Sexual Health of Teenagers in a Gypsy Population in the UK Compared to the General Population - Essay Example

Gypsy teenagers in the United Kingdom tend to miss out on sex education that is provided in school making it more difficult to provide proper information about their sexual health.  Parents are not also expected to provide supportive discussion about sexual health to their children because this is not the norm among the traveling gypsy community (Parry et al., 2004)

In a study conducted by Parry et al., (2004) about the Health Status of Gypsies and Travellers in England, they reported that gypsies and travelers regard discussion about sexuality as culturally inappropriate and also tends to withdraw their children from sex education classes at school.  The norm among the gypsy population was that a gypsy girl should find a husband early and build a family.  Nowhere in the gypsy culture where discussion of sex is permitted even during the course of getting married.

            Such, the study conducted by Parrty et al., (2004) and Camlyn et al., (2009) deduced that because of the gypsy population’s lack of awareness about sexual health, they are less to be healthy compared to the general population of the United Kingdom.   There were also other barriers in accessing health care among the gypsy population in the United Kingdom such as communication barriers and prejudice.  Combining these two factors, their study was led to conclude that the gypsy population in United Kingdom’s poor health is not only limited to sexual health but also includes their general health.