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IRELAND, EIRE, IRISH
Index → Europe
→ Ireland
On the Isle of
Inis Beag,
“[s]ex is never discussed in
the home and islanders are monumentally naïve and inexperienced. Boys learn
some facts by talking to other boys and watching animals, but girls may not
even have done that. Girls understand that they must not look directly at a
male or allow themselves to be touched. Premarital sex is unknown, courtship
almost nonexistent, and marriages are arranged with little concern for the
feelings of the young people involved” (Messenger, as read by Yates)[1].
The first Irish
study of childhood sexual behaviour came as late as 1993 (Deehan and
Fitzpatrick)[2].
More than half of
the parents reported that their child had shown no interest in his/her own
genitals, while thirty-seven percent reported that their child played with
his/her genitals. Most parents said this occurred openly in the home. Sixteen
percent described such play as self-pleasuring, most regarding this as a
comfort habit or “nervous fiddling”. Seven percent reported genital touching
games and four percent said that their child had been lying on top another
child in imitation of a sexual act. (“Simulated intercourse” or kissing or
licking of the genitals was not reported by any parents.) Thirteen percent of
the children were reported to share a bed, usually with siblings. In contrast
to situations in the city, “[t]he country-bred boy and girl grow up in an
atmosphere of constant reference to sex and breeding” (Arensberg and Kimball,
1968:p197)[3].
Kelly (1997)[4] stated that as late as
1984, the government had no formal policies regarding sex
education, and
even today, “[i]t appears that there is wide variation in the ways in which
individual schools provide sex education”, so none may be given. The Durex Report - Ireland (1993),
designed to be statistically representative of the adult population aged 17
to 49 years living in the Republic of Ireland, found that the following were
the main sources of sexual information: own friends, 36 percent; mother, 23
percent; books and magazines, 12 percent; religious teacher, 10 percent; lay
teacher, 10 percent; father, 5 percent; and sisters or brothers, 5 percent.
“Prior to 1984, the government had no
formal policies regarding sex education. […] It appears that there is wide
variation in the ways in which individual schools provide sex education. Some
provide none, others set aside a particular day or days and provide expert
speakers. More frequently, it is incorporated into one or two school
subjects, usually science and/or religion”.
The Durex Report -
Ireland (1993),
designed to be statistically representative of the adult population aged 17
to 49 years living in the Republic of Ireland, found that the following were
the main sources of sexual information: own friends, 36 percent; mother, 23
percent; books and magazines, 12 percent; religious teacher, 10 percent; lay
teacher, 10 percent; father, 5 percent; and sisters or brothers, 5 percent. A
Health Education Bureau study in 1986 of a national random sample of 1,000
parents found that 64 percent learned about sex from friends, 37 percent from
books, 23 percent from mother, 6 percent from both parents, 2 percent from
father, and 11 percent from a teacher. Thirty-two percent stated that they
had not themselves provided sex education for their children and one in three
of these parents stated that they did not intend to do so. In the Deehan and
Fitzpatrick study, parents reported having discussed breast development with
38 percent of daughters and 20 percent of sons, menstruation with 26 percent
of daughters and 7 percent of sons, pubic hair development with 40 percent of
daughters and 20 percent of sons, erections with 11 percent of sons and 5
percent of daughters, and wet dreams with 4 percent of sons and 3 percent of
daughters. The vast majority of those children were prepubertal. An
increasing number of primary school teachers are discussing puberty with
their pupils. [In Northern Ireland of the late 1980s, university
students reported considerable variation in the amount of sex education, the
majority receiving “little or none”[5]].
One survey to date on premarital sexual
activity in adolescence conduced in 1991 by Ni Riordain[6]
(2,000 female 12- to 17-year-old students in the province of Munster) revealed that 25 percent of the
17-year-olds, 10 percent of the 15-year-olds, and 1 percent of the
12-year-olds had experienced sexual intercourse. In another study[7]
(2754 pupils 15-18 years attending 40 second level schools in GalwayCity and County) the mean age of first
sexual intercourse was found to be 15.5 years.
Further reading:
·
Rolston, B., Schubotz, D.
& Simpson, Au. (2004) The first time:
young people and sex in Northern Ireland, J Youth
Studies 7,2:191 et seq.
·
Smyth, Lisa
(2003) The Regulation Of Young People’s
Sexuality And Citizenship In Northern Ireland. Paper presented at 5th
European Feminist Research Conference 'Gender and Power in the New Europe', August 20-24,
2003Lund University, Sweden
·
Hyde, A. & Howlett, E. (Nov. 2004) Understanding teenage sexuality
in Ireland. Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) Research Reports, No. 9 [http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/pub/No.9-Reportinterior.pdf]
·
http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaIreland.asp
Janssen,
D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume
I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed.
2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology
Last
revised: Jan 2005
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