Once a week the entire Puok High student body gathers in front of the school for announcements and the flag-raising ceremony.  This week, during the last student gathering of 2011, our school director verbalized his New Year wishes through a hand-held megaphone: “Students have been caught having sex behind the school.  This needs to stop.  It’s degrading to our school, culture and your own ability to learn.”

He said a lot more, but I have a hard time hearing Khmer through megaphones.  I have no idea who caught the students or how or the number of students caught or what time of day.  So many unanswered questions.

During the announcement, I was standing off to the side with my co-teacher.  He chuckled as he listened, explaining to me that nowadays boys wear their pants a lot lower than before (thanks to Korean pop music video influences) and girls sometimes wear shorter skirts.  But, my co-teacher made a good point, saying a lot of the ancient statues around Angkor Wat are of naked women dancing the culturally-significant Khmer Apsara dance.  He concluded that this sex stuff is as old as time.

And, it should be noted, in general, sexuality and the idea of privacy here are different than in America.  Many of my neighbors live in one or two room houses (that includes the kitchen and living room) with many children.  So, even married couples may rarely see each other naked because, when they’re home and when they’re sleeping, they’re almost always next to their children.