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LifeSkills Handbook Activity 35

This is a single activity session plan from The Lifeskills Handbook. There are 61 activity sessions altogether. The handbook is available from our resources section where you’ll also find downloadable storybooks, books and posters to help you in your work.

LifeSkills Handbooks Activity 35
The Myths

Purpose of the session

  • to explore and clarify information about sex and sexuality
  • to encourage children to talk about sex and sexuality

Life Skills: Problem-solving, Critical-thinking

Important Points

It may be useful to conduct the quiz separately with girls and boys, but do not organise it so that it is a competition of girls against boys.

Materials

  • An even number of quiz questions
  • A large sheet of paper or flip chart
  • A marker pen

Steps

  1. Divide the children into two teams. Explain that this activity is a quiz for two teams on knowledge of information about sex and sexuality.
  2. Read a statement (see below) and give the teams two minutes (or longer if needed) to discuss if it is:
    • True
    • False; or
    • Sometimes true or false
      and give a reason for their answer.
  3. The teams take it in turns to answer the questions. If a team does not know the answer or does not give the correct reason for their answer, then the question is given to the other team.
  4. A point is given for the right answer and good reasoning. Record the points on the paper.
  5. If neither team gives the right answer and correct reason, share the correct information with the group. This can either be done as the quiz progresses or at the end.

Ideas for a Quiz

  1. Girls cannot get pregnant before they have had their first period. False. The first period marks the end of the first menstrual cycle. Girls can ask pregnant during that first cycle.
  2. Girls agree to sex with older men because they want men to give them money. Sometimes true and sometimes false. It is a stereotype. Stereotypes may be partly true but they are not helpful in understanding why individual people behave the way they do.
  3. Girls wearing mini dresses or who wear lots of makeup are asking to be raped. False. The rapist is responsible for his own decisions. He cannot justify his actions by blaming the person they rape. In any case, girls are often raped by someone they know so clothes & make-up are irrelevant.
  4. Girls who carry condoms are prostitutes. False. If a girl carries a condom it is because she thinks she may have sex, she is thinking ahead and protecting herself. She is acting responsibly.
  5. Girls are more likely to get HIV than boys. True. Girls are 5-6 times more likely to get HIV than boys between the ages of 10 and 24.
  6. Before a girl reaches 18, her sexual organs are not fully developed and can easily tear. True. The sexual organs of a girl are not fully developed before the age of 18. She is therefore in danger of tearing the lining of the vagina, which means she is more vulnerable to HIV.
  7. When a girl says no, she really means yes. False. This is another stereotype. Men like to believe this because it gives them an excuse to ignore the women’s wishes. Most girls say what they mean. Men and boys need to learn to accept a woman’s wishes.
  8. It is wrong for a girl to refuse a boy when he wants to make love. False. A girl always has the right to say no, just like a boy has the right to say no if a girl wants to make love. However, this may be the traditional custom in some cultures and it shows the inequality between men and women. It is a problem because girls often are brought up to be less assertive than boys.
  9. You can’t catch sexually transmitted infections from anal sex. False. STIs can be transmitted from anal sex and this includes HIV.
  10. If a girl accepts a boy’s gifts or drinks, it means she has accepted to have sex with the man. False, it means she has accepted his gifts or drinks, nothing more. This stereotype treats sex as a business transaction.
  11. Most boys exaggerate their sexual experiences when talking about them. True. Studies have shown that most boys to tend to do this.
  12. Girls want sex as much as boys, it is only that they fear to ask for it. True. In most cultures, girls are brought up to be less assertive and open about their sexual feelings than boys.
  13. Boys should have sex before marriage so that they know what to do, but girls should be virgins at marriage. False. There is no reason for this. It is another stereotype.
  14. If a boy or man does not have sex, his penis shrinks and he begins to suffer from backache. False. This is a myth which is used by men to justify their demands for sex.
  15. Clean people do not get Sexually Transmitted Infections. False. Anyone can get STIs if they have unprotected sex (no condom).
  16. A boy cannot be raped, only a girl can. False. Boys and men can also be raped. They can be forced to have sex against their will.
  17. A boy should not say, ‘No’ to a girl who has shown she wants to have sex. It is cowardly. False. It is never cowardly to act on one’s own principles. Doing something just because of what others say is being cowardly.

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