A.I.D.S. school groups mooted

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 9

A.I.D.S. school groups mooted

Mini task forces in schools where young people could talk about A.I.D.S. and other sexually transmitted diseases were promoted yesterday as an ideal situation by the chairman of the Australian National Advisory Committee on A.1.D.5., Miss Ida Buttrose. Miss Buttrose told about 200 Wellington sixthformers and seventhformers that they should consider establishing task forces in their own schools.

“You could set your own programme for the task force and you might like to ask someone like me or others to come and talk to you at lunchtimes,” she said.

Talking about A.I.D.S. was the only way to remove many of the myths about it, said Miss Buttrose. It would also teach young people a lot of what they needed to know about A.I.D.S.

“Terminology is one of the things we assume young people know but they don’t — in Australia we found that 70 per cent of young people knew what homosexuals were but they did not know what the term ‘heterosexual’ meant.” A.I.D.S. education was now taught in many State schools in Australia but was not compulsory anywhere except Tasmania, she said. “I think it should be compulsory because it is such a serious problem. I actually believe A.I.D.S. education should start in primary school when children are 10 or 11 years old.”

Miss Buttrose told the pupils that they would have to be their own role models in A.I.D.S. prevention.

Young people must learn that it was all right to say no to sex, she said. “We have in society what I call the ‘Love Boat’ syndrome where all problems are shown to be solved by sex. Sex is presented as a panacea for all problems and it is difficult to say ‘Don’t do this’ to young people when we have all sorts of garbage on our TVs.” Miss Buttrose is in New Zealand as part of A.I.D.S. Awareness Week.