The danger of AIDS

The advice to our young generation by AIDS specialist Dr.Ganga Pathirana that they should abstain from sex until wedlock no doubt would stir the interest among many of our readers.

Sri Lanka has moved a long way from the time the little ones were fed with the yarn they were brought forth into this world by a stork. By and large being a conservative society sex was a taboo subject and elders of yore were wont to drive away their young ones before venturing into discuss even an innocent nuptial ceremony.

Sex in those days were spoken of in whispers among Lankan homes unlike in permissive societies in the West where the topic was as mundane as breathing. Times changed though with the advent of liberalisation where hitherto cloistered lives became more open to the outside world.

A consequence was the flooding of hard porn into the market with easy access to school goers and the younger generation in general. With the passage of time we witnessed a sea change in attitudes pertaining to sex with old shibboleths pulled down and the youth discussing the topic in the open without inhibition or reticence.

Proliferation of night spots and the massage parlours under the new order provided grist to the mill where sex became open sesame. It is in this milieu that one should consider the appeal made by Dr. Pathirana on the dangers of AIDS.

According to our report she has urged "our girls and boys to preserve their virginity until you get married." She goes on to state that 85 per cent of HIV infections in Sri Lanka are due to unsafe sex.

We of course don't take the good doctor's admonition in its literary sense knowing well that sex is conditioned by biological impulses and its repression could have psychological implications.

There is no question that her urging to put a moratorium on sex until one ties the knot was a mere figure of expression to drive in the gravity of the danger of AIDS that is slowly but surely taking hold of Sri Lanka given the latest statistics.

By the same token Sri Lanka is not among the flesh pots of the world like Bangkok where free sex is part and parcel of everyday life.

Therefore when Dr.Pathirana urges young generations of Sri Lanka to wait for their honeymoon she is only appealing to them to think of the safer option.

The health authorities too should forgo their reticence on the subject and come out more openly with programmes to educate the public on the dangers of contracting HIV.

Mere seminars in Five Star hotels are not going to help. What is needed is an expanded programme to educate the young on the gravity of the problem.