Parents want children schooled sex abuse

School children show an astonishing lack of sex education and most parents want schools to teach their kids how to avoid sexual assault, Beijing News reported on Monday quoting a newly published survey.

The children cited parents and schools as their first and second source of sexual knowledge. However, more than one third say they have never been told how to protect their bodies, with many 14-year-olds believing their private parts to be hair, eyes and head, a survey which polled 107 children between six and 14 years old revealed.

Only 18.6 percent of the polled parents say they teach their children how to escape or ask for help when abused, but more than 40 percent say they have never guided their children to know their own bodies or the bodies of the other gender, according to the survey investigating more than 1,100 parents.

Although 68.4 percent of the parents claim they have passed on sexual knowledge to their children, 30 percent say it's mostly about physiology, such as the menstruation and dreams.

Given sex is still generally a taboo subject in China, 93.1 percent of the parents support formal sex education in schools.