The boy child must be part of this important conversation if we are serious about combating teenage pregnancy. File picture: Lebohang Mashiloane The boy child must be part of this important conversation if we are serious about combating teenage pregnancy. File picture: Lebohang Mashiloane
Johannesburg - The concepts and efforts of empowering girls in fighting the plight of teenage pregnancy that excludes the semen carriers (boys) really takes us nowhere, fast.
It’s a short-sighted approach which will lead to minimum impact or results.
Addressing teenage pregnancy as a “girls only” issue is something that always baffles me. First, the girls don’t carry semen that impregnates them; and they definitely don’t get it from sperm banks. The boy child must be part of this important conversation if we are serious about combating teenage pregnancy.
As it stands we aren’t serious at all.
Again, we continue to set the standards too low for boys and men. As if these girls impregnate themselves.
The boys are again excused from taking responsibility or the lack of taking responsibilities. And if these efforts from the government and civil society are from women, then I am even more worried about where we are headed.
It has to be a collective effort. The boys need to be educated and informed about this irresponsible act of having unprotected sex and not promoting the usage of preventive measures.
It’s not just about the pregnancy, it’s also about STIs and STDs.
Let’s talk about how we can involve the boy child when you’re all serious about fighting this plight.
* Kabelo Chabalala is the founder of the Young Men Movement (YMM). Email: kabelo03chabalala@gmail.com; Twitter: @KabeloJay; Facebook: Kabelo Chabalala