title: Sex education promotes safer behavior.
abstract: I started having sexual relations at 10 with a girl at the same school who was almost my age.  We did not have anything to protect against pregnancy or diseases.   I did not know about contraceptive methods then.  I learned about these methods in a sex education program.  It helped me control myself and show my school buddies what to do to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies.  After the training, I lost my shame about things that would have seemed forbidden before.  I am no longer afraid to express myself about sexuality, a subject that was taboo during my childhood.  I learned about family planning centers through the training too.  At one clinic, it is easy to get condoms because the person who serves there is young and we can trust him.  With older people, one is not so at ease asking for condoms.  Before that, I got condoms at the pharmacy, but I did not get them myself.  I asked someone who is a little older and could buy them without fear to get them.  Someone as young as me is not well thought of in pharmacies, and one fears running into family members or friend of the family.  A year ago when I used a condom, the girl thought I wanted to humiliate her. Another time, I had some condoms but I did not use them because I did not have enough courage to propose that.  With another girl, I asked her the first day of her period to find out if she was fertile or not.  That was a little difficult for me.  Now that I have been in training, I found out that it is normal to use a condom and it is good to protect oneself against disease.  I may be that I am the one who carries the disease.  It's also good to protect against pregnancy, because I go out with girls my age.  Now when I am with a girl, I propose using a condom, I try to convince her, and if she refuses, I don't have sex with her. So I'm no longer afraid of pregnancy or disease.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buaben-moevi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000349:Africa; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D000352:Africa, Northern; D000354:Africa, Western; D000367:Age Factors; D001519:Behavior; D017280:Condoms; D003267:Contraception; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004493:Education; D005193:Family Planning Services; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014037:Togo
keywords: Adolescents; Africa; Africa South Of The Sahara; Age Factors; Barrier Methods; Behavior; Condom; Contraception; Contraceptive Methods; Contraceptive Usage; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Education; Family Planning; French Speaking Africa; Population; Population Characteristics; Premarital Sex Behavior; Sex Behavior; Sex Education; Togo; Western Africa; Youth