This will be the first official sexual health website in Vietnam to be publicly available online. Here, readers will be provided with authoritative information on reproductive health, sexual health, and even watch films about sexual activity… This website is established by the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS).
A Library in Its Early Days
Dr. Khuất Thu Hồng, Deputy Director of the Institute for Social Development Studies, stated that the information and images published on the website will be healthy and educational. The establishment of a sexual health website is part of the project “Enhancing Research Capacity on Sexuality and Sexual Health in Vietnam“, which has been ongoing since 2002 and is still in preparation.
However, ISDS has built a library focusing on reproductive health and sexual health issues. This library currently houses over 3,000 books, including materials related to reproductive health and sexual health for various reader groups. An important part of the library is the collection of books and documents on methodologies, research, training, and policy advocacy. Some significant foreign documents will be translated into Vietnamese and published.
The core of the library is a CD-ROM library that includes basic (quantitative and qualitative) materials from surveys and studies on reproductive health and sexual health conducted in Vietnam. Additionally, ISDS has also collected cassette tapes and videos obtained during research and training programs aimed at raising awareness about reproductive health and sexual health for research and training purposes.
The library, along with its data and collections, has attracted many readers, especially students.
The Need for Sexual Knowledge
Addressing sexual culture, Dr. Khuất Thu Hồng believes that Vietnamese people currently lack significant information. This lack of knowledge about sexuality has greatly impacted health as well as the happiness and love between couples. The phenomena of divorce, infidelity, and prostitution are on the rise, partly due to a lack of sexual knowledge.
Through in-depth studies conducted by ISDS on prostitution in recent years, the results show that the reason people turn to prostitution is often due to dissatisfaction with the sexual life between spouses. There are couples who go for years without any physical intimacy. Those who endure live in frustration, suppressing their sexual needs, while those who cannot endure seek out prostitution or infidelity… This is an undeniable reality in our society today.
However, learning and acquiring knowledge about sexuality is not a straightforward task. The longstanding Vietnamese belief that sexuality is something to be concealed is a significant barrier that prevents the culture of sexuality from reaching the people. More importantly, those who wish to seek legitimate knowledge about sexuality often do not know where to read or watch.
The sexual health websites that people accidentally come across today often feature sensational content that is more vulgar than healthy sexual relationships. However, those seeking to learn about sexual knowledge can only find such types of websites.
Therefore, Dr. Khuất Thu Hồng argues that the establishment of an official sexual health website is essential in the current context.
