We Can’t Give Up on Sex Education

Given the state of the world we live in, improving sex education may seem like an issue relatively low on the list of priorities. Lately, it’s also all too easy to feel that progress related to sexual or reproductive health is something to daydream about.

But improving sex education isn’t about securing a small win in the face of what can feel like constant defeat, or about “taking what we can get.” It’s about the fact that the children who will inherit the world we’re building (or destroying) deserve better.

Like many 22-year-olds, there are days where I can remember middle school with horrifying clarity. Sixth grade, when my DC public school had its mandatory sexual health class, is a particularly poignant memory. I don’t know that I had expected much, but I do remember being surprised at the fact that we were separated by gender, and how this only added to the complex intrigue that was already defining our interactions.

I remember that the class consisted of some of the most stigmatizing, fearmongering language I had ever heard. The teacher, bizarrely, spoke about an unnamed Beyonce music video and how “inappropriate” it was, for a good portion of the class. She told us about HIV and other STIs, and how the only way to prevent them for sure was to not have sex. She told us that if we “got pregnant,” we’d be stuck raising a baby, likely on our own, paying astronomical daycare costs each month.

At this point, a teaching assistant in the room with us felt the need to step in to say that the actual figure we’d likely pay was much lower, but the damage had been done. Many of us came away from that experience feeling like we’d foolishly signed a bad contract by being born girls, and our bodies and impulses would one day betray us and secure us a terrible future. I think the boys learned about puberty and were told to use condoms. Months later, we were still arguing about whether a tampon could take your virginity.

Bad sexual health education is not something we left behind in the nineties, or something exclusive to private, religious schools. If you have young people in your life right now, and they view you as a trusted adult, take any opportunity you can to try and reduce some of the stigma they’ve been taught to internalize. Of course, we have to push for comprehensive sexual education (CSE) for all students, regardless of the values of their institution. But we also have a responsibility to try and address the present in small ways, while we’re hoping to change the future in a bigger sense.

Approximately 40% of 15- to 17-year-olds indicate that they do not have enough information to make decisions about birth control. In Mexico, three million people tuned into Papás por Conveniencia, a telenovela produced by Televisa and Population Media Center, dedicated to blending themes of sexual and reproductive health with many of their storylines. The show encourages curiosity and honesty, and encourages viewers to start open conversations free of stigma. Full episodes are available on Univision's website.

For more insight on how to talk about CSE, how to advocate for sex education in tandem with access to contraception, and just how vital it is to dismantle the barriers young people face, check out Power to Decide and SIECUS' fact sheet. 

Talk to your children, your younger siblings, your nephews and nieces, your godchildren, talk to everyone who is interested in what you have to say – and encourage them to talk to you. While we strive to be hopeful that the world will look different for the next generation of students, please do not forget the current ones. Encourage their curiosity, their openness, and their autonomy. Learn together.