Sex Ed is a vital course to provide teenagers. While it is true that some teens are not going to be sexually active, most of them will be and it is better to offer the course than to allow these curious teens to learn the basics on their own, possibly to their detriment. For some more specific points as to why this course matters, keep reading.
The Abstinence-Only Approach Does Not Work
Research has shown that programs that focus on teaching abstinence until marriage are both ethically and scientifically flawed. These sorts of programs teach erroneous statistics on the effectiveness of condoms and other devices, can also exclude some teens who are just beginning to understand their urges. Furthermore, it can damage teens’ understanding of their bodies and pervert the joy and generational necessity of intercourse. These sorts of programs tend to have the backing of Christian organizations and are thus concerned with enforcing traditional gender roles; you would be hard-pressed to find an abstinence-until-marriage curriculum that addresses same-sex relationships or even, ironically enough, asexuality.
It Teaches Safer Ways
There is no evidence of sex education turning teens off from having sex. In this light, any way to teach teens about ways to avoid sexually transmitted infections and/or pregnancy is something that should be encouraged. The age at which people are getting married seems to be on the rise and this means that more and more premarital sex is being had.
Just Because The School Teaches Sex Ed, It Does Not Increase Sexual Activity in Students
Just about every study on the subject of sex ed’s effectiveness on the mentality of students has shown that activities like providing condoms and showing how to slip them on have did not influence the promiscuity of teenagers. The prevailing information of a body of research spanning more than two decades indicates that teaching sexual education does not tend to cause the sort of moral panic that some parents, and abstinence-only programs, are convinced will be the outcome. To reiterate: having condoms in schools will not be the final push a nervous teen needs to start engaging in sexual activity nor amplify the frequency of encounters.
Most Teens Are Already Sexually Active
According to the results of one particular study, 41% of high schools had experienced at last one sexual encounter. This study’s findings also discovered that 11.5% of these teens had engaged in sexual activities with four or more individuals, 57% of sexually active students had resorted to using a condom during their most recent sexual encounter and a mere 18% of these students had used birth control. It is also worth noting that one in five of this sexually active high school populace had admitted to using drugs and/or alcohol prior to their most recent sexual encounter.
When you consider all of these statistics, the need for teaching sexual education as a course becomes all the more sobering. The findings from that survey show that fewer teens than you might expect know how to use the means to avoid impregnation or a sexually-transmitted infection; they also illustrate just how important a notion like consent is when one in nine students used judgment-inhibiting drugs and/or alcohol prior to engaging in sexual activity.
It Risks Misinforming Teens on Suitable Replacements for Vaginal Intercourse
What do teens do when they lack the proper information regarding the risks of sexual activity? They usually resort to non-vaginal forms of enjoyment. Indeed, most teens fail to perceive oral sex as a violation of abstinence, even when oral sex is a known vector for sexually-transmitted infections. Abstinence-only programs will sometimes tell teens to avoid having sex without clarifying what sex is. Conversely, a comprehensive sex-ed program can encourage teens to make informed decisions before they choose to engage in alternative sexual acts. When teens are given insufficient information, they wind up going their way and often to their detriment, possibly even resorting to searching the web for “gynecologist near me“.
In Conclusion
Sexual education is a necessary class for the next generation. Failing to educate teens on sexual acts and their bo
