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Music, films help promote sex education
Hundreds of young visitors cheered as they listened to prominent singer Kartika âTikaâ Jahja sing the lines: âIni [tubuh] milikku [â¦] bukan parameter moralitas dan harga diriâ (This body is mine and not a parameter of morality and self-respect) at a free concert promoting sex education at Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta
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undreds of young visitors cheered as they listened to prominent singer Kartika 'Tika' Jahja sing the lines: 'Ini [tubuh] milikku ['¦] bukan parameter moralitas dan harga diri' (This body is mine and not a parameter of morality and self-respect) at a free concert promoting sex education at Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta.
'Why don't we ever talk about sex? Sex education is important. Saying that sex education encourages premarital sex is the same as saying that life jackets make airplanes crash,' Tika said on Sunday to a crowd of fans screaming in agreement.
Tika and her band, The Dissidents, were among 11 local music acts who performed at the Seperlima Festival, organized by Seperlima ' a group of five organizations, namely Pamflet, the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI), the Center for Education and Information on Islam and Women's Rights Issues (Rahima), Dutch NGO Hivos and the University of Indonesia's (UI) Gender and Sexuality Research Center.
More than 1,000 visitors, donning colorful head scarves and some heavily tattooed, arrived with their friends and families to participate in Seperlima's third festival.
'I got information about the event on Twitter and I wanted to come because [youth band] Dialog Dini Hari was playing. But then I found out that it was also a campaigning event for sex education. That's so cool,' university student Fanny said.
Four movies by young directors were also screened for the audience, followed by a discussion with the directors and actors.
One of the movies, Bernadette directed by Paul Agusta, was based on a true story of a young prostitute who was physically abused by a client but was rescued by someone who spotted her injured on the street.
Several people in the audience gasped when the rescuer was arrested instead of the abuser at the end of the movie.
Pamflet coordinator Afra Suci Ramadhan said the four movies were chosen for the event because of their underlying themes of sexuality and identity.
Separately, Dyana 'Vina' Savina from Hivos said that Seperlima chose to hold the event to reach Indonesian youths, as many were interested in music and movies.
'Many of the problems we are trying to tackle ' underage marriage, lack of knowledge about puberty, sexual abuse and bullying ' can be solved merely by providing proper sex education,' she said.
During the event, visitors also lined up excitedly to write messages on colorful plastic sheets that were hung on a line. One sheet read: 'Fulfill transgender rights!' while another read: 'Smart teenagers appreciate differences.'
'I think it's [sex education] needed in schools. It's important,' 16-year-old Robby said as he decided what to write on his plastic sheet.
PKBI member Muvitasari said that Seperlima also provided training for teachers in six provinces on how to teach sex education to their students, in addition to hosting fun events. (fss)
