Equality Bahamas urges govt. to implement sex education courses (Eyewitness News)

Nov. 4, 2020  – Eyewitness News

Equality Bahamas founder and co-director Alicia Wallace featured in Eyewitness News on November 4, 2020.

From Eyewitness News:

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Following a recent study by the University of The Bahamas regarding the sexual knowledge of Bahamian college students, Equality Bahamas is once again urging the government to implement sex education based courses throughout schools in the country.

Researchers concluded that individuals respondents “may not have a full understanding of their own agency, and certainly suggest an imperfect knowledge of their rights in situations of sexual pressure.”

Equality Bahamas Director Alicia Wallace told Eyewitness News that while the study is shocking, the results are not new.

“The study was really focused on consent which is a critical issue which we need to address holistically,” Wallace said.

“One of the major problems that we have is a lot of people don’t even realize it when they are violated or when they experience a form of sexual violence because we don’t have a clear understanding of what consent is.”

Wallace noted that the matter has never been addressed directly, despite the continuous push for comprehensive sexual education in both public and private schools.

“We need to be having conversations about the use of contraceptives, about consent, about how you negotiate for condom use,” she added.

She added that the concept of consent should be taught at a younger age about what is appropriate and not appropriate.