The gomen just launched sex-ed videos, so we showed them to some Malaysian kids

Boys and girls, do you actually know what to do when a stranger inappropriately touches you??

Fortunately, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry (KPWKM) has recently launched a series of videos on sex education for children, particularly on safe and unsafe touch. And guess what?? They’re on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/5mFr0pVuLgE?list=PLEvNS-Vg7bxaYyGbL8MH0iOL5KNPTp36E

There are five videos altogether and each videos teaches children what they need to do when…

1. Someone touches you inappropriately (for girls)
2. Shows you something inappropriate
3. Takes inappropriate photos of you
4. Someone ‘jokingly’ touches you inappropriately
5. Someone touches you inappropriately (for boys)

“This is a creative approach to ensure that our message reaches directly to the target and to all segments of society. The kind of information we want to spread through the videos is basic knowledge, which children must know to prevent themselves from being manipulated.” – Dr Wan Azizah, KPMKW’s Minister, told The Star.

While these videos are definitely a lot less creepy than the ones NagaDDB did a few years ago, how effective are they?

We showed them to children aged 6 to 12 and…

Initially, we thought the videos are pretty okay and not too disturbing. But, as you can see, there’s a mix of reactions from the children la. Some went, “Eee, apa ni?” while some were actually worried about playing outside of their houses.

“I don’t want to play outside anymore because someone’s gonna kidnap me and take my shirt off.” – Harraz, 7 year old.

Despite their reactions, all of them now know what to do if they face those kind of situations portrayed in the videos.

Besides children, we also asked parents, who had watched the videos together with their children, what they think about the videos. According to Joanna, mother to a 9 and 12 year old, the videos were good for education, but perhaps a bit repetitive.

“(I) Guess it’s good for educating younger kids. (My) Eldest says she knows all these already… but the video was “cute”. I think it’s a good way to intro the topic for discussion among kids.” – Joanna told CILISOS.

Generally, most parents we talked to claimed that these videos are pretty good as children can understand these videos easily. Some parents like Hezlina Yusof and Azmin Bidin, who are Harraz’s parents, added that these videos can also help children to realise the danger they’re exposed to.

Okla, they seem pretty supportive of the ministry’s initiative through these videos. However, the ministry wasn’t the one who came up with the idea. Waitamin, if not them… then who??

The mastermind behind these videos is an NGO… that fights pornography (literally)!

The ministry has reportedly collaborated with Malaysians Against Pornography (formerly known as Mothers Against Pornography, MAP) to produce these videos while a freelance motion graphic and video production, Oblind Studio were the guys who made the videos.

MAP was initiated by a group of medical doctors in 2013 to fight pornography among school children. Besides that, they also aim to curb sexual misconduct in children, teenagers and young adults in Malaysia.

We also found out that MAP has been doing videos like this and you can actually watch them on their Facebook page. In fact, it provides free online courses on safe and unsafe touch on its website. But this time around, according to one of its directors, Abid Zain, MAP collaborated with the ministry in this project as a content provider.

As it turns out, these videos aren’t just your regular YouTube videos. They’re actually advertisements and the ministry has worked together with Google to screen these videos before children get to watch their favourite videos like Didi and Friends or even Baby Shark doo doo!

We actually channeled our inner child by exploring the kids section on YouTube (yes, this writer literally watched Didi and Friends) to see if we can catch any of those advertisements in action. However, none of the advertisements showed up in the videos we watched. :\

Despite that, at the time of writing, the videos have reached about 200,000 views altogether after they were posted a week ago. The ministry reportedly aims to reach a viewership of 150,000 children from the age two but there isn’t any news on whether the ministry has achieved its target. In fact, we’re still waiting for a response from the ministry about this.

But if you’re wondering why there are only five videos, that’s because…

“This project, which is targeted to preschoolers, is a pilot project.” – Abid told CILISOS.

Wait, does that mean there are more videos coming soon??

KPMKW’s Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh said that the ministry have plans to make more videos like this to cater to various age groups. This may be a good move la because, just in case ugaiz forgot of how serious sexual crimes against children are, at least one of 10 children in Malaysia have been, or continue to be sexually abused. And, oftentimes, cases like this are not reported so there may be more la. 🙁

Therefore, we hope that the ministry would be committed in making video like this to educate children and create awareness to adult about sexual crimes against children.