Most Indonesian parents can easily talk with their children about politics, religion or the latest celebrity gossip, but not sex.

Discussion and information surrounding sex education and sexual reproductive health has long been missing from families and the formal school system because many still consider it taboo and worry that discussing it will encourage youngsters to have premarital sex.

But a lack of education about sex could make youngsters vulnerable to being infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

A survey by Reckitt Benckiser Indonesia, the local arm of the England-based multinational consumer goods company, through one of its contraceptive brands Durex, found that 61 percent of teenagers were afraid their parents would judge them if they asked their parents about sex and reproductive health.

“On the other hand, 59 percent of parents still think that talking about it with their children is taboo […] and 63 percent of parents are worried that sharing such information with their children will give the impression that they are allowed to have premarital sex,” Helena Rahayu Wonoadi, the corporate social responsibility director of Reckitt Benckiser Indonesia, said on Friday.

The online survey involved 1,500 respondents aged 16 to 50 in five big cities in Indonesia.

While a few parents try to give basic sex education to their children, the survey found that some avoid topics on sexual health, for example, the health risk of having multiple sexual partners or of getting pregnant before the age of 20, and how to have a healthy sex life, including how to use contraceptives correctly.

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