Sex. One of the most primal human instincts. It is the very thing that life itself is based off of. So why do people shun it and make it taboo? Especially in America, it is seen as some dirty word to say. This is reflected in the American school system where sex education is minimal.
Current sex education in the US looks something like this: a middle or high school student spending a few classes throughout the year learning about contraceptives and STIs, if not abstinence. In fact, in some states such as Arizona, schools are required to stress abstinence – if they even choose to offer sex education – leaving students with little sense of the realities they will face when they do inevitably start having sex. With formal sex education on the decline, it is more important now than ever to advocate for both a good quantity and quality of sex education offered in schools.
However, with this comes time required to implement all of this schooling as well as what ages children should learn specifics; so the age that sex education is introduced comes into question.
In many cases, sex education is introduced after students enter middle school which allows for harmful sexual experiences to occur early on. A study from Georgetown University claims that very young adolescents (ages 10-14) are often overlooked when considering sex education, and that teaching these younger kids the foundations of healthy relationships and sexual and reproductive health would ultimately reduce the amount of STIs, unwanted pregnancies, maternal deaths, and unsafe abortions. This is exactly why the age that students have sex education introduced to them should be lowered.
Not only would it decrease the risk of unwanted pregnancies and things of that sort, but it would also provide young students with the knowledge of what consent is, what a healthy friendship looks like, and how to tell if something going on with their body is normal or not. 13% of students given a questionnaire reported to have had nonconsensual sexual experiences before the age of 13. Certainly, this brings a problem to light. Teaching younger kids about consent and boundaries early on as a part of sex education is needed to mitigate against experiences like these.
In the same study, 64% of students reported having mutual sexual experiences when they were ages 6-10. Seems young, right? Although not usually thought about in regard to sex education, people naturally have curiosity about all parts of their body, which leads to exploration and unexplained “body sensations” at young ages. Without proper explanation of these experiences, children either have to seek out another source of information, like friends, which can lead to misinformation being spread, or they must be kept in the dark, potentially harvesting bad or guilty feelings about what they are going through. If sex education started at an age before this curiosity started, say preschool or kindergarten, children would face less self-shame and confusion.
So where do we find the answer to this lack of sex-education?
The Dutch have been the gold standard of sex education for some time now. Starting age-appropriate sex education lessons at the mere age of four, they utilize an approach called comprehensive sexuality education which covers topics such as reproductive biology, STIs, and contraceptives, as well as “family life, relationships, culture and gender roles, … human rights, gender equality, bodily autonomy and threats such as discrimination, sexual abuse and violence.” Although US sex-education somewhat covers topics like reproductive biology, STIs, and contraceptives, it is majorly lacking in this second part that teaches lessons about interpersonal relationships.
Schools rarely cover all these essential topics. In a survey conducted to college-aged students, 57.5% reported that the breadth of their overall sex education from school only covered some of these topics or less. Furthermore, 76.3% of these students ranked the efficacy of their sex education as three or less on a scale out of five. Students do not feel adequately prepared for what they will experience as they grow up, and as a result may even accumulate a negative attitude towards sex and relationships.
With the comprehensive sexuality education model though, Dutch schools have had very impressive results. Teenagers in the Netherlands start having sex at an older age than teenagers in the United States, with most Dutch saying that they had “wanted and fun” first sexual experiences. In contrast, 37% of men and 50% of women in the United States think that the age they had sex for the first time was too young. Additionally, states like Arizona have a teen birth rate that is 12 times higher than in the Netherlands and higher rates of STI incidences.
The Netherlands outperforms the US greatly when it comes to positive sexual experiences and sexual health because of the depth of their sex education as well as a more positive culture that includes open conversations surrounding sex. However, this is possible largely in part due to the very young age sex education starts there. If the US adopted this timeline of sex education, lessons that kids need in their life could actually be delivered when they need them, instead of being past due.
There is a belief instilled in some that if sex education is started young, or provided at all, teens will have more sex and at a younger age. This is not true. In a national survey, it was found that women who had official sex education at school are no more likely to have sex before the age of 16, while men are even less likely to have sex before the age of 16.
Women are also more likely to use some sort of contraceptive if contraceptive education is given the first year that they have sex, leading to less unwanted pregnancies. Comprehensive sex education that gives age-appropriate lessons simply provides students with the materials and knowledge needed to make smart decisions when it comes to having safe sex and the relationships they make.
Children in the United States are being robbed of a complete understanding of what they experience as their bodies mature and they form relationships. Why shouldn’t a preschooler know about consent? Why can’t a third grader understand that the curiosity they feel isn’t weird or wrong? In reality, all that is being done by keeping kids in the dark is manifesting bad feelings towards sex, their bodies, and relationships. In reality, it is putting teens in danger of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and harming themselves. In reality, the US needs to smarten up, and this needs to stop.