Sex ed: what students wish they could have learned

Emilia Rivadeneira Correspondent

For some students, the idea of sex education brings back memories of middle school class discussions on abstinence, outdated and boring videos explaining how babies are made and PowerPoints describing the most marketed forms of protection: the birth control pill and condoms. These assumptions regarding sex education demonstrate that for many students, it hasn’t been taught ef- fectively or at all.

“From what I remember, [sex education] was very much not talked about heavily,” said Travis Espinoza Mundo, a second-year studying elementary education. “I just got like, ‘This is X. Here’s the parts. This is what happens. Here’s the negatives. Here’s a protection and another protection,’ but there’s not much.” stinence-only ideology, which elicits judgment and shame around premarital sex. But sex happens, even before marriage, as a physical bonding activity that is an important part of many relationships. Sex education should be more comprehensive and include the non-reproductive aspect of sexual relationships.

Let’s

is One of the main things students agreed on is the fact that we should stop seeing sex as just a means for reproduction, because it’s not.

Brianna Brandle, a fourth-year studying psychology, said a lot of discussion surrounding sex concerns reproduction only.

“Yes, that’s a thing,” Brandle said. “But also, sex is not just about reproduction. Sex is about relationship dynamics.”

By perceiving sex as only a means to reproduce, we are promoting the ab -

“In high school, I would have liked to have more of an intersectional perspective on sex and how it’s not just something that’s in the bedroom, it’s something that affects people’s lives,” said Maeve Hennessy, a third-year in international studies.

If we talk about sex, we should be inclusive

We should stop pretending that sex only happens between men and women. Instead, sex education should be taught from an intersectional perspective that includes all races, genders and sexual