For many, the American sex education system is not only an uncomfortable and awkward journey, but also a problematic one. Many students that are put through different health classes meant to educate them on the nature of sex come out confused, uneducated, and with potentially the wrong information.
One of the main issues with the sex education system is how normal school teachers are assigned the duty of discussing sex, relationships, and puberty with their students. This can be very uncomfortable for both teacher and pupil, especially when not signed up for.
Though these teachers are given paperwork on how to present these topics, hardly are they trained to speak about sex or answer related questions. This makes students afraid to speak up and reach out, in fear that their teacher will look at them differently, in a time where they need support more than ever during a life-changing transition.
According to Time, “‘[Sex Ed] needs to be delivered by experts who are sex positive, who enjoy their work and who are in a position to maintain clear boundaries with students,”’ states Pandora Pound, a researcher working at the University of Bristol. Teachers will feel uncomfortable, which will make the student feel the same, and the atmosphere will be awkward, and anything but uneducational. Schools need to invest in speakers who are willing to give correct information to young people and be enthusiastic and involved.
Another problem with Sex Ed is its focus on the idea of sex, as opposed to the act of it. Most schools will discuss needing to use protection and the spread of STIs, but not the different types of protection and diseases. Many students are not told about female condoms, spermicide, dental dams or how to use them. They are only informed of the dangers of HIV and AIDS, but not other potentially dangerous infections like herpes, gonorrhea, HPV, etc.
Crucial information transpires to a liability when it plants fear into young people’s minds to potentially stop them from having sex, since there are so many dangers they are not ready to face. The Odyssey does not help when it states, “We are taught that ONLY two things can come out of sex: a baby or an STD.”
The LGBTQ+ community is especially ignored in sex education. This can be very dangerous when teenagers who are having intercourse with the opposite sex without protection are more at risk for STDs. The reasoning behind this is that many gay and lesbian people who are sexually active do not know that they have the same obligation to use protection as well. Male condoms are discussed, though not as a necessary step for two men having intercourse.
Meanwhile, dental dams and other forms of protection for women tend not to be talked about at all. In fact, many forms of sex are not even grazed, like anal and oral, or how to protect yourself. Sexual Education not only ignores those of different sexual orientations and gender identifications, but it puts people at risk by the lack of education.
When The Fader interviewed students and teachers about sex education, Talya Sokoll, teacher and librarian, said, “As early as possible, it’s vital to have conversations with kids about what bodies are capable of, should and shouldn’t be used for, and that not all are the same.”
Our sex education system has many missing pieces. If someone is being safe and respectful, intercourse is a normal and healthy experience. Because of this, the sex education system needs to be changed, desperately. It needs to focus on a variety of different means of protection, and take into consideration different sexualities, abuse, consent, and the emotional and physical happenings to the body during intercourse.
If schools continue to teach children in such a negative way, people will continue to fall victim to diseases and unfortunate situations due to being uneducated, at the arms of our own American schools.
