Sexual Education of Children: An Overview from the Past to Present

Oz Cinselligin tarihi, insanligin tarihi ile beraber baslamaktadir. Cinselligin tarihinin bu kadar eski olmasina ragmen, cinsel egitimin 20. yuzyilda onem kazanmaya baslamasi sasirticidir. Ulkemizde ise cinsellikle ilgili konular hâlâ kacinilan, konusulmamasi tercih edilen konulardir. Dolayisiyla ulke bazinda bir cinsel egitim politikasindan da soz edilememektedir. Oysa cinsel egitimin bireysel ve toplumsal pek cok yarari oldugu ve ozellikle ulkemizde cinsel egitime siddetli bir gereksinim duyuldugu da unutulmamalidir. Milli Egitim Bakanligi'nin okul oncesi ve ilkogretim programlari incelendiginde, "cinsel egitim" kavraminin programlar icinde hak ettigi yeri bulamadigi gorulmektedir. Bu nedenle oncelikle ulkemiz cocuklari icin bir "cinsel egitim" tanimi yapilmali ve bundan sonra da cinsel egitim hedefleri belirlenmelidir. Cinsel egitimin; vucut kisimlarinin adlari, fonksiyonlari, korunmasi ve ureme bilgilerinin cok otesinde oldugu bilinci artik yayilmalidir. Cinsel egitimin hedeflerinin bolgelere, illere hatta ayni ildeki ilcelere veya mahallelere gore de degisebilecegi unutulmamalidir. Hedefleri belirlemek icin ailelere ve cocuklara yonelik gelistirilmis degerlendirme araclarina gereksinim vardir. Bu araclardan elde edilecek olan veriler isiginda, program hedefleri belirlenmeli ve bir an once uygulamaya baslanmalidir. Anahtar Sozcukler: Cinsel egitim, erken cocukluk donemi. Abstract The history of sexuality starts with the history of humanity. It is interesting that although the history of sexuality is so old, sexual education gained importance only in the 20th century. Sexuality-related issues are usually issues that are avoided and are preferred not to be talked over and mentioned in our country. Hence, we cannot talk about a sexual education policy throughout the country. However, it should not be forgotten that sexual education has many individual and social benefits and a serious need for sexual education can be felt particularly in our country. When the preschool and primary programs of the Ministry of Education are examined, it can be seen that the concept "sexual education" does not take place as much as it needs to do. First of all, the definition of sexual education should be made for the children and then the educational objectives should be determined. The awareness that sexual education is more than the names of body parts, their functions, and protection and reproduction issues should be increased. The definition of sexual education may be single, but it should be remembered that the objectives may change among provinces and even among the districts in the same province. Evaluation tools developed towards families and children are needed to determine the objectives. Under the light of the data to be gathered with these tools, the program objectives should be determined and should start to be implemented immediately.