Amirin recently launched a weekly video podcast on issues related to sexual health and says she hopes it will help fill in the knowledge gaps.

"Most of the research actually shows that most of the people learn from porn, asking from their friends and they believe in myths," said Amirin. "That is a dangerous thing. For instance, they believe that washing your genitals after having sex, especially with alcohol, can prevent you from getting a sexual transmission infection."

The lack of basic information about sexual health and the prevalence of myths also runs parallel to the spread of HIV across the country.

The National AIDS Prevention Commission reports the rate of HIV infections is on the rise in several provinces, including Bengkulu, Papua, Maluku, Aceh and Banten.

Official figures show that some 70,000 Indonesians are HIV positive, but it is estimated the real figure could be as high as 300,000. For Aryanti Tarman, conservative attitudes need to catch up with modern day realities.

"I think lots of people are sexually active even though they are not married," added Tarman. "It seems that the society in general is still trying to ignore that. They still pretend that it is not happening but it is happening, so, like, you need to do something about it and make sure that if the young people do it at least they do it safely."

Although the government has been reluctant to introduce sex education into the curriculum, non-traditional educators like Zoya Amirin say they are seeing a change in public attitudes.