Sitting in a cafe in Sydney recently, I heard a line that I would never have expected to hear from Dad, a dull, quiet, introverted Chinese man in his late 60s who can be quite conservative and stubborn, especially when it comes to dating.

“When you hang out with boys and go on dates, don’t forget to use condoms to protect yourself.”

Looking serious, he went on to tell me that using protection can not only prevent pregnancy, but also sexually transmitted infections. “When I was in my 20s, a colleague of mine in the factory met a woman …”

I didn’t follow the love life of Dad’s ex-colleague as I was still in shock that Dad, who turned 68 last year, had just given me a sex education talk. I was 27 years old, and I had been on and off in the dating world for years. Wasn’t it a bit too late to teach me the importance of condoms?

I know how challenging it is for Dad to even mention the word “condom” in front of me. Despite the rapidly developing internet culture and social progression in China, sex is still a taboo for my parents’ generation. Nor was there adequate sex education in........

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