Sex Education

Bird and Bees Education According to a survey done by Healthline, half of the participants answered wrong when asked if HIV can spread through saliva (Graves). This is a perfect example of the result of our current sex education system. A comprehensive sex education program is vital, to help mold young people into safe and responsible adults.

Abstinence-only education focuses on abstinence being the only way to avoid pregnancy, STDs, and STIs. A comprehensive sex education program focuses on topics like consent, gender identity, birth control, and other topics. This is so important because abstinence-only sex education uses scare tactics to convince students to not have sex and s damaging to students’ mental health, comprehensive sex education has been proven to reduce pregnancy and STD rates, and it helps people develop better relationships, both sexually and emotionally.

Abstinence-only courses are geared towards

AbstinenceOnly Education Courses Abstinence-only education courses often use scare tactics to try and convince students not to have sex.

They often skip over important topics like consent and birth control

cisgender, heterosexual people. Many people in the LGBTQ+ community felt unprepared to go into relationships, both emotionally and sexually (Heels). This has led to many painful experiences.

Sex education classes should prepare all students for the real world.

that engage in premarital sex to chewed-up gum.”(Hall and Stranger-

essential to create healthy self-knowledge and reconciliation, healthy conversation and understanding, healthy mind-sets and

options. One school in Texas compared, “females

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Damage to Mental Health Abstinence-only courses have been shown to damage the mental health of students that are in the LGBTQ+ community.

matter is that it is extremely important. The US has a

courses don’t affect pregnancy, STI, or STD rates. A study found that a comprehensive sex education lowers pregnancy rates by about 3% (Mark and Wu). This type of education is very beneficial.

Graves, LeAnne. “Healthline Survey on Sex Education in America.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 6 Nov. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/health/sexual-education-survey# sti-prevention .

Heels, Sonja W. (2019) "The Impact of Abstinence-Only Sex Education Programs in the United States on Adolescent Sexual Outcomes," Perspectives: Vol. 11 , Article 3.

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F., and David W. Hall. “AbstinenceOnly Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S.” PLoS ONE, vol.

6, no. 10, Oct. 2011, pp. 1–11. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/10.1371/journal .pone.0024658 Mark, Nicholas D.E, and Lawrence L. Wu. “More Comprehensive Sex Education Reduced Teen Births: QuasiExperimental Evidence.” PNAS, 14 Feb. 2022, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2113144119