Dea Rexhepi was raised in a family that openly discussed everything, including sexual topics. She never hesitated when it came to asking questions about her body and mental health.
“I always read the chapter of the biology book and asked my parents and sisters, which are older than me, for things that I didn’t know, for example for physical changes in my body during adolescence, menstruation, etc.,” Rexhepi said.
However, the 22-year-old psychology student knew that a lot of people did not talk about sexual topics with their families or in school because they are considered taboo.
“I always think about my friends and people that I know, that couldn’t talk with their families, and often got the wrong information,” she said.
Rexhepi saw how the lack of sexual health knowledge hurt those in her community, particularly women. That is why Rexhepi jumped at an opportunity to bring sexual health awareness to young Kosovars.
Rexhepi and three fellow psychology students from the University of Pristina – Tuena Govori, Eurisa Rukovci and Vlora Shabani – designed a program for smart phones called “Shnet.” It is an informational app that provides users with material on the many aspects of living a healthy sexual lifestyle. There are five categories separating the information: Let’s Talk Sex, Safe is Sexy, Anatomy, Sex Facts and Know Yourself. These topics include everything from menstruation to how to apply a condom.
Govori said the lack of sex education in schools and families prompted them to choose a mobile phone app as the platform to distribute information to the youth.
The creation of Shnet was funded by a 2,000-euro grant from Upshift, a gender equality project by UNICEF Innovations Lab. It was launched in February and is available on Google Play.
Prior to the launch, the creators of Shnet held presentations in 10 schools in Pristina in order to gather feedback from students and teachers.
Rexhepi said the task would be easier if Kosovo schools had special health classes on sexual education, so that students can get the necessary information.
“Even that the time passes, this stays the same,” she added. “It was same for me 10 years ago, and it’s still the same for today’s youth.”
Govori explained that the public’s response to Shnet was favorable.
“Although there is almost no discussion on this topic, the students have not hesitated at all to ask questions,” Govori said. “They also said that such an application is very necessary in our country. Also, the teachers gave us their support for the realization of these presentations.”
Proper sex education, especially regarding contraceptives, she said, is what many young adults need today.
Throughout Kosovo, contraceptives are usually available to the public. On Gazmend Zajmi street in Pristina, a pharmacy offers the medical basics – Band-Aids, cough syrup and different-sized braces for different joints. Along one wall, a small section of shelves houses plastic packets of birth control pills. These pills can be bought with or without a doctor’s prescription and cost one to three euros. Wrapped condoms sit in a bowl on the counter or packed in cardboard boxes on a shelf.
Genti Shehu, a 41-year-old pharmacist in Pristina, said he does not see as many teens buying forms of contraceptives.
“Older women buy the pills most, and they have prescription most of the time,” he said. “But kids not as much, not even for condoms.”
Sex education is scarce in Kosovo society, and unsafe sex practices are common, particularly in teenagers and young adults.
According to a 2014 survey by the United Nations Fund for Popular Activities (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), one in four sexually active adolescents in Kosovo said they do not use any type of protection or contraceptive to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The sample was taken from 4,531 adolescents ages 11 to 15. The survey also showed that there is a significant lack of awareness about birth control, with more than half of sexually active students surveyed said they did not use any type of protective measure during their last sexual encounter.
Kadri Gashi finds the lack of sexual awareness in Kosovo unacceptable.
Gashi, a project manager for the non-governmental organization Peer Educators Network (PEN), said that a curriculum for sex education designed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology exists in schools, but it is often not adequately taught. Therefore, it falls on NGOs like PEN to educate younger generations on the topic of sex.
“You should inform the youth in the beginning,” said Gashi. “Also, the teachers of biology and other teachers, when they lecture on a topic and go to the contraceptive and generally about the sex, they skip that page and go to another page because it’s still taboo. I remember when I was in school, no one would talk about the sex, about sexology in general about the man, about the woman.”
PEN was founded in 2002 and works on multiple projects that support youth development in all aspects of their lives. It recently traveled to different high schools throughout Kosovo, speaking about the importance of contraceptives to a healthy sexual lifestyle. Gashi recalled how members of PEN often had to speak to the students without teachers present in order to reduce embarrassment. Sometimes they even had to separate the boys from the girls.
Gashi said he does not want the same lack of awareness to affect his two elementary school daughters, and he has already begun talking to them about contraceptives and the importance of safe sex.
Dr. Myrvete Paçarada, a professor and gynecologist at the University Clinical Center of Kosova, said this lack of sex education, particularly regarding contraceptives and safe sex, seems to affect women more than men. She explained the stereotype exists that obtaining contraceptives is mainly a woman’s job.
Through a translator, Paçarada said that she sees a wide variety of female patients, but not many of her patients are young adults.
“Unfortunately, we deal less with teenagers, maybe because this is the duty of the high school professors or high schools to deal with them and give them some kind of counseling in sexual education,” she said.
When asked if she thought the high schools were doing this, Dr. Paçarada simply shook her head, a sigh escaping her lips.
Rexhepi recalls her own lack of sex education throughout school.
“As we all know, in Kosovo’s primary and high school’s curricula there’s no sexual education subject. It’s only one chapter about it in Biology subject, but teachers rarely taught it, and they always skip these chapters to avoid the subject. These teachers are usually 40 years or older and they feel ashamed to talk about sex with their students,” Rexhepi said.
Cultural and religious notions can also increase the struggle for young women to receive information on safe sex practices. In Kosovo, women under the age of 18 who want to visit a gynecologist are required by law to be accompanied by a parent. If a family believes that talking about sex is taboo then the daughter will not be able to receive consultation, Paçarada said.
Additionally, the options for birth control available to women are limited. Paçarada explained that the most common form of contraceptive she prescribes is pills. And as the procedure to insert an Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) is not performed at the clinic, the second most common contraceptive is condoms.
However, Paçarada said this can pose another problem for some women seeking contraceptives.
“People here see condoms as the man’s job. But there are men that don’t even buy condoms because they see that it’s the woman’s obligation to come here and take consultations. So, if a woman does neglect this part, it may come to having problems in birth control,” she said.
Rexhepi said the idea of a lack of sexual education affecting women more than men was a driving force behind their team’s creation of Shnet.
“This is the main reason that we even started all this project about Shnet app,” she said. “A lot of our female friends were forcibly married off as a result of unwanted pregnancies which came exactly from a lack of knowledge on contraception. Or if the couple decides to abort the baby, it’s again the whole burden at the woman’s side, because it’s her that goes through all physical pain during abortion, through mental problems and low emotional state. It’s also our mentality that gives power to men, and women that goes through these things often are called with names such as: kurvë (whore), rrospi (slut) etj. And of course, these are just a few from a hundred problems that women goes through by the lack of sexual education.”
Shnet has more than 1,500 downloads on Google play. Govori said she has a positive outlook for the future of sexual education in Kosovo.
“I think the young people in our country are beginning to become aware of the importance of sexual education in their overall health. However, much work still needs to be done in this regard,” Govori said.
Rexhepi and Govori are hoping to launch the IOS platform of Shnet in the near future, and possibly continue the lectures and discussions about reproductive health in other parts of Kosovo.
Rexhepi said their team will soon be working to measure the effectiveness of Shnet in communities. In the meantime, Shnet is linked to a blog that encourages young Kosovars to participate in safe, open discussions about healthy sexual lifestyles.
Rexhepi said there has been a spike in participation on the blog, and she hopes to see it continue as more teens realize they can challenge stigmas that surrounds sex in Kosovo.
(Kierra Sondereker is a reporting intern with KosovaLive this summer in cooperation with Miami University in the United States.)
