Pinays don’t know their body and how it worksBy Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:32:00 08/19/2009
MANILA, Philippines—They may look grown-up and sophisticated but young Filipino girls are among the most misinformed in Asia when it comes to their body and how it works, according to an international online survey sponsored by Kimberly-Clark.
The Kotex BodyLife IQ Study, which covered 1,800 women aged 12-24 from six Asian countries, discovered that there was an “information gap†among young Asian women when it came to knowing their body, how it works, and how to take care of it from puberty to womanhood.
“Of all the nationalities surveyed, Filipinas were the most misinformed, with the biggest body-knowledge gap,†according to the Kimberly-Clark paper detailing the results of the survey.
“Eighty-three percent of young [Filipino] women surveyed believed myths about their body to be true,†it added.
For instance, 54 percent of Filipina respondents said drinking beer increases menstrual flow and 38 percent said menstrual blood applied to the face could prevent pimples.
One Filipina said that on the first day of her period, she would jump over three steps on their stairs so her menstrual flow would last only three days instead of one week.
Myths
The online “quantitative study†was conducted by international research firm Millward Brown in April and included women from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and India.
The online questionnaire tackled myths about a woman’s body, female biology, pregnancy, virginity and health.
“Many young women are ignorant of even the most basic facts when it comes to the essentials of womanhood,†the study said.
“No matter how sophisticated they appear or how contemporary their lifestyles, or what country or city they live in, there are shocking gaps in the basic knowledge of their own bodies in 97 percent of all young women surveyed,†it added.
Sex talk
Almost 40 percent of young women surveyed said they never received a sex talk from a medical practitioner, a teacher at school or a parent.
Over half of the respondents also said that they were afraid to ask questions during their sex education classes out of fear of being labeled “promiscuous.â€
“Young women from two countries with the lowest body-knowledge IQ scores—the Philippines and India—expressed the most satisfaction with the education they received, suggesting that lack of knowledge is self-perpetuating because ‘you don’t know what you don’t know,’†the paper said.
With the exception of respondents in Singapore, the other young women surveyed revealed that their top sources of female body-knowledge were their close friends, followed by their mothers and their older sisters.
Mass of confusion
While the survey results showed that 95 percent of young Filipino women answered the health section questions correctly, 98 percent got the biology section questions wrong.
“Some 26 percent of Filipinas believe that only men have hymens, which is why they are named as such,†the survey said.
The subject of virginity was also a “mass of confusion†for many Filipina respondents, with 18 percent believing they could lose their virginity by riding a bike.
Body Life IQ
Kimberly-Clark, which produces Kotex and other feminine products, inked a deal on Monday with the Department of Education.
They are working on a program that will make students better-informed about their bodies.
Dubbed “Kotex You-niversity program,†it consists of supplementary materials to equip students with knowledge, skills and value orientations to “develop their Body Life IQ,†or their ability to comprehend how the body works and how it affects one’s life.
The program will be included in the values education classes and will initially be conducted in 150 public and private high schools in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Cebu and Davao.
Students to benefit
Organizers said they expect some 340,000 students to benefit from the program by the end of the year.
“It will give our young women learners the right information and knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions and better choices,†said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
“This initiative is in synch with the fifth goal of Education For All, which is to achieve gender equality in education by 2015,†he added.
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