Pornography ban not enough in tackling teen pregnancies

In response to recent worrying statistics on teenage pregnancies in the country, Education CS George Magoha is planning to petition the Cabinet to have pornography banned.  

This is not the first time the CS is attributing teen pregnancies to pornography. In 2018, while reacting to reports of students taking their final exams when pregnant, he questioned why pornographic sites were still accessible in the country.

The meat of his argument was that pornography influences people, even those who do not want to, to think about sex, hence temptation to satisfy this urge.

What is not clear is how many of these pregnancies are actually impacted by exposure to pornographic material.

To address the issue of teen pregnancy, in this age of smartphones and fast internet, two things are critical.

One, comprehensive sex education that extends beyond the classrooms to other social units like family and church.

Two, there is need to restructure law enforcement agency to enhance its effectiveness in bringing to justice sex predators.

In general terms, comprehensive sex education is important in increasing children’s knowledge on sex and their bodies – especially for the girls.

Teaching children to abstain from sex is important. But teaching them about the importance of practicing safe sex is even more necessary.

Let’s face it: today’s child becomes sexually active at a dangerously young age. It is not sufficient to suppose they draw sex imagination inherently from pornography, a lot of immorality happens around.

John Ouma, Multimedia University