AIDS Tempers Sweden’s Liberal Attitudes on Sex

For 40 years Sweden has brought up its children to learn about, discuss and eventually practice sex without guilt or embarrassment.

But some educators now fear that a new and unwanted element is creeping into the curriculum as a result of the country’s anti-AIDS campaign--moralizing.

“Our AIDS campaign is very condom-fixated. It makes it almost immoral not to use a condom,” said Annika Strandel, chief medical officer at the Swedish National Board of Education.

“If too much moralizing comes into the campaign, then the pupils switch off,” she said.

She fears that some may already be switching off. Abortions and teen-age pregnancies, which had been falling steadily for years in Sweden, both took an upward turn in 1985.

The number of abortions has risen from around 33,000 to 38,000 a year, with most of the increase among teen-agers. Swedish law provides for free abortion on demand.

A complete lack of moralizing has been one of the proudest boasts of the compulsory sex education in this country with a reputation for sexual freedom. It begins at age 7 when children are introduced to topics such as the structure and function of the sex organs, menstruation, masturbation, sexual intercourse, contraceptives, conception, pregnancy and childbirth.

“What makes our sex education so good is that we don’t moralize about how young people ought to behave,” said Margot Blum, a senior Education Ministry official.

As they reach their teens, far from telling young people not to have sex, Swedish schools assume that many of them will, and even provide them with contraceptives.

“It’s no good telling teen-agers ‘don’t do it,’ as they do in the United States for example. They will do it anyway,” said Strandel.

“It’s better to recognize that there is sexual activity within the group and discuss it openly,” she said.

Foreign educators who have looked at the Swedish curriculum have reacted with a mixture of admiration and horror. Many say they wish they could follow the Swedish example, but the moral climate in their homelands would never permit it.

Strandel said it is important to begin instruction well before puberty to give children a positive view of sex.

“We want them to have a positive attitude fixed before the age when we have to start telling them about the negative side--sexual diseases and how to prevent them. This side should come to the fore when they are beginning to become sexually active,” she said.

Because children mature at different ages, the same material is presented over again and again. That means a lot of sex education throughout a pupil’s school life.

“We do get a lot of sex education in school. We get it both in biology and in social science classes. It’s good,” said Maria Levdahl, a 16-year-old high school student in Stockholm.

“They occasionally give us whole-day seminars just on sex. Kids trust them and know they can go to school clinics to get contraceptives if they need them,” she said.

Lowest in Europe

The system appears to work. Despite the recent increase, Sweden’s teen-age pregnancy and abortion levels are still only a third of those in the United States and among the lowest in Europe.

And the age at which Swedish girls first have sex has risen by a year since 1980. The average age is now 17 1/2.

“My feeling is that this is another sign of success showing that teen-agers don’t feel pushed to have sex,” said Blum.

“We try to strengthen self-esteem among girls so that they don’t feel pushed to have sex if they don’t want to. On the other hand, if they are ready, we don’t frown on that either,” she said.

As a school doctor, Strandel was occasionally confronted by 13-year-olds asking for contraceptives. Her response was to urge the girl to discuss the matter with her mother, but this was not seen as a condition for giving the girl the pill.

“If a young girl needs an abortion, the law says you are not to contact her parents if she doesn’t agree. The same with contraceptives,” she said.

“Maybe we respect the child as an individual more than in other countries.”