When it comes to society avoiding everything that has to do with sex education, Pakistanis prove to be the undisputed champions.
You will hear a “ hush ” or “ chup kero ” every time you’d want to have an open discussion on the topic. Many girls who have led a sheltered life in the vast rural areas of Pakistan would not know the meaning of conceiving a child until they themselves are married. If they’re lucky, an old confidant will let them know how the universe has been working for ages. If they’re even luckier, they’ll be born to the rare specimen of parents who’ll give them the sex talk.
On the other hands, boys will be expected to know because VPNs are free or because “mardh banna zaroori hai”.
Those who don’t know, won’t be considered manly enough. The whole problem with this process is that the sources teaching our children about sex will have a form of leverage over their minds; this in turn creates room for an incidence of abuse. This, coupled with the ignorance taken as a collective initiative by the society has cost the average Pakistani individual a lot in terms of another unreported case of sexual assault. 
When a society’s fabric is generationally knitted by conservatism; straight forward rejection of secularism; long standing convention there is obviously little space for liberal discussion over what is to be considered taboo. That is part of the hurdle in making sex education a reality in the Pakistani education system; sex-ed is one of the greatest taboos engraved in an average mind in our part of the world. More or less anything that slightly hints toward sex is considered taboo.
Ironically, swearing openly on the streets is not as objectionable as talking about sex-ed.
The imbedded sexism in our culture gives leverage for rape jokes to be justified as quality time standup comedy. This results in a desensitized behavior towards sexual assault. The ill-famed police interrogation into any sexual assault case hinders victims from stepping forward. This causes the dark figure of crime to accumulate over years into a disastrously high number; this represents an invisible magnitude of extreme psychological, emotional and physical suffering.
Often a victim will be held partly responsible for the crime because “wearing clothes that are not conservative” apparently equates to consent.
But what explains a seven year old girl getting raped? The problem does not lie in the clothes but in the mentality that feels entitled to attack whatever it wills. The problem lies in the inability to identify predatory behaviour; it is caused due to a lack of understanding of what the “ red signals ” are. These red signals go undetected, due to the very absence of sexual education; it is imperative in educating the young regarding self-defense concerning illicit and un-welcomed sexual behavior. However, it is something our society is taking a long time to digest. We all remember how one of the most reputable journalists of Pakistan, Mubashir Luqman, did an entire show defaming a private school which apparently did a “horrendous thing … to our children” when sex ed was added to its curriculum. The famous “ Udaari ” received a notice by Pemra for “immoral content”. There were endless complaints when in reality, the tv show depicted the “horrendous” truths of a hushed society. Regardless, the show won the hearts of millions of Pakistanis and left the country with one solid realization: rape exists .
The trickle down effect of the #MeToo campaign and women opening up about their stories of sexual assault in the “Larry Nassar” case and the “Harvey Weinstein” scandal further added to the wave of awareness. Hence, when the country witnessed the horrifying incident of the Zainab rape and murder case, it was not another story that went unnoticed amongst the millions that had already. This one incident in January started off 2018 with the Pakistani conscience jolted awake.
It made Pakistanis belonging to all classes realise everything it had been doing wrong all these years: ignoring the importance of sex education.
The great misfortune is the fact that it took an innocent girl’s assault, rape and murder to shake the foundations of the metanarrative governing people to stay silent about sexual abuse and sex education. The country witnessed a week of heated debate over making sex education an official part of the school curriculum. A taboo had been partially broken: there was open discussion over the importance of sex education. It has become more evident to most of the society that for children to be aware of the dangers around them, it is important they have an understanding of the problem and the solution to a challenge they could potentially face.
Sex education has a long way to go in Pakistan.
Some consider it a means of providing teenagers with more access to easier and safer intercourse. However, it has a undeniable impact that can’t be ignored; at least for the part where teaching children about preventing sexual abuse is concerned.