Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for “a serious national discussion about sexuality” and reformed sexual education in schools.
At the annual Black & Brown forum in Iowa, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley fielded questions from a very important group of voters: minorities. One question for Senator Sanders gave attention to America’s sexual education issue.
The question called for the senator to defund abstinence-only sexual education. Bernie is totally onboard and calls for fact based sex- ed saying, “I am a United States senator who believes in science and who believes in facts.” He goes on to say, “when sexuality is an intrinsic part of human life, we should not run away from it. We should explain biology and sexuality to our kids on a factual basis. Period.” Sanders wants to discuss not only sex, but sexuality.
While this question was only directed towards the Vermont senator, it brought attention to an issue that not many politicians have truly discussed. You may be shocked to learn some startling facts about sexual education in the United States.
Sanders pointed out that sexuality and sex are “intrinsic” to human life, so you would think that a developed country such as the United States would be ahead of the sex-ed game, right? Nope.
According to the CDC, only 23 states require that schools teach students sexual education; however, only 13 require that it be medically accurate. This means that students are most likely being taught abstinence-only, which does not educate them on contraceptives, STDs and STIs, or non-heterosexuality and gender. Abstinence-only courses very rarely mention contraception because they assume that students aren’t having sex and those who are already understand it.
It isn’t just abstinence classes that are misinforming youth. As stated before, just 13 states require medically accurate courses and the rest educate on the bare basics in an often unserious matter. Students aren’t getting the extensive information they need. Courses in the US are quite flawed.
Sex-ed courses are mainly sex based and rarely explore discussion of sexualities and gender identity. Proper consent isn’t explained well enough, which leads students to questioning what words, silence, and gestures mean. When setting up these courses, instructors often question whether or not something is “developmentally appropriate”, which leaves holes in what students have learned.
The sex-ed issue has been a nearly invisible point throughout the 2016 race. Sure, it may not be as important as defeating ISIS and restoring the middle class, but sexuality is part of all our lives whether we learn about it or not. As Sanders stated, sexuality is an “intrinsic part of human life.” Touché.