
more open towards sex

By Debby Huang & Kevin Mak

One morning, 45 students gathered to watch a documen-
tary on child birth at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Their eyes were startled by the moving images of placenta expulsions and uterus contractions.

This was part of Understanding Human Sexuality, a general education course offered in the University. About 150 students have enrolled in the course since its opening 3 years ago.

One of the students commented after the class, “Nowadays, university students are more open to discussions about sex.”

According to a survey report by the Hong Kong Tertiary Institutions Health Care Working Group published in December 2002, 34.4 percent of the respondents reported to have had premarital sex, which marked a 20 percent increase compared to the figures 10 years ago.

The report has shown that students with no religious beliefs and more alienated family ties tend to have more liberal attitudes towards sex. These students also have less accurate knowledge about sex. Most of them tend to regard this knowledge as unimportant and are less willing to share their past sexual experiences with their current sex partners.

On the contrary, students with religious beliefs and closer family relationships are usually more willing to share their past sexual experiences with their partners. They tend to possess better knowledge about sex and regard this knowledge as important.

The head of the working group, Kitty Chan, said that the figures showed a trend for university students to become more open in their sexual attitudes.

According to Dr. Chan, university health centers have reported an increasing number of students suffering from venereal diseases.

“More students are infected with sexually transmitted diseases like urethritis.

“There’re also more students coming in for pregnancy tests,” she said.

Prof. Cheung Chan Fai, director of the General Education Programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that he was not surprised by the data.

“As you can see, now that we have included sex as part of our general education curriculum. Talking about sex is no longer a problem,” said he.

He agrees that university students are becoming more open-minded towards sex nowadays.

“With advancements in technology,” he explained, “there are more choices available in contraceptives, so people now feel safer to have sex.”

Pauline Kan, a health education officer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, also thinks that advancement in technology helps in accelerating the change in students’ sex attitudes.

“New communication channels like ICQ, e-mail and newsgroups expose students to more new ideas.

“Many people share their views and ideas about sex in the cyberspace. These exchanges may be useful for students in shaping their own values,” she said.

The change in parental attitudes towards sex also helps to speed up the change.

Ms. Kan said that parents nowadays give their children more room to explore and develop themselves. They allow them more freedom to talk about sex.

According to Holly Wong, a senior counselor of Hong Kong’s Student Development Services at City University of Hong Kong, a more open sexual attitude means more chances to find happiness. This helps avoid people from having any sexual frustrations.

However, if people do not have adequate knowledge on safe sex, sex may produce undesirable consequences. “Accidental pregnancies for example,” she said.

Ms. Wong said that if a girl has a child out of wedlock, she could face alienation from family members. She could also face financial difficulties.

“If she chooses to abort the child, she may feel guilty about herself. To make it worse, she may not be able to conceive again in the future.

“She may also suffer emotionally. There is a possibility that she will fear having sex again in the future,” she said.

Many organizations, such as university health centers, are paying close attention to monitor changes in students’ sexual behaviors.

“The Health Centre of The Chinese University is working closely together with The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong,” Ms. Kan added. They aim to help students shape correct values towards sex.

However, Ms. Kan admitted that the results of their efforts were not very satisfactory. She was disappointed to find that some of the students who came to her for advices were still having an inappropriate attitude towards sex.

But Prof. Cheung, director of the University’s General Education Program, has a different opinion. He said that there is no “right” or “wrong” attitude towards sex.

“Who can be sure of the legitimacy of an idea, or an attitude?” he asked.

He thinks that sex education in Hong Kong still has a lot of room for improvement.

He suggested two principles for university students to stick to.

The first principle is that students should learn to respect one another. Students should consult their partners for their wishes before sex.

“They should not use violence to get satisfaction in sex. Sexual assault is not an option,” he said.

The second principle is that students should stay alert. They have to make sure that they know what they are doing and not get carried away. It is important to weigh the consequences of their actions.

“If students don’t violate these principles, I don’t see anything bad about being open-minded towards sex,” he said.

“With more consideration and responsibility, to be open is to be good,” Prof. Cheung concluded.

More: Survey reveals the sexual attitudes, behavior and knowledge of Hong Kong students

Student: Nothing wrong with having sex

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