I truly condem the online series of ‘kakak kondom’ being posted on social media with the attempt to attract youths into free sexual discussions.
To start with, the figures of ‘kakak’ and ‘adik kondom’ are not even from a medical background when they are given credibility by MAC to conduct these series. The reliability of the information or tips provided can certainly be questioned.
Secondly they have downgraded proper sexual education with experiments that are far from scientific evidence, for example when they tested a condom by stuffing it with mandarin oranges or used a cardboard to signify the vaginal wall. I would say these are not smart attempts to educate the youth in this day and age when there are proper resources and medical experts that we can highlight in social media.
The series look more of an attaraction for youths to talk about sex in a ‘free style’ by using fancy and youth friendly themes such as eating samyang. They even talk about the details of sexual acts like which lubrication to use. I wonder how much of these details are actually going to educate the youths or actually luring them into sexual activities instead.
Kakak kondom also said that youths are attracted to her talks which she started in 2017 because she gives out free condoms afterwards. That’s how the name ‘kakak kondom’ name came into picture.
Let us take a step back and look at the relevance of the ‘providing safe sex advice approach’ towards our community especially the youths.
In a country like Malaysia where most religion and moral values agree that sexual promiscuity and premarital sex is inappropriate, advocating the use of condoms itself is far from the accepted normal values and public morality.
If you use this approach in other countries like the US, Europe or Australia where their culture have evolved in such a way that sexually active youths are a norm in society, then yes sexual education in the form of using condoms etc are appropiate.
Dear kakak kondom, regardless of how many youths are engaged in premarital sexual activies at this moment – We DON’T want Malaysia to evolve into accepting this as a culturally appropiate practice. As a medical doctor, I would say that we have failed if our youths are freely engaged in sexual activities without being truly informed on the risks, implications and religious perspective that might change or deter them from doing it in the first place.
Yes, sexual activity is an accepted human behaviour, or else you and I will not be in this world today. But, it has to be guided because the implications for sexual misconducts play a huge burden in society as as sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and unwanted pregnancies.
It is also worth mentioning that ‘kakak kondom’ is a programme in collaboration with a company that produces sexual toys, condoms and lubricants. That’s how they provide free condoms probably! How then will they be able to provide unbiased and correct information to our youths?
I am not saying that we shouldn’t educate the youths and keep sexual themes as taboo. I believe in good sexual education which incorporates a medical, societal/cultural beliefs and religious/morality values for our youth.
The world that we live in today, offers much in terms of sexual attaractions from online and offline resources. When we don’t equip our youths with the appropriate knowledge they are not in a situation to make informed decisions. During my day to day consults in clinic, I have met with many teenagers and youths who actually regretted their sexual promiscuity activities and wished that they have been more informed beforehand.
