This post was originally published as a press release on 29 July 2022.

On the heels of a widely criticised sexuality education blunder at Hwa Chong Institution, and subsequent public conversation about sex ed in Singapore, gender-equality group AWARE today debuted “Sex Ed, Declassified”, a website designed as an online portal to sexuality education resources.

Targeted at users in their late teens and older, “Sex Ed, Declassified” presents a curated list of resources—websites, YouTube channels, a podcast and more—that AWARE has assessed to be trustworthy, inclusive and non-judgmental. These resources are both international (from countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States) and Singapore-based, such as Shy, the Health Promotion Board and Transgender SG.

“Sex Ed, Declassified” was borne of AWARE’s belief that everyone has a right to comprehensive sexuality education, and its desire to dispel common myths with accurate, science-based information. The site complements AWARE’s existing sexuality education offerings, such as its Birds & Bees workshop series for parents. It was developed by a team of staff and volunteers, whose process included in-depth conversations with young people who had gone through sex ed in Singapore schools. The respondents explained their worries about the gaps in their knowledge: As one respondent put it, “I’m not even sure what I am supposed to know.”

“We hear it time and again from young people in Singapore: They are simply not receiving the sexuality education they want and need in schools. We also know that parents can be reticent to teach sex ed at home. So where do youths go?” said Kelly Leow, AWARE senior communications manager. “In desperation, many take matters into their own hands and search for information online, which can be a dicey proposition—you might find a credible, progressive platform, or you might stumble upon a web of pseudoscience, misogynistic porn or worse.”

AWARE hopes for “Sex Ed, Declassified” to be an antidote to situations like that which occurred at Hwa Chong Institution in mid-July, when a school counsellor shared a series of inaccurate, homophobic statistics as part of a sexuality education lesson. Following the incident, some members of the public pointed out that the fallacious statistics were derived from unreliable online sources—driving home the challenges faced by not just youths, but also adults, in assessing the validity of online claims.

Website users can navigate five different sections by theme: “Big Picture Stuff”, “Bodies & Health”, “Relationships & Sex”, “Gender & Orientation” and “Singapore Resources”. They can also choose from eight specific concerns in a drop-down menu on the homepage, including “I want to know what consenting to sex looks like”, “I want to know how to come out to loved ones” and “I want to know if I’m in an unhealthy relationship”. Each option pulls up a set of resources to best address those concerns.

17-year-old Tasya, a secondary school student, found “Sex Ed, Declassified” to be “interesting and very useful”. “It has many topics compared to our school’s sex ed. In my school, we have not discussed sex; we have instead focused on relationship-building, romantic or not, and how to manage emotions. It’s eye-opening to see ‘real’ sex ed topics on a website. I think if we were to discuss those in school, it would be awkward.”

“The section on Singapore resources is great because there’s a perception that there are no local sources of help, which is not the case,” said Shean, a 18-year-old polytechnic student. “The fact that the site includes podcasts and videos is amazing. I think that’s a refreshing way to learn more about this topic.”

“Until comprehensive sexuality education is provided by Singapore schools, young people looking to understand consent, sexual pleasure and other topics insufficiently covered in the mainstream syllabus may well use these resources to supplement their learning,” said AWARE’s Ms Leow. “These are far better sources of information, at any rate, than pornography.”

Access “Sex Ed, Declassified” at aware.org.sg/sex-ed-declassified