SEXOLOGY Igor S. Kon
Curriculum vitae	Selected books	Russian

Sexual Revolution in Russia and the Tasks of Sex Education

Valeriy Chervyakov, Igor Kon*

AIDS in Europe: new challenges for social sciences. Ed. by Theo Sandford et al. London: Routledge, 2000, pp.119 –134.

The so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s in Western Europe and the United States has been thoroughly discussed in the scientific literature (see, for example, Clement, 1990; Haavia-Mannila and Rotkirch, 1997; Reiss, 1990; Schmidt, 1993; Schmidt et al., 1994; Schwartz & Gillmore, 1990). Contrary to media representations and popular belief, this ‘revolution’ was in fact a multifaceted and contradictory process. Some behavioural and attitudinal changes were substantial whereas others had more of an evolutionary character. Thus, the authors of the US National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) have recently stated that ‘social forces – demographic, economic, technological, and social organisational – produced the long-term social trends that have culminated in what some have perceived to be the “revolutionary” transformation of sexuality among young people, while the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s may have been more of a social construct than a label for concomitant changes in sexual practice.’ They conclude that ‘these changes may be more appropriately termed evolutionary in character.’ (Laumann et al., 1994, p. 542).

The term ‘sexual revolution’ refers to various changes, including those in moral standards, sexual attitudes and practices, number of partners and gender differences. Age at first intercourse is generally considered one of the most significant indicators of changes in sexual behaviour. In all Western countries, young people are reported as having become increasingly sexually active over the past 35 years. In particular, the 1960s sexual revolution in the West was characterised by rapid changes in age of sexual debut. Both the tempo and the pattern of these changes does, however, vary between countries (Rademakers, 1997). That is why we focus in this chapter on this indicator.

There exist few reliable data on the sexual behaviour of Russians (for a general overview see Kon, 1995, Kon, 1997a, Kon, 1999). The data that are available, however, show more or less the same general trends as have occurred in the Western countries. According to the Golod surveys in Leningrad, in 1965 only 5.3 per cent of sexually experienced university students reported having had first intercourse before the age of 16. In 1972, 8 per cent of the sexually initiated reported having begun their sexual life before the age of 16, and in 1995 this figure had risen to 12 per cent (Golod, 1996, p. 59). Results of our own 1997 survey among students’ parents about the age of their own sexual debut provide evidence to suggest that the observed tendency was valid for other parts of Russia, too. The median age of the first sexual intercourse for the cohort of the females born in 1942-51 was 21. In the cohort born between 1952-61 it was 20, while in the cohort born between 1962-6 it was 18. Comparison with twelve European countries for which there is comparable data shows that in cohorts born between 1942-51 and between 1952-61, only Portuguese women reported starting their sexual life later than Russian women, while all the others did so earlier. For those, who were born in 1962-66 the situation has changed. In addition to Portuguese women (whose median sexual debut age was 19.8) women in Greece (median sexual debut age 19.2), Belgium (18.6), Switzerland (18.5) and France (18.2) reported starting later than Russian women (See Bozon & Kontula, 1998, pp. 42-44).

These findings suggest that changes over the last three decades in the sexual behaviour of Russian people show similar trends to those observed in the West. In Russia, however, these changes have had a less definite character and because of political and ideological restrictions have taken place largely ‘under cover’.

As might be expected, Gorbachev’s perestroika which brought about a general liberalisation of social life, made these changes in sexual attitudes and behaviour both visible and dramatic. As a consequence of increasing freedom of speech and of the press, mountains of erotica and pornography earlier unavailable to the general public appeared on bookstands. Ideological and administrative control lost its strength. Western patterns of behaviour became role models. Modern contraceptives started to be used, while the danger of AIDS, which had long been a reality in the West, remained distant for many Russians.

The aims of this chapter are to discuss the dramatic changes in the age of sexual debut which took place in Russia in the mid-nineties, to analyse the consequences of these changes, and to examine current Russian views on sexuality education.

Methods

This chapter is based on the results of three social surveys of young people’s sexual behaviour and attitudes, conducted by the authors. The first of these took place in 1993 among 1615 secondary school and vocational school students aged 12 to 17 in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was the first ever survey to examine the sexual behaviour of school students in Russia and its aim was to obtain an overall picture of sexual attitudes and behaviour. A self-administered questionnaire was used. No detailed information on the circumstances of sexual debut, the type of first partner or other sexual activities was gathered.

The second survey, sponsored by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was carried out in 1995. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 2871 respondents aged 16 to 19 in Moscow (large city), Novgorod (medium sized city), Borisoglebsk and Yeletz (both small towns). Unmarried girls and boys, students of secondary and vocational schools, university students and working adolescents were sampled in equal proportions in each of the four sites. Educational institutions were randomly sampled within each site. The questionnaire contained questions about issues such as the context of sexual debut, the first and the last partner, number of partners, etc. For the first time, a few questions touched on the delicate issues of masturbation and homosexual experience (data not analysed here). In this chapter, and for the sake of comparability, only the findings for secondary school and vocational school students are described.

The third survey formed part of the project ‘In-school sex education for Russian teenagers’ initiated by the Ministry of Education and supported by UNFPA and UNESCO. Data was collected from seventh to ninth grade students, their parents and teachers in eight sites throughout Russia (Moscow, Moscow district, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Udmurtia and Yaroslavl). The survey was conducted in 16 schools that agreed to take part in the project. The aim of the work was to assess the students’ knowledge and understanding of sexuality, their interest in these matters, sources of information about sexuality, and the dynamics of their sexual behaviour. Since it was planned to evaluate the future educational effects of the family and the school on moral values and students’ behavioural patterns, we also assessed parents’ views about sex education and collected data regarding parents’ own sexual debut and their awareness of sexual problems.

Fieldwork was carried out in the first quarter of 1997. Respondents’ participation in the survey was voluntary and self-administered questionnaires were completed in anonymously. In total, about 4000 students’ questionnaires, 1300 parents’ questionnaires and 400 teachers’ questionnaires were found suitable for data processing.

CHANGES IN AGE OF SEXUAL DEBUT

Comparison between the 1993 and 1995 survey data testifies to the fact of a substantial change in the age of sexual debut has taken place. While in 1993 only one of four 16 year-old girls reported having had sexual intercourse at least once, in 1995 a third did so. The proportion of sexually experienced boys of the same age increased from slightly over one third to a half (See Table 1)

Table 1. Proportion of sexually active respondents by age and gender

Since young people’s sexual behaviour is bly dependent on social milieu, which is reflected in the type of educational institution attended, we also analysed the data separately by school type (See Table 2).

Table 2. Proportion of sexually experienced secondary school and vocational school students, by age and gender, 1993 and 1995 survey samples

As the table shows, while social differences are important, similar overall changes took place in both types of institutions. This suggests that changes in age of sexual debut can not be treated as an artefact caused by changes in sample design. We found further evidence of dramatic change in sexual behaviour between 1993 and 1995 when we analysed answers to the question about age at first intercourse independently for different age groups within one and the same sample (survey of 1995). Among 16-year-old women, there were twice as many sexually experienced girls than among the 19-year-old respondents when they were at their 16s (23 per cent vs. 11 per cent). The same difference was found between the 17 year-old women and 19 year-olds who had been sexually experienced at 17 (45 per cent versus 24 per cent respectively) (See Figure 1). The same tendencies were observed among male students, although the changes were not as large.

Comparing the age of sexual debut across different countries is complicated because of sampling differences and the differences in methods of measurement. For example, differences in social and/or ethnic origins of the respondents can not always be assigned accurate weightings, and these factors may have a significant effect on studied variables. Moreover, the median, which is often used to describe the average age of sexual debut, varies depending on the age cohorts included in a sample, and does not allow correct comparison even using additional mathematical procedures such as survival analysis or life table procedures. The available data, however, do give some idea of how Russian teenagers fare in comparison to those in other countries.

In 1988 in the United States, 33 per cent of white never married teenagers reported having had first sexual intercourse by the age of 16, and 53 per cent by the age of 17 (Sonenstein et al., 1991). Among Russian 16-year-old respondents, 39 per cent already were already sexually experienced by this age, while among those who were 17, 29 per cent had had such an experience by the age of 16, according to our 1995 survey. In the same survey in the United States, 53 per cent of 17-year-olds and 51 per cent of the 18 year-olds had had sexual experience by the age of 17. If we compare our data with those from this American study, we can conclude that age of sexual debut in the two countries is practically the same. But the American survey had been carried out seven years earlier.

While Russian absolute figures are not in themselves sensational and are in many ways comparable with Western survey data (see for example Nguyet et al., 1994, Johnson et al., 1994, etc.), the pace of change in Russia has been very fast. Moreover, sexual awareness and literacy is poor and adolescent sexuality is bly influenced by general criminalisation of social life. Because of this, unprotected and early sexual activity may have serious psychological and epidemiological consequences, especially for women.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF SEXUAL DEBUT

Our 1995 survey findings shed light on the circumstances in which first sexual intercourse usually occurs. Almost as a rule, girls’ sexual debut happens with a partner who is appreciably (two years or more) older than she is herself. 40 percent of the sexual debuts of 14 year-old girls happen with partners who are 18 years or older. One in five boys of this same age is also initiated by a legally adult female. But if girls fairly often have their first sexual experience with men who are more than five years older than they are (as happened with 22 percent of the female respondents), for boys such an age difference is an exception rather than a rule (less than five percent).

Interestingly, the first sexual partner tends to be someone of the same age when acquaintance before first intercourse exceeded one year. Nearly half (48 percent) of the girls who had their sexual debuts with boys of the same age, did so after knowing him for more than a year. While among teenage girls the majority always comprises those who start their sexual life with partners who are 2 years or more older, among 15 year-old boys the majority (63 percent) have their first sexual experience with girls of the same age, and this proportion increases with age.

The portion of sexual debuts in which the partner is quite literally a stranger, is surprisingly large: eleven percent of sexually active girls reported that they did not know their first partners at all, and nine percent reported that they had been acquainted with their first partner for about a week. Thus, every fifth girl had her sexual debut with someone she either did not know or with whom she had only just became acquainted. Among boys the same thing occurs nearly twice as often: 41 percent of the boys reported having had their first sexual intercourse with a woman they either did not know previously at all, or with whom they had very little acquaintance. Nearly half of male sexual debuts with much older partners took place at the first meeting. If the boy’s first sexual partner happened to be three or more years older than he, the sexual debut happened in nearly two thirds of the cases no more than a week after acquaintance.

There is a clear trend for the earlier the girl’s sexual debut, the shorter the period of previous acquaintance with her first partner. Thus, more than a third of the girls who had had first sexual intercourse by age 13 had done so with a stranger. And vice versa, the proportion of the same-aged girls who have had their first sex with a partner whom they knew for more than a year, was three times lower. 39 percent of the girls who had their first intercourse at 18 had known their partners for more than a year, while those who had had first intercourse with a casual acquaintance, comprised only slightly more than one percent of this age group. Such a tendency was not found among boys.

Overall sexual debut is rarely a conscious, deliberate action prepared for by a long relationship history and tender feelings. Only 26 percent of the males and 31 percent of the females said that they had foreseen that sex would happen with this particular person. For the rest, the selection of the first partner was more or less chance. Thirty percent of the girls even said they never felt the desire for sexual intimacy with anyone before it happened for the first time. The same, however, can not be said about the boys. Only 47 percent of the girls and 23 percent of the boys aged 16-17 said that their first sexual partner was their steady boy- or girlfriend. Approximately one-third of the boys had dated their first partner from time to time before first having sex. And nearly every fifth girl and every third boy said that they had no relationship with their first partner before having sex.

Among the boys who had no acquaintance with their first partner before first intercourse, a third nevertheless felt an attraction towards her or something more (30 percent of this category said that they liked the girl, and 3 percent that they were truly in love). However, 58 percent said that they had no specific feelings about the individual concerned. Among the boys who had a one-week acquaintance with their partner, the proportion of those who experienced feelings of care was twice as large and only one of five had had first intercourse without some feelings of attraction. Yet, in general, only 15 percent of the boys felt ‘true love’ for their partner at the time of their first intercourse.

Emotional attraction seems to be a more significant factor in motivating sexual intimacy for girls. More than a third of them stated they were ‘truly in love’ with their first partner. Nearly two times fewer girls than boys experienced first sexual intercourse without any feelings towards their partner.

Similar gender differences exist in many other countries as well. Yet the respondents’ lasting impression of their first sexual intimacy corresponds directly to their feelings toward their partner: the more positively attracted they had felt, the more positively the experience was evaluated (or perhaps remembered) (See Table 3).

Table 3. Boys' and girls' impressions of first sexual intercourse, by feelings for the partner

First sexual intercourse is evaluated differently by boys and girls. The girls who had no positive feelings towards their partners almost never reported unconditionally positive impressions of first intercourse, and every fourth girl in this group gave a definitely negative evaluation. In contrast, more than a quarter of the boys who felt nothing for their first partner gave a positive evaluation of their initiation, while a definitely negative impression was reported by only a few male respondents. In other words, sexual intimacy without emotional involvement can cause negative feelings in some girls (this may even happen in reported cases of ‘true love’, but the chances are much smaller), while for boys it may only result in a less positive emotions.

Although sexual initiation is romanticised in the public imagination, in reality it seems to be a much less romantic experience, especially for girls. One in four girls reported that her first sexual intercourse left no impression on her at all, and only half of all female respondents experienced positive emotions during their first sexual act (See Figure 2).

Impressions of first intercourse depend largely on who initiated the sexual contact. Among both boys and girls, positive emotional experiences are most often the result of mutual desire. But the proportion of such debuts is not very large. Only slightly more than half of the boys (56 percent) and less than a half of the girls (46 percent) had these kinds of debuts. More often, girls’ sexual debuts are initiated by their partners (49 percent), while they themselves initiate the event very rarely (4.3 percent). However, women (generally those who are already sexual experienced) take the initiative with sexually inexperienced boys three times more often (13.5 percent).

According to our 1995 data, 29 percent of girls’ sexual debuts are accompanied by some form of resistance on the part of the girl. Respondents reported that in response to their partner’s initiative they either ‘first resisted but then agreed’ (22 percent), or ‘were against it and fought back till the end’ (7 percent) during first sex. The latter can be characterised as being raped. As a rule, boys in such cases recognised neither the illegality of their actions nor the damage caused by them. One in four boys in fact expressed some agreement with the questionnaire statement that: ‘One must not blame a guy if he has sex with a girl whom he has dated for a long time, even if it is against her will.’

Such behaviour may be partly the consequence of general male lack of understanding of their own, as well as women’s, sexuality, and of men’s inability to talk about sexual issues. Yet we must also take into account the habit of offering ‘token resistance’ to sex, which is widespread among Russian women, because of the existence of a b double standard (Sprecher et al., 1994).

In the 1995 survey, we compared the age at which girls and boys had their first sexual experience, with the age which they considered it best to start. More than half (55 per cent) of the sexually experienced girls were in favour of beginning sexual activity at a later age than they had done themselves. Among boys, the same opinion was expressed by a smaller, but not insignificant, 41 per cent.

All the boys and girls with coital experience were asked how they felt about their sexual initiation with the passage of time. Nearly one-third of the boys answered that they felt they had made the correct decision. Almost the same number did not consider it a major event in their lives. One in four boys experienced mixed feelings, seeing both good and bad in their choice. One in ten felt regret about their sexual debut but only a very few felt it was a serious mistake.

Girls regarded their ‘first time’ somewhat differently. Only about one in five felt that they had made the correct decision, and the same number felt that they had made a mistake. The most common response was one of mixed feelings, recognising both good and bad sides of the experience. In contrast to boys, far fewer girls regarded the event as being of little importance: only 13 per cent said they considered it an insignificant event in their lives.

Girls’ opinion was bly related to age of sexual initiation. The majority (53 per cent) of those who became sexually active at ages thirteen or younger expressed regret about the event. As a whole, among those girls who became sexually active before age sixteen, responses expressing regret outnumbered more positive evaluations.

CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL REVOLUTION

The changes in age of sexual debut, being part of a world-wide trend, can not be judged in terms of being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. However, the potential consequences of this rapid change – including increases in teenage pregnancy, STIs including HIV, rape, prostitution and psychological problems linked early unwanted sex - may be potentially dangerous for society as a whole.

For a variety of reasons, Russian teenagers tend to be poorly prepared for sexual life. For reasons we will return to later, emotionally many may lack adequate preparation for an active sex life. Others may know little about safer sex or the means by which to protect themselves and partners against STIs. Between 1990 and

1996, for example, the incidence of syphilis increase fifty fold in Russia, and 78 fold among young people. In 1996, 265 new cases of syphilis per 100,000 of population were initially diagnosed. The incidence of HIV has also begun to grow near exponentially (See figure 2). UNAIDS has recently estimated there may already be more than 40,000 cases of infection in the country.

All these facts suggest that something must be done to limit the potentially negative consequences of the changes that have taken place. The first step may lie in sexuality education, something which at present does not exist in most Russian schools.

LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SEXUALITY

According to the 1993 survey findings, only 19 per cent of 16 year-old schoolchildren report having received special classes, lectures or seminars on sex education. In 1995, the comparable figure was about 10 per cent, and in 1997 it was 22 per cent. About half of the respondents in each of the samples stated that they had received one or two lectures on problems to do with sexuality (most usually STIs and unwanted pregnancy. Only two to five percent of all respondents reported having participated in more than 10 lectures or seminars. In the 1997 survey, respondents were asked the question: ‘In your opinion, do you have enough or not enough knowledge about sex?’ In the seventh grade, 21 per cent of boys and 12 per cent of girls said they knew enough about sex. In the eighth grade, 31 per cent of boys and 17 per cent of girls said so. And in the ninth grade, 34 per cent of male and 27 per cent of female respondents considered that they knew enough about sex. At the same time, only 12 per cent of the teachers consider themselves well prepared to answer students’ and parents’ questions about sexuality. Only one in three parents gave a clear positive response to the question about whether they thought they have enough knowledge about sex.

The most significant increase in factual knowledge – showing a four-fold increase between seventh and ninth grades – concerns topics directly related to the possible means of sexual gratification (such as the questions about the most sensitive sexual parts of a woman’s body, or where the clitoris is located). Forty per cent of the ninth-grade females answered the first question correctly (compared with 9 per cent of the seventh-grade females), and 40 per cent of ninth-grade females (compared with 5 per cent of seventh-grade) demonstrated sound knowledge of the clitoris’ location. However, knowledge about bodily functions and the possible negative consequences of early sexual contact remains grossly inadequate.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT SEXUALITY

According to 1997 survey data, todays young people have much more information about sexuality at their disposal, than did their parents. For members of their parents’ generation, the main sources of information about sexuality were conversations with their peers. Today, however, printed materials and electronic media are more important sources of information. However, this often means only the replacement of one source of misinformation with another more ‘virtual’ one.

For young people, the main sources of knowledge about sexuality are newspapers, books and magazines. Girls (perhaps because they develop earlier) report starting to read these materials earlier than boys (Table 4).

Table 4. Main sources of knowledge about sexuality, by gender and grade, 1997 survey (per cent)

While conversations with friends are not seen as a particular significant source of information among seventh-grade pupils, by ninth grade girls in particular pay more attention to them than to television programmes. For ninth-grade boys, such information from friends is not so significant as that received through television. Given that television deals mostly in erotic imagery of one kind or another - there are no educational programmes about sexuality on Russian TV- it is clear that boys prefer eroticism to factual knowledge about sexuality.

Our analysis of informational sources shows that by speaking to them more about sexuality, the older generation sometimes looks after the needs of girls. Boys, however, receive much less attention. This is true for all institutional forms of information – such as that provided by teachers and medical workers - as well as for parents.

THE PROBLEM OF ‘SEXUAL PEDAGOGY’

Generally, Russian public opinion is in favour of sexuality education. In all national public opinion polls conducted since 1989, the vast majority of adults – between 60 and 90 per cent depending upon age and social background - bly support the idea of there being systematic sex education in schools. Only 3 to 20 percent are against it (Kon, 1999). But who should do this work and what exactly should be taught?

Teachers think that parents should provide sexuality education for their children. According to our 1997 survey, 78 per cent of teachers agreed with this. However, this same survey showed how hard it would be the family to take on this role. Only about one out of five teenagers considered it acceptable to discuss problems of sexuality with his or her parents. Parents themselves only reluctantly initiate such topics of conversation with their children. More than half of them reported never initiated such talks with their children; another a quarter had taken the initiative only once or twice; and only one in five mothers (fathers even more rarely) had initiated such conversations with their children on several occasions. According to arents, the primary restraining factors were psychological and educational unreadiness. This is why more than three-quarters of them were in favour of there being special books explaining what can be said to children about sexuality, and how it can be done best. Approximately two-thirds of parents think it would be useful to have seminars devoted to sex education for parents in the schools their children attend.

At present, schools are not ready to carry out sex education. Three-quarters of teachers were convinced that form teachers (those who are primarily responsible for social and moral education) should discuss issues of gender and sexual relations with their students. However, 65 per cent of teachers report having never done this, and another 15 per cent had done it only once or twice. It is clear why this is the case: only 11.5 per cent of teachers said they were well prepared for such a task. Eighty five per cent were in favour of special courses on the fundamentals of sexology as part of teacher training.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEX EDUCATION

In general, respondents in the 1997 survey were unanimous that sexuality education courses in schools must be launched. Given other findings, it might be expected that such courses will become one of the favourite curriculum subjects for students. Sixty one per cent of seventh-grade students and 73 percent of students in the ninth grades stated that they would eagerly attend such classes. Only 5 per cent of students would prefer to avoid such lessons if they had the chance. To some extent, this distribution of students’ responses offers an answer to teachers’ worries about the form such education should take – be it a compulsory or voluntary course - when introduced in schools. There are much more serious disagreements among the interested groups, however, with respect to the content of sexuality education. Teachers would like to offer a detailed treatment of anatomy, physiology and ethics, whereas students have more interest in practical issues (Table 5).

Table 5. Students’ topic preferences in a course of sex education (those, who called a topic ‘very necessary’, per cent), 1997 survey

Of all the topics proposed in a sexuality education course for both boys and girls, the greatest preference was for information on STIs and HIV prevention. While other aspects of sexuality are covered in the mass media and in printed materials, these specific medical issues are much less frequently addressed.

Problems of sexual harassment, including rape and unwanted sex, are second most significant for girls. With age (and consequently with growing interest toward them from the opposite sex) this emphasis increases. Boys do not show as much interest in these issues. They worry much more about how to improve their sexual potency and performance.

More seventh-grade pupils than older students are interested in the problems of marriage and family life. Girls are more interested in family issues than boys, but even among them this interest decreases with age, being perhaps replaced with more ‘relevant’ problems of gender relationships. The psychology of gender relationships attracts more interest among girls than boys, and this interest grows with age. As they grow older, boys start to pay more attention to feelings, love and interpersonal communication as well.

Girls, much more so than boys, are interested in conception, the development of the human foetus and childbirth. This interest decreases with age equally among boys and girls. Boys have a much higher interest than girls in sexual techniques that enable them to receive more pleasure from sex, and this interest increases with age. Girls also become more interested with age in the ‘technical’ aspects of sex, though these never become a priority. Apparently such concerns are seen as less relevant in school, an interest in them grows later after the ninth grade, and this lack of knowledge can be easily compensated for using books and other sources of material.

In general, as mentioned earlier, young people give priority to such topics as prevention of STIs and AIDS, methods of birth control, problems of family life and the psychology of cross-gender relationships. Topics such as anatomy and physiology, conception, foetus development and childbirth, and sexual hygiene are regarded as less important along with information about differences in sexual orientation and sexual minorities (perhaps respondents are shy to discuss these matters).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that school students need sex education and are very interested in questions of sexuality. This interest has primarily a pragmatic motivation. Young people’s curiosity about sexuality in the absence of an elementary knowledge of human anatomy, physiology and hygiene (to say nothing about psychological differences in the sexual response cycles of boys and girls) makes initial experimentation in sexual relationships potentially dangerous.

At the moment, the pedagogical impact of sex education (so far as there is any) seems limited. In fact, schools hope that sex education will be provided by the family, whereas parents rely upon schools to do this. Meanwhile, the main source of information about sexuality is the printed and electronic media, as well as peers. As a result, young people know little concrete about sexually transmitted diseases, have only an overall idea about contraception, and yet their views and attitudes towards sexual behaviour become more permissive year by year.

At present, neither schoolteachers nor parents feel that they have enough knowledge about sexuality. Both parents and teachers want there to be preparation for teaching about sex and relationships in both initial and inservice teacher education, as well as at school for parents. At the same time, attention is drawn to the fact that Russia at present lacks appropriate textbooks and methodological materials.

The absolute majority of respondents spoke in favour of introducing sex education into school curricula. Its content, according to the views of students, their parents and teachers, must deal with a wide spectrum of topics, including anatomy and physiology, the psychology of sexual relationships, practical issues of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy, and the moral aspects of cross-gender relationships.

Our 1997 survey was completed as a part of sociological monitoring for a planned three-year experimental project on in-school sexuality education sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Education and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with UNESCO. However, before the work was even begun, the project came under heavy attack in the mass media for being a ‘Western ideological subversion of Russian children’ (see Chervyakov and Kon, 1998). In some small towns people were asked by journalists on the street: ‘Do you want children to be taught in school how to have sex? If not, please, sign the petition to ban this devilish project.’ Priests and activists alike not infrequently tell their audiences that all bad things in Western life are rooted in sex education, that Western governments are trying now to ban or eliminate it, and that a corrupt Russian government instgated by the world ‘sexological-industrial complex’, US secret services and Western pharmaceutical companies, is acting against the national interests of the country. The Russian Planned Parenthood Association is denounced by the Russian Orthodox Church as being a ‘satanic institution’ propagating abortion and depopulation. This anti-sexual and anti-Western campaign is bly supported by the Communists’ dominated State Duma and by the vast majority of Russian newspapers. It has continued for nearly three years. As a result, most attempts to promote sexuality education for young people in Russia had been stopped, and even those groups that worked on such issues before are finding it increasingly difficult to carry on.

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© Igor S. Kon