Let’s talk about sex, baby. Salt-N-Pepa said it in the 90s, and I’m saying it again now, but with a slight twist: let’s talk about sex comprehensively.
In the United States today, each state can pick and choose what it wants to include in its sex education curriculum, if they choose to have such a program at all. Essentially, young people are at the mercy of their states and school districts due to the lack of nationwide standards. Some states, like Arkansas, require that abstinence-only sex education be stressed and that the importance of sex only within marriage be included. Other states, like California, promote comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education, with topics ranging from contraception to inclusive views of different sexual orientations.
You might imagine that these curriculum differences would lead to disparities in what young people know and think about sex and relationships, which could also lead to disparities in sexual and reproductive health outcomes. If you imagined this, you would be absolutely correct.
A 2017 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 40 percent of high school youth have had sexual intercourse. Furthermore, young people ages 15 to 24 bear a disproportionate share of S.T.I.s in the United States. Young people clearly need to know how to practice safe sex, but how? Abstinence-only education is not the answer.
Pictured: Graphics from the C.D.C. on the proportion of new S.T.I.s accounted for by young people and the unique factors that place youth at risk for S.T.I.s.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A study by The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine found that abstinence-only programs “are not effective in delaying initiation of sexual intercourse or changing other behaviors,” while comprehensive sex education programs do the opposite. Essentially, abstinence-only sex education leaves young people unprepared for the near inevitability of sex, which puts them at a heightened risk for poor health outcomes.
By not presenting youth with all the facts, abstinence-only sex education programs withhold crucial health information, and they can stigmatize and exclude many young people. By stigmatizing sex, students are left in the dark and are unprepared to make safe, healthy choices for themselves and their partners. In fact, students who receive abstinence-only sex education are at a heightened risk for unintended pregnancy and S.T.I.s.
In short, young people deserve better. Young people are smart and capable of making rational, healthy decisions about their own bodies, and they deserve to have all the facts presented to them. The best way to do this is to federally mandate comprehensive sex education in the United States. There needs to be a universal set of minimum standards for comprehensive sex education, but states should also be able to choose to go above and beyond the minimum standards. Each state must include the topics listed in this curriculum, which should be based on comprehensive sex education rather than abstinence-only sex education. However, all curriculums should also include abstinence as a viable option.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Adolescent Health Care, “comprehensive sexuality education should be medically accurate, evidence-based, and age-appropriate, and should include the benefits of delaying sexual intercourse, while also providing information about normal reproductive development, contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies, as well as barrier protection to prevent sexually transmitted infections.” Topics should also include consent, healthy relationships, gender equality, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Pictured: Six young people describing how comprehensive sex education helps them.
Photo courtesy of Harini Rajagopalan for Feminism in India.
Comprehensive sex education programs will protect against many unwanted pregnancies and S.T.I.s, and there is evidence to suggest that they can result in young people waiting longer to have sex for the first time, having fewer sexual partners, and reducing sexual risk-taking. Every young person deserves to have accurate information to make decisions for themselves about their own bodies and relationships, which is why federal standards for comprehensive sex education is so crucial.
So, don’t you want to provide young people with comprehensive knowledge of all the good things and all the bad things that could happen during sex? If so, it will take a lot of people-powered actions to make a change at the federal level. To start, we can vote for progressive leaders at all levels of governments (national, state, local, and even individual school boards) who will support this new policy, and we can contact our current representatives to make sure that our voices are heard. We can also increase public support for this plan by spreading the word about how important and influential this policy will be on the health and safety of young people across the country. By collective action from individuals, sexual and reproductive health disparities can be minimized, and young people can be equipped with the knowledge to make safe decisions. So, let’s get to it. Let’s talk about sex comprehensively.
