Sex education has been an uphill battle for years, yet it is still one of the most taboo topics in our society. In the recent years there has been a shift toward advocacy of sex education, yet there is still significant opposition to supporting change in educational requirements.
Even here in Utah we are seeing the drive for progress on the legislative side of change, with the recently failed House Bill 246 ‘Reproductive Health Amendments,’ sponsored by Rep. Brian S. King. Among a number of things, H.B. 246 would have established requirements for comprehensive human sexuality education, while prohibiting a school from receiving federal abstinence education funding. Unfortunately the transcendent ideals in the Utah legislature have denied the passing of a bill that would affect thousands of people, who don’t all share their ideals.
We’ve all grown up hearing the same excuses, “We’ll talk about that when you’re older,” or “You shouldn’t know about these things yet.” So when do we get to talk about them? After someone is pregnant, or now has to live with an embarrassing and painful sexually transmitted disease?
I’m just going to go ahead and address the big pink elephant in the room and reveal that this seems to be the case in Utah, where their loyalty lies on the side of abstinence education. So why isn’t it working? Abstinence is defined as the practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something. Well you don’t have to indulge in sexual activity to know that the abstinence model isn’t working. In fact, the abstinence model may be doing more harm than good.
The General Provisions Section R277-474-3 on School Instruction and Human Sexuality of the Utah Administrative Code states that the following may not be taught in Utah public schools:
1) The intricacies of intercourse, sexual stimulation or erotic behavior.
2) The advocacy of homosexuality.
3) The advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraceptive methods or devices.
4) The advocacy of sexual activity outside of marriage.
So what does this mean for Utahns? Well it means that children and most importantly, teenagers, are not getting the information they need to understand good sexual health or to properly practice SAFE sex. If a student who is having sexual relations with another student approaches a teacher, by law he/she can only advocate for the abstinence model. This means that this teacher might have the opportunity to prevent a teen pregnancy, or the further transmission of sexual diseases and infections, but they are legally restrained from promoting anything other than abstinence.
This also means serious psychological effects on the minds of young teenagers and adults, who are taught their whole lives that they lose their worth if they participate in sexual activity before marriage. This means that victims of rape and sexual assault are further traumatized by their experiences because they are led to believe that they are stained, never to be clean and pure again.
Noted public figure Elizabeth Smart has spoken publicly about her experience a number of times. Smart was kidnapped from her home in 2002, then raped and tied up daily for almost 9 months until she was spotted and rescued. Since then she has advocated for sex education, emphasizing on the importance of self-worth. She speaks openly on the sex education lessons she was taught as young girl, where a sexually active girl is compared to a piece of chewed gum. In a human trafficking conference at Johns Hopkins University Smart recalls of her experience, “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum. Nobody re-chews a piece of gum you throw it away.’ And that’s how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value.”
Seeing as the abstinence-only programs have never been proven to actually delay the initiation of sex in young people, or to reduce the number of sexual partners, President Obama has recently cut all federal funding for abstinence only programs funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, a grant with a $10 million per year price tag. Obama’s new proposition secures the right to sex education for young people, and also includes a $4 million dollar increase on the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
Although his proposal will have to be approved before it goes into effect in October, this will be a huge victory on the forefront of sexual assault, teen pregnancy, and the rising STD epidemic.