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Sex Education In Schools

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Sex ed! Sex ed! Sex ed!

That’s right. Say it loud and proud.

More schools need to be teaching this. In this day in age, sex ed shouldn’t be an option. I’m fortunate enough to have been adequately educated on sex, but many young people in America suffer from a lack of sexual education.The question is, why?

Could it be that people fear teaching youths about sex increases their sexual activity?

In 2010, Douglas Kirby wrote a brief article on the impact of school sex programs on sexual behavior in teens. The article states “sex…programs do not increase sexual behavior, and…school condom‐availability programs do not increase sexual activity,” (Kirby). Incorporating safe sex into schools’ curriculum is not only educational, but beneficial. Research has shown that it is better for students to receive sex ed because it lowers the teen pregnancy rate. In Norway and the Netherlands, for example, the sex education efforts put in have resulted in them being at the forefront of low teenage pregnancy rates.

Maybe the problem comes from parents being uncomfortable with their children learning about sex in school.

Well, Planned Parenthood reported that 96% of parents actually support their high schooler receiving sex education. The majority of parents feel that the programs should cover a variety of sex-related topics, like “birth control, STDs, healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, abstinence, and sexual orientation” (Planned Parenthood).

So, if educating young people about sex does not increase their sexual activity, and parents are in support of it being taught in schools, could there be a law prohibiting teaching sexual education?

As of the beginning of September 2017, 24 states, and the District of Columbia, make general sex education mandatory, Tennessee being one of them, and 20 states require information about contraception. While there’s a number of states that require sex education, each state has different requirements for the content being taught. Check out which states require sex ed and which topics must be covered here:

https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv-education

Even with so much evidence supporting sex ed, there still seems to be a lack of it, and it’s up to young adults to learn about sex all by themselves. Once people become more open about their sex lives, and less embarrassed by the topic, a new world of knowledge will be unleashed and I can’t wait.

And enjoy this Mean Girls reference, I couldn’t resist!

Colette Spencer

Colette Spencer

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