EDITORIAL: Promote safe sex message
We in Barbados are in the fortunate position where there are several responsible agencies consistently conducting campaigns that promote safe living and safe sex. Most notable is the ‘Live Up’ campaign, which encouraged individuals to ‘live up, love and respect’ themselves and others.
What is unfortunate, though, is the fact that these campaigns are essential at this time, because much like the hippie and ‘flower power’ era of the 60s and early 70s, there is now an unacceptable level of social and sexual permissiveness in our society.
Sometimes it appears that little or no consideration is given to the repercussions of risky sexual behaviour (like HIV and AIDS), hence the necessity for the safe sex campaigns.
Even in some of the music that is played over the airwaves, we hear the promotion and the encouragement of a ‘free’ but very dangerous culture which is being readily embraced by gullible minds. It is sometimes reminiscent of the lifestyles of ancient Rome. As a responsible nation, we have to consider how this behaviour, if allowed to continue without tangible change, could affect present and future generations.
A more worrying trend is that with the rise in social media use, people, particularly the more vulnerable youth, are exposed to the glamorisation of sex, following the examples of some celebrities and other ‘wannabe video models’. Even though there have not been any reports recently in Barbados, there have been some alleged incidents where school aged children were engaging in sexual activity while being recorded – whether consciously or unconsciously.
Further, we are constantly being advised that despite the numbers of HIV/AIDS cases being on the decline, there are other sexually transmitted diseases from which to protect ourselves.
Former Senior Research Officer in the National Task Force on Crime Prevention, Kim Ramsay, is on record a few years ago saying that ‘seven per cent of all primary school children and 22 per cent of all secondary school children stated that they had engaged in sex’. If these figures represent the actions of the very young, surely it does not reflect well on the more ‘mature’ as they are the example the younger ones follow.
There is a disturbing trend developing too, where both young and old are engaging in these risky behaviours and are shying away from medical attention, hence sexually transmitted infections can continue to spread at an alarming rate.
Despite the fact that it sometimes sees that we have reached the point of no return with regard to popular culture and its effects on the population, there is still hope to bring a sense of a responsibility back to the few in our communities who exhibit such actions and are filtering them to others.
Another issue is the fact that many of the messages circulating promoting safe sex are not as attractive as the messages that don’t. If we want our population to take notice, we must go back to from the drawing board. Advertisers are often very creative in promoting their various products; maybe the time has come for us to rope in the same creative minds and develop more features specifically geared to the youth. It seems clear that the more ways we approach this problem, the better our chances of success.
Government and all its agencies have been doing well to encourage good health among the population. These initiatives cannot work, however, unless we take individual responsibility for ourselves and those around us. We all have a part to play by displaying positive behaviour.