Abstinence is Over, It’s Time For Sex Ed To Catch Up

The Sex Ed curriculum is far too outdated for today’s generation of teens. Envisioning inclusive Sex Ed requires rethinking the way that we think about sex.

Whenever the topic of Sex Education is brought up, it is usually met with groans from students, parents, and teachers alike. It’s a generally controversial topic whose presence has only increased in the 21st century, when sexuality and identity are becoming all the more important to today’s teenagers. The divide of opinions on what should be taught varies not only based on age, but geographic location. The general consensus is that very few are happy with the way sex education is taught as a whole, so what is the solution?

The answer is difficult to find because the way that sex education is taught is decided by the state. Currently, only about 24 states, as well as the District of Columbia, mandate sex education in schools, and only 13 require the Sex Education to be medically accurate. Almost every state has some sort of curriculum for how sex education should be taught, but much of the actual content is left up to the individual school districts. This responsibility causes an extremely vast range in what is taught, not only state to state, but district to district. One end of the spectrum are states such as Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas, who do not mandate sex education, stress abstinence, and do not educate on sexual orientation. The other end encompasses states such as California, where sex education is mandated and required to be medically accurate, include information on contraception, and be inclusive to various sexual orientations.

What is currently taught in many schools is very different from what should be taught, according to Emmalinda MacLean, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the sex education company More Than Sex Ed. “It needs to address consent education. It needs to present LGBTQIA identities and relationships in positive, affirming, inclusive ways. It needs to cover all FDA-approved methods of birth control and pregnancy prevention, including correct use of condoms, specific info about HIV and AIDS, and medication available to prevent that, prep and pap. It needs to address human trafficking, and… resources that teens can access in their local communities,” MacLean said. Her response is in line with the beliefs of organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Many people are no longer just looking for basic information on anatomy and birth control, but also LGBTQ+ education and —with the rise of the Me Too movement— consent education.

Full and comprehensive Sex Education is needed now more than ever. More teenagers are sexually active now than they ever have been, and every year about 750,000 teenagers become pregnant. According to Planned Parenthood, this shift has also meant that STD rates, including HIV/AIDS, are currently on the rise amongst teens. Additionally, the concepts of gender and sexual identity, race, and consent are constantly evolving.

(Illustration by Liam Waldman / The Jaguardian)

What is currently taught in many schools is very different from what should be taught, according to Emmalinda MacLean, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at More Than Sex Ed.

According to MacLean, “[More Than Sex-Ed has] begun emphasizing intersectionality and anti-racism within sex education.” The topics covered in Sex Ed are more complex than they used to be, which is all the more reason for an updated curriculum.

Despite the need for full and comprehensive sex education in schools, there are still many people who oppose it. Many groups who criticize sex education claim that it encourages sexual behavior among teens. Those who support abstinence-only or stress abstinence education often believe that teaching abstinence is the only way to maintain the morality of young people. While abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid STDs and pregnancy, it is an unrealistic ideal to promote to all teenagers. It has been proven, time and time again, that comprehensive education is the best way to ensure that teenagers are making safe and responsible choices when it comes to their sexual activity.

The lack of LGBTQ+ sex education taught in schools is also cause for concern. Many teenagers feel as though the adults teaching sex education do not understand them, while many adults are at a complete loss as to how to approach LGBTQ+ identities. This disconnect has caused some teenage resentment of sex education, and the bafflement of adults.

The creation of the internet has also created new needs for sex education that did not exist for previous generations. Young people are exposed to explicit sexual content at a much younger age, which can lead to mass amounts of misinformation among teenagers.

“We are working with a generation of teenagers who are part of a massive human experiment. We’ve never had a generation of teenagers who have seen so much, very graphic sexual content before ever experiencing a sexual interaction before. Their parents’ generation had never seen sex the first time they had sex. That is not true for the majority of teenagers having their first sexual experience today,” MacLean said. “Most teens have already watched porn before they do it. And have gotten unhealthy ideas of what real sex is, from porn… I mean middle schoolers, seventh graders, will tell me that they don’t need my class because they already know it all, and they believe that because they have seen video of actors performing sexual behavior.”

The ideals that teenagers have absorbed from the internet can cause very unrealistic expectations for what sex is actually like, as well as promote unhealthy practices and unrealistic body expectations. This is not to say that the consumption of sexual content is inherently bad, however, it needs to be backed up by truthful information taught by professionals.

These issues with sex education don’t necessarily have easy solutions. Not only does the curriculum have to be updated, but the mindsets of those who resist have to be altered. How that change is going to come about is still unclear, but the first step is an adjustment of what is taught in schools. While many schools and states have a long way to go when it comes to this, programs such as More Than Sex-Ed are on the right track.