‘Let The Body Talk’, or Can Children Learn to Protect Themselves Against Incest?

‘Tell the children that talking about sexual abuse is necessary so that you can protect yourself against it. Make a comparison with road safety lessons.’ 2 Just as you cannot start teaching road safety precautions early enough by instilling in children the rules they should obey to ensure their own safety, they should also learn at a very young age that their bodies could be in danger of abuse and that they can protect themselves against it. The prevention programme for primary schools, ‘Feeling Yes, Feeling No’ is a learning programme complete with exercises to train the children in behaviour which will increase their safety. The difference between lessons on road safety and lessons on sexual abuse is that in the latter the main theme is not rules which have to be obeyed, but learning to talk about feelings.