DMost Dutch people are sexually active, enjoy it and are aware that it should be pleasurable for their partner as well. The Sexual Health Monitor from the Rutgers Centre of Expertise paints a positive picture of the country’s sexual state in these broad lines.
But there are also worrying trends. Young people are using less contraception and are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases. One explanation is that there are cuts in sexual health and education in schools. Younger respondents tell Rutgers they would like to have more information in school.
This information is not only under financial pressure, but also cultural. Misinformation about contraceptives thrives on TikTok and other social media, sometimes from a spiritual angle.
Seditious nonsense
A movement of mainly male influencers has also emerged, led by Andrew Tate, who want to impose their own traditional heterosexual norms and values on society as a whole. In the Netherlands, inflammatory nonsense is spread about the content of sex education lessons: as if they are aimed at turning young boys into promiscuous boys. This leads many parents to feel – sometimes genuine – anxiety about these lessons and schools to be reluctant to teach them with conviction.
All of this is reflected in the most worrying fact that Rutgers describes: that acceptance of the LGBTI+ community is declining. Compared to the last measurement in 2017, many more people who also attack their own gender now report insults, harassment and even violence.
These sad figures are one more reason for good sex education in the classroom, which can counterbalance the caricatures of homosexuality circulating on the Internet and set a clear standard: that in the Netherlands we respect the orientation of others.
Start the conversation
There is a task for the government and for schools. But that does not mean that they can solve it for us. The most important task lies with society itself, with parents, educators and other concerned citizens who are actually in favour of good sex education. The report also shows that 88 percent of Dutch people believe that this should be compulsory in schools.
If that majority remains a silent majority, schools will continue to listen to others, who will then set the agenda. So it’s time for people who are concerned about the pressure on sex education and tolerance to speak out loud and start a conversation about it. With their children’s school, with people around them and at the kitchen table.
The commentary is the opinion of Trouw, as expressed by members of the editorial team and senior editors.
