Power to Decide

Why sex education matters.

Maggi LeDuc

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In 2014, a study found that 93% of parents supported having sex education in middle school and 96% supported teaching sex ed in high school. A 2017 study again found that 93% of parents favored sexuality education in schools. These are not isolated results; decades of research support the benefits of comprehensive, inclusive sex education.

Comprehensive sexuality education is also supported by professional organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, and the 184 organizations—including Power to Decide—who joined in coalition in May 2020 to support the Sex Ed for All movement. 

At the moment, 28 states (and DC) require some kind of sex education and HIV education and seven states only require HIV education. However, only 17 require that education to be medically accurate and 29 states require schools to stress abstinence . Because sex education in schools is legislated on the state (or individual school district) level, not the federal, the quality of what is taught varies widely across the country. The CDC’s 2018 School Health Profiles found that only 43% of high schools and 18% of middle schools taught ‘key’ topics in sex education. Some of the topics the CDC labels as ‘key’ include information on how to prevent STIs and unplanned pregnancy, maintaining healthy relationships, avoiding peer pressure, and using appropriate health services. 

The World Health Organization notes that the focus of sexuality education in Europe has shifted from preventing pregnancy in the 1960’s to preventing HIV in the ‘80’s to today covering these topics alongside such issues as sexism, homophobia, and online bullying gender norms, the sexuality spectrum, and emotional development. In contrast, a 2018 study reported that students in the US were less likely to receive sex education on key topics in 2015-2019 than they were in 1995. The same study found that only 43% of females and 47% of males who had penis-in-vagina sex covered safe sex in school before they engaged in sex for the first time. 

Truly comprehensive sex education includes, but isn't limited to:

  • Taught by trained sex educators. 
  • Begun early and progresses at an age-appropriate pace. 
  • Evidence-based. 
  • Inclusive of LGBTQ young people.
  • Explicitly anti-racist. 
  • Learner-centered. 
  • Community-specific. 

Sex ed that is for everyone includes (but isn't limited to) information about:

  • Healthy relationships.
  • Anatomy and physiology. 
  • Adolescent sexual development. 
  • Gender identity and expression. 
  • Sexual orientation and identity. 
  • The full range of birth control methods and pregnancy options. 

All young people have a right to this kind of high-quality, evidence-based information and care to ensure their lifelong sexual and reproductive health. Again , and again , and again both national and international research has found that young people who have experienced comprehensive sexuality education delay having sex for the first time, are less likely to engage in risky behavior, and are more likely to use birth control. 

Plus, beyond giving young people facts, inclusive sex ed provides skills such as effective communication, active listening, and the ability to make informed decisions that will help them to grow and live safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives.   

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The Importance of Access to Comprehensive Sex Education

Comprehensive sex education is a critical component of sexual and reproductive health care.

Developing a healthy sexuality is a core developmental milestone for child and adolescent health.

Youth need developmentally appropriate information about their sexuality and how it relates to their bodies, community, culture, society, mental health, and relationships with family, peers, and romantic partners.

AAP supports broad access to comprehensive sex education, wherein all children and adolescents have access to developmentally appropriate, evidence-based education that provides the knowledge they need to:

  • Develop a safe and positive view of sexuality.
  • Build healthy relationships.
  • Make informed, safe, positive choices about their sexuality and sexual health.

Comprehensive sex education involves teaching about all aspects of human sexuality, including:

  • Cyber solicitation/bullying.
  • Healthy sexual development.
  • Body image.
  • Sexual orientation.
  • Gender identity.
  • Pleasure from sex.
  • Sexual abuse.
  • Sexual behavior.
  • Sexual reproduction.
  • Sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
  • Abstinence.
  • Contraception.
  • Interpersonal relationships.
  • Reproductive coercion.
  • Reproductive rights.
  • Reproductive responsibilities.

Comprehensive sex education programs have several common elements:

  • Utilize evidence-based, medically accurate curriculum that can be adapted for youth with disabilities.
  • Employ developmentally appropriate information, learning strategies, teaching methods, and materials.
  • Human development , including anatomy, puberty, body image, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
  • Relationships , including families, peers, dating, marriage, and raising children.
  • Personal skills , including values, decision making, communication, assertiveness, negotiation, and help-seeking.
  • Sexual behavior , including abstinence, masturbation, shared sexual behavior, pleasure from esx, and sexual dysfunction across the lifespan.
  • Sexual health , including contraception, pregnancy, prenatal care, abortion, STIs, HIV and AIDS, sexual abuse, assault, and violence.
  • Society and culture , including gender roles, diversity, and the intersection of sexuality and the law, religion, media, and the arts.
  • Create an opportunity for youth to question, explore, and assess both personal and societal attitudes around gender and sexuality.
  • Focus on personal practices, skills, and behaviors for healthy relationships, including an explicit focus on communication, consent, refusal skills/accepting rejection, violence prevention, personal safety, decision making, and bystander intervention.
  • Help youth exercise responsibility in sexual relationships.
  • Include information on how to come forward if a student is being sexually abused.
  • Address education from a trauma-informed, culturally responsive approach that bridges mental, emotional, and relational health.

Comprehensive sex education should occur across the developmental spectrum, beginning at early ages and continuing throughout childhood and adolescence :

  • Sex education is most effective when it begins before the initiation of sexual activity.
  • Young children can understand concepts related to bodies, gender, and relationships.
  • Sex education programs should build an early foundation and scaffold learning with developmentally appropriate content across grade levels.
  • AAP Policy outlines considerations for providing developmentally appropriate sex education throughout early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

Most adolescents report receiving some type of formal sex education before age 18. While sex education is typically associated with schools, comprehensive sex education can be delivered in several complementary settings:

  • Schools can implement comprehensive sex education curriculum across all grade levels
  • The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) provides guidelines for providing developmentally appropriate comprehensive sex education across grades K-12.
  • Pediatric health clinicians and other health care providers are uniquely positioned to provide longitudinal sex education to children, adolescents, and young adults.
  • Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents outlines clinical considerations for providing comprehensive sex education at all developmental stages, as a part of preventive health care.
  • Research suggests that community-based organizations should be included as a source for comprehensive sexual health promotion.
  • Faith-based communities have developed sex education curricula for their congregations or local chapters that emphasize the moral and ethical aspects of sexuality and decision-making.
  • Parents and caregivers can serve as the primary sex educators for their children, by teaching fundamental lessons about bodies, development, gender, and relationships.
  • Many factors impact the sex education that youth receive at home, including parent/caregiver knowledge, skills, comfort, culture, beliefs, and social norms.
  • Virtual sex education can take away feelings of embarrassment or stigma and can allow for more youth to access high quality sex education.

Comprehensive sex education provides children and adolescents with the information that they need to:

  • Understand their body, gender identity, and sexuality.
  • Build and maintain healthy and safe relationships.
  • Engage in healthy communication and decision-making around sex.
  • Practice healthy sexual behavior.
  • Understand and access care to support their sexual and reproductive health.

Comprehensive sex education programs have demonstrated success in reducing rates of sexual activity, sexual risk behaviors, STIs, and adolescent pregnancy and delaying sexual activity. Many systematic reviews of the literature have indicated that comprehensive sex education promotes healthy sexual behaviors:

  • Reduced sexual activity.
  • Reduced number of sexual partners.
  • Reduced frequency of unprotected sex.
  • Increased condom use.
  • Increased contraceptive use.

However, comprehensive sex education curriculum goes beyond risk-reduction, by covering a broader range of content that has been shown to support social-emotional learning, positive communication skills, and development of healthy relationships.

A 2021 review of the literature found that comprehensive sex education programs that use a positive, affirming, and inclusive approach to human sexuality are associated with concrete benefits across 5 key domains:

Benefits of comprehensive sex education programs 

Benefits of Comprehensive sex education programs.jpg

When children and adolescents lack access to comprehensive sex education, they do not get the information they need to make informed, healthy decisions about their lives, relationships, and behaviors.

Several trends in sexual health in the US highlight the need for comprehensive sex education for all youth.

Education about condom and contraceptive use is needed:

  • 55% of US high school students report having sexual intercourse by age 18 .
  • Self-reported condom use has decreased significantly among high school students.
  • Only 9% of sexually active high school students report using both a condom for STI-prevention and a more effective form of birth control to prevent pregnancy .

STI prevention is needed:

  • Adolescents and young adults are disproportionately impacted by STIs.
  • Cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are rising rapidly among young people.
  • When left untreated , these infections can lead to infertility, adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes, and increased risk of acquiring new STIs.
  • Youth need comprehensive, unbiased information about STI prevention, including human papillomavirus (HPV) .

Continued prevention of unintended pregnancy is needed:

  • Overall US birth rates among adolescent mothers have declined over the last 3 decades.
  • There are significant geographic disparities in adolescent pregnancy rates, with higher rates of pregnancy in rural counties and in southern and southwestern states.
  • Social drivers of health and systemic inequities have caused racial and ethnic disparities in adolescent pregnancy rates.
  • Eliminating disparities in adolescent pregnancy and birth rates can increase health equity, improve health and life outcomes, and reduce the economic impact of adolescent parenting.

Misinformation about sexual health is easily available online:

  • Internet use is nearly universal among US children and adolescents.
  • Adolescents report seeking sexual health information online .
  • Sexual health websites that adolescents visit can contain inaccurate information .

Prevention of sex abuse, dating violence, and unhealthy relationships is needed:

  • Child sexual abuse is common: 25% of girls and 8% of boys experience sexual abuse during childhood .
  • Youth who experience sexual abuse have long-term impacts on their physical, mental, and behavioral health.
  • 1 in 11 female and 1 in 14 male students report physical DV in the last year .
  • 1 in 8 female and 1 in 26 male students report sexual DV in the last year .
  • Youth who experience DV have higher rates of anxiety, depression, substance use, antisocial behaviors, and suicide risk.

The quality and content of sex education in US schools varies widely.

There is significant variation in the quality of sex education taught in US schools, leading to disparities in attitudes, health information, and outcomes. The majority of sex education programs in the US tend to focus on public health goals of decreasing unintended pregnancies and preventing STIs, via individual behavior change.

There are three primary categories of sex educational programs taught in the US :

  • Abstinence-only education , which teaches that abstinence is expected until marriage and typically excludes information around the utility of contraception or condoms to prevent pregnancy and STIs.
  • Abstinence-plus education , which promotes abstinence but includes information on contraception and condoms.
  • Comprehensive sex education , which provides medically accurate, age-appropriate information around development, sexual behavior (including abstinence), healthy relationships, life and communication skills, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

State laws impact the curriculum covered in sex education programs. According to a report from the Guttmacher Institute :

  • 26 US states and Washington DC mandate sex education and HIV education.
  • 18 states require that sex education content be medically accurate.
  • 39 states require that sex education programs provide information on abstinence.
  • 20 states require that sex education programs provide information on contraception.

US states have varying requirements on sex education content related to sexual orientation :

  • 10 states require sex education curriculum to include affirming content on LGBTQ2S+ identities or discussion of sexual health for youth who are LGBTQ2S+.
  • 7 states have sex education curricular requirements that discriminate against individuals who are LGBTQ2S+.Youth who live in these states may face additional barriers to accessing sexual health information.

Abstinence-only sex education programs do not meet the needs of children and adolescents.

While abstinence is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy and STIs, research has conclusively shown that abstinence-only sex education programs do not support healthy sexual development in youth.

Abstinence-only programs are ineffective in reaching their stated goals, as evidenced by the data below:

  • Abstinence-only programs are unsuccessful in delaying sex until marriage .
  • Abstinence-only sex education programs do not impact the rates of pregnancy, STIs, or HIV in adolescents .
  • Youth who take a “virginity pledge” as part of abstinence-only education programs have the same rates of premarital sex as their peers who do not take pledges, but are less likely to use contraceptives .
  • US states that emphasize abstinence-only education have higher rates of adolescent pregnancy and birth .

Abstinence-only programs can harm the healthy sexual and mental development of youth by:

  • Withholding information or providing inaccurate information about sexuality and sexual behavior .
  • Contributing to fear, shame, and stigma around sexual behaviors .
  • Not sharing information on contraception and barrier protection or overstating the risks of contraception .
  • Utilizing heteronormative framing and stigma or discrimination against students who are LGBTQ2S+ .
  • Reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes .
  • Ignoring the needs of youth who are already sexually active by withholding education around contraception and STI prevention.

Abstinence-plus sex education programs focus solely on decreasing unintended pregnancy and STIs.

Abstinence-plus sex education programs promote abstinence until marriage. However, these programs also provide information on contraception and condom use to prevent unintended pregnancy and STIs.

Research has demonstrated that abstinence-plus programs have an impact on sexual behavior and safety, including:

  • HIV prevention.
  • Increase in condom use .
  • Reduction in number of sexual partners .
  • Delay in initiation of sexual behavior .

While these programs add another layer of education, they do not address the broader spectrum of sexuality, gender identity, and relationship skills, thus withholding critical information and skill-building that can impact healthy sexual development.

AAP and other national medical and public health associations support comprehensive sex education for youth.

Given the evidence outlined above, AAP and other national medical organizations oppose abstinence-only education and endorse comprehensive sex education that includes both abstinence promotion and provision of accurate information about contraception, STIs, and sexuality.

National medical and public health organizations supporting comprehensive sex education include:

  • American Academy of Pediatrics .
  • American Academy of Family Physicians.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists .
  • American Medical Association .
  • American Public Health Association .
  • Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine .

Pediatric clinics provide a unique opportunity for comprehensive sex education.

Pediatric health clinicians typically have longitudinal care relationships with their patients and families, and thus have unique opportunities to address comprehensive sex education across all stages of development.

The clinical visit can serve as a useful adjunct to support comprehensive sex education provided in schools, or to fill gaps in knowledge for youth who are exposed to abstinence-only or abstinence-plus curricula.

AAP policy and Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents provide recommendations for comprehensive sex education in clinical settings, including:

  • Encouraging parent-child discussions on sexuality, contraception, and internet/media use.
  • Understanding diverse experiences and beliefs related to sexuality and sex education and meeting the unique needs of individual patients and families.
  • Including discussions around healthy relationships, dating violence, and intimate partner violence in clinical care.
  • Discussing methods of contraception and STI/HPV prevention prior to onset of sexual intercourse.
  • Providing proactive and developmentally appropriate sex education to all youth, including children and adolescents with special health care needs.

Perspective

the importance of sex education essay

Karen Torres, Youth activist

There were two cardboard bears, and a person explained that one bear wears a bikini to the beach and the other bear wears shorts – that is the closest thing I ever got to sex ed throughout my entire K-12 education. I often think about that bear lesson because it was the day our institutions failed to teach me anything about my body, relationships, consent, and self-advocacy, which became even more evident after I was sexually assaulted at 16 years old. My story is not unique, I know that many young people have been through similar traumas, but many of us were also subjected to days, months, and years of silence and embarrassment because we were never given the knowledge to know how to spot abuse or the language to ask for help. Comprehensive sex ed is so much more than people make it out to be, it teaches about sex but also about different types of experiences, how to respect one another, how to communicate in uncomfortable situations, how to ask for help and an insurmountable amount of other valuable lessons.

From these lessons, people become well-rounded, people become more empathetic to other experiences, and people become better. I believe comprehensive sex ed is vital to all people and would eventually work as a part to build more compassionate communities.

Many US children and adolescents do not receive comprehensive sex education; and rates of formal sex education have declined significantly in recent decades.

Barriers to accessing comprehensive sex education include:

Misinformation, stigma, and fear of negative reactions:

  • Misinformation and stigma about the content of sex education curriculum has been the primary barrier to equitable access to comprehensive sex education in schools for decades .
  • Despite widespread parental support for sex education in schools, fears of negative public/parent reactions have led school administrators to limit youth access to the information they need to make healthy decisions about their sexuality for nearly a half-century.
  • In recent years, misinformation campaigns have spread false information about the framing and content of comprehensive sex education programs, causing debates and polarization at school board meetings .
  • Nearly half of sex education teachers report that concerns about parent, student, or administrator responses are a barrier to provision of comprehensive sex education.
  • Opponents of comprehensive sex education often express concern that this education will lead youth to have sex; however, research has demonstrated that this is not the case . Instead, comprehensive sex ed is associated with delays in initiation of sexual behavior, reduced frequency of sexual intercourse, a reduction in number of partners, and an increase in condom use.
  • Some populations of youth lack access to comprehensive sex education due to a societal belief that they are asexual, in need of protection, or don’t need to learn about sex. This barrier particularly impacts youth with disabilities or special health care needs .
  • Sex ed curricula in some schools perpetuate gender/sex stereotypes, which could contribute to negative gender stereotypes and negative attitudes towards sex .

Inconsistencies in school-based sex education:

  • There is significant variation in the content of sex education taught in schools in the US, and many programs that carry the same label (eg, “abstinence-plus”) vary widely in curriculum.
  • While decisions about sex education curriculum are made at the state level, the federal government has provided funding to support abstinence-only education for decades , which incentivizes schools to use these programs.
  • Since 1996, more than $2 billion in federal funds have been spent to support abstinence-only sex education in schools.
  • 34 US states require schools to use abstinence-only curriculum or emphasize abstinence as the main way to avoid pregnancy and STIs.
  • Only 16 US states require instruction on condoms or contraception.
  • It is not standard to include information on how to come forward if a student is being sexually abused, and many schools do not have a process for disclosures made.
  • Because of this, abstinence-only programs are commonly used in US schools, despite overwhelming evidence that they are ineffective in delaying sexual behavior until marriage, and withhold critical information that youth need for healthy sexual and relationship development.

Need for resources and training:

  • Integration of comprehensive sex education into school curriculum requires financial resources to strengthen and expand evidence-based programs.
  • Successful implementation of comprehensive sex education requires a trained workforce of teachers who can address the curriculum in age-appropriate ways for students in all grade-levels.
  • Education, training, and technical assistance are needed to support pediatric health clinicians in addressing comprehensive sex education in clinical settings, as a complement to school-based education.

Lack of diversity and cultural awareness in curricula:

  • A history of systemic racism, discrimination, and long-standing health, social and systemic inequities have created racial and ethnic disparities in access to sexual health services and representation in sex education materials. The legacy of intergenerational trauma in the medical system should be acknowledged in sex education curricula.
  • Sex education curriculum is often centered on a white audience, and does not address or reflect the role of systemic racism in sexuality and development .
  • Traditional abstinence-focused sex education programs have a heteronormative focus and do not address the unique needs of youth who are LGBTQ2S+ .
  • Sex education programs often do not address reproductive body diversity, the needs of those with differences in sex development, and those who identify as intersex .
  • Sex education programs often do not reflect the unique needs of youth with disabilities or special health care needs .
  • Sex education programs are often not tailored to meet the religious considerations of faith communities.
  • There is a need for sex education programs designed to help youth navigate sexual health and development in the context of their own culture and community .

Disparities in access to comprehensive sex education.

The barriers listed above limit access to comprehensive sex education in schools and communities. While these barriers impact youth across the US, there are some populations who are less likely to have access to comprehensive to sex education.

Youth who are LGBTQ2S+:

  • Only 8% of students who are LGBTQ2S+ report having received sexual education that was inclusive .
  • Students who are LGBTQ2S+ are 50% more likely than their peers who are heterosexual to report that sex education in their schools was not useful to them .
  • Only 13% of youth who are bisexual+ and 10% of youth who are transgender and gender expansive report receiving sex education in schools that felt personally relevant.
  • Only 20% of youth who are Black and LGBTQ2S+ and 13% of youth who are Latinx and LGBTQ2S+ report receiving sex education in schools that felt personally relevant.
  • Only 10 US states require affirming content on LGBTQ2S+ relationships in sex education curriculum.

Youth with disabilities or special health care needs:

  • Youth with disabilities or special health care needs have a particular need for comprehensive sex education, as these youth are less likely to learn about sex or sexuality form their parents , healthcare providers , or peer groups .
  • In a national survey, only half of youth with disabilities report that they have participated in sex education .
  • Typical sex education may not be sufficient for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and special methods and curricula are necessary to match their needs .
  • Lack the desire or maturity for romantic or sexual relationships.
  • Are not subject to sexual abuse.
  • Do not need sex education.
  • Only 3 states explicitly include youth with disabilities within their sex education requirements.

Youth from historically underserved communities:

  • Students who are Black in the US are more likely than students who are white to receive abstinence-only sex education , despite significant support from parents and students who are Black for comprehensive sex education.
  • Youth who are Black and female are less likely than peers who are white to receive education about where to obtain birth control prior to initiating sexual activity.
  • Youth who are Black and male and Hispanic are less likely than their peers who are white to receive formal education on STI prevention or contraception prior to initiating sexual activity.
  • Youth who are Hispanic and female are less likely to receive instruction about waiting to have sex than youth of other ethnicities.
  • Tribal health educators report challenges in identifying culturally relevant sex education curriculum for youth who are American Indian/Alaska Native.
  • In a 2019 study, youth who were LGBTQ2S+ and Black, Latinx, or Asian reported receiving inadequate sex education due to feeling unrepresented, unsupported, stigmatized, or bullied.
  • In survey research, many young adults who are Asian American report that they received inadequate sex education in school.

Youth from rural communities:

  • Adolescents who live in rural communities have faced disproportionate declines in formal sex education over the past two decades, compared with peers in urban/suburban areas.
  • Students who live in rural communities report that the sex education curriculum in their schools does not serve their needs .

Youth from communities and schools that are low-income:

  • Data has shown an association between schools that are low-resource and lower adolescent sexual health knowledge, due to a combination of fewer school resources and higher poverty rates/associated unmet health needs in the student body.
  • Youth with family incomes above 200% of the federal poverty line are more likely to receive education about STI prevention, contraception, and “saying no to sex,” than their peers below 200% of the poverty line.

Youth who receive sex education in some religious settings:

  • Most adolescents who identify as female and who attended church-based sex education programs report instructions on waiting until marriage for sex, while few report receiving education about birth control.
  • Young people who received sex education in religious schools report that education focused on the risks of sexual behavior (STIs, pregnancy) and religious guilt; leading to them feeling under-equipped to make informed decisions about sex and sexuality later in life.
  • Youth and teachers from religious schools have identified a need for comprehensive sex education curriculum that is tailored to the needs of faith communities .

Youth who live in states that limit the topics that can be covered in sex education:

  • Students who live in the 34 states that require sex education programs to stress abstinence are less likely to have access to critical information on STI prevention and contraception.
  • Prohibitions on addressing abortion in sex education or mandates that sex education curricula include medically inaccurate information on abortion designed to dissuade youth from terminating a pregnancy.
  • Limitations on the types of contraception that can be covered in sex education curricula.
  • Requirements that sex education teachers promote heterosexual, monogamous marriage in sex education.
  • Lack of requirements to address healthy relationships and communication skills.
  • Lack of requirements for teacher training or certification.

Comprehensive sex education has significant benefits for children and adolescents.

Youth who are exposed to comprehensive sex education programs in school demonstrate healthier sexual behaviors:

  • Increased rates of contraception and condom use.
  • Fewer unplanned pregnancies.
  • Lower rates of STIs and HIV.
  • Delayed initiation of sexual behavior.

More broadly, comprehensive sexual education impacts overall social-emotional health , including:

  • Enhanced understanding of gender and sexuality.
  • Lower rates of homophobia and related bullying.
  • Lower rates of dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse.
  • Healthier relationships and communication skills.
  • Understanding of reproductive rights and responsibilities.
  • Improved social-emotional learning, media literacy, and academic achievement.

Comprehensive sex education curriculum goes beyond risk reduction, to ensure that youth are supported in understanding their identity and sexuality and making informed decisions about their relationships, behaviors, and future. These benefits are critical to healthy sexual development.

Impacts of a lack of access to comprehensive sex education.

When youth are denied access to comprehensive sex education, they do not get the information and skill-building required for healthy sexual development. As such, they face unnecessary barriers to understanding their gender and sexuality, building positive interpersonal relationships, and making informed decisions about their sexual behavior and sexual health.

Impacts of a lack of comprehensive sex education for all youth can include :

  • Less use of condoms, leading to higher risk of STIs, including HIV.
  • Less use of contraception, leading to higher risk of unplanned pregnancy.
  • Less understanding and increased stigma and shame around the spectrum of gender and sexual identity.
  • Perpetuated stigma and embarrassment related to sex and sexual identity.
  • Perpetuated gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles.
  • Higher rates of youth turning to unreliable sources for information about sex, including the internet, the media, and informal learning from peer networks.
  • Challenges in interpersonal communication.
  • Challenges in building, maintaining, and recognizing safe, healthy peer and romantic relationships.
  • Lower understanding of the importance of obtaining and giving enthusiastic consent prior to sexual activity.
  • Less awareness of appropriate/inappropriate touch and lower reporting of child sexual abuse.
  • Higher rates of dating violence and intimate partner violence, and less intervention from bystanders.
  • Higher rates of homophobia and homophobic bullying.
  • Unsafe school environments.
  • Lower rates of media literacy.
  • Lower rates of social-emotional learning.
  • Lower recognition of gender equity, rights, and social justice.

In addition, the lack of access to comprehensive sex education can exacerbate existing health disparities, with disproportionate impacts on specific populations of youth.

Youth who identify as women, youth from communities of color, youth with disabilities, and youth who are LGBTQ2S+ are particularly impacted by inequitable access to comprehensive sex education, as this lack of education can impact their health, safety, and self-identity. Examples of these impacts are outlined below.

A lack of comprehensive sex education can harm young women.

  • Female bodies are more prone to STI infection and more likely to experience complications of STI infection than male bodies.
  • Female bodies are disproportionately impacted by long-term health consequences of STIs , including pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy.
  • Female bodies are less likely to have or recognize symptoms of certain STI infections .
  • Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common STI in young women , and can cause long-term health consequences such as genital warts and cervical cancer.
  • Women bear the health and economic effects of unplanned pregnancy.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by providing medically-accurate, evidence based information on effective strategies to prevent STI infections and unplanned pregnancy.
  • Students who identify as female are more likely to experience sexual or physical dating violence than their peers who identify as male. Some of this may be attributed to underreporting by males due to stigma.
  • Students who identify as female are bullied on school property more often than students who identify as male.
  • Young women ages 16-19 are at higher risk of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault than the general population.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by guiding the development of healthy self-identities, challenging harmful gender norms, and building the skills required for respectful, equitable relationships.

A lack of comprehensive sex education can harm youth from communities of color.

  • Youth of color benefit from seeing themselves represented in sex education curriculum.
  • Sex education programs that use a framing of diversity, equity, rights, and social justice , informed by an understanding of systemic racism and discrimination, have been found to increase positive attitudes around reproductive rights in all students.
  • There is a critical need for sex education programs that reflect youth’s cultural values and community .
  • Comprehensive sex education can address these needs by developing curriculum that is inclusive of diverse communities, relationships, and cultures, so that youth see themselves represented in their education.
  • Racial and ethnic disparities in STI and HIV infection.
  • Racial and ethnic disparities in unplanned pregnancy and births among adolescents.
  • Nearly half of youth who are Black ages 13-21 report having been pressured into sexual activity .
  • Adolescent experience with dating violence is most prevalent among youth who are American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial.
  • Adolescents who are Latinx are more likely than their peers who are non-Latinx to report physical dating violence .
  • Youth who are Black and Latinx and who experience bullying are more likely to suffer negative impacts on academic performance than their white peers.
  • Students who are Asian American and Pacific Islander report bullying and harassment due to race, ethnicity, and language.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by guiding the development of healthy self-identities, challenging harmful stereotypes, and building the skills required for respectful, equitable relationships.
  • Young people of color—specifically those from Black , Asian-American , and Latinx communities– are often hyper-sexualized in popular media, leading to societal perceptions that youth are “older” or more sexually experienced than their white peers.
  • Young men of color—specifically those from Black and Latinx communities—are often portrayed as aggressive or criminal in popular media, leading to societal perceptions that youth are dangerous or more sexually aggressive or experienced than white peers.
  • These media portrayals can lead to disparities in public perceptions of youth behavior , which can impact school discipline, lost mentorship and leadership opportunities, less access to educational opportunities afforded to white peers, and greater involvement in the juvenile justice system.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by including positive representations of diverse youth in curriculum, challenging harmful stereotypes, and building the skills required for respectful relationships.

A lack of comprehensive sex education can harm youth with disabilities or special health care needs.

  • Youth with disabilities need inclusive, developmentally-appropriate, representative sex education to support their health, identity, and development .
  • Youth with special health care needs often initiate romantic relationships and sexual behavior during adolescence, similar to their peers.
  • Youth with disabilities and special health care needs benefit from seeing themselves represented in sex education to access the information and skills to build healthy identities and relationships.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses this need by including positive representation of youth with disabilities and special health care needs in curriculum and providing developmentally-appropriate sex education to all youth.
  • When youth with disabilities and special health care needs do not get access to the comprehensive sex education that they need, they are at increased risk of sexual abuse or being viewed as a sexual offender.
  • Youth with disabilities and special health care needs are more likely than peers without disabilities to report coercive sex, exploitation, and sexual abuse.
  • Youth with disabilities and special health care needs report more sexualized behavior and victimization online than their peers without disabilities.
  • Youth with disabilities are at greater risk of bullying and have fewer friend relationships than their peers.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by providing education on healthy relationships, consent, communication, and bodily autonomy.

A lack of comprehensive sex education can harm youth who are LGBTQ2S+.

  • Most sex education curriculum is not inclusive or representative of LGBTQ2S+ identities and experiences.
  • Because school-based sex education often does not meet their needs, youth who are LGBTQ2S+ are more likely to seek sexual health information online , and thus are more likely to come across misinformation.
  • The majority of parents support discussion of sexual orientation in sex education classes.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by including positive representation of LGBTQ2S+ individuals, romantic relationships, and families.
  • Sex education curriculum that overlooks or stigmatizes youth who are LGBTQ2S+ contributes to hostile school environments and harms the healthy sexual and mental development .
  • Youth who are LGBTQ2S+ face high levels of discrimination at school and are more likely to miss school because of bullying or victimization .
  • Ongoing experiences with stigma, exclusion, and harassment negatively impact the mental health of youth who are LGBTQ2S+.
  • Comprehensive sex education provides inclusive curriculum and has been shown to improve understanding of gender diversity, lower rates of homophobia, and reduce homophobic bullying in schools.
  • Youth who are LGBTQ2S+ are more likely than their heterosexual peers to report not learning about HIV/STIs in school .
  • Lack of education on STI prevention leaves LGBTQ2S+ youth without the information they need to make informed decisions, leading to discrepancies in condom use between LGBTQ2S+ and heterosexual youth.
  • Some LGBTQ2S+ populations carry a disproportionate burden of HIV and other STIs: these disparities begin in adolescence , when youth who are LGBTQ2S+ do not receive sex education that is relevant to them.
  • Comprehensive sex education provides the knowledge and skills needed to make safe decisions about sexual behavior , including condom use and other forms of STI and HIV prevention.
  • Youth who are LBGTQ2S+ or are questioning their sexual identity report higher rates of dating violence than their heterosexual peers.
  • Youth who are LGBTQ2S+ or are questioning their sexual identity face higher prevalence of bullying than their heterosexual peers.
  • Comprehensive sex education teaches youth healthy relationship and communication skills and is associated with decreases in dating violence and increases in bystander interventions .

A lack of comprehensive sex education can harm youth who are in foster care.

  • More than 70% of children in foster care have a documented history of child abuse and or neglect.
  • More than 80% of children in foster care have been exposed to significant levels of violence, including domestic violence.
  • Youth in foster care are racially diverse, with 23% of youth identifying as Black and 21% of identifying as Latinx, who will have similar experiences as those highlighted in earlier sections of this report.
  • Removal is emotionally traumatizing for almost all children. Lack of consistent/stable placement with a responsive, nurturing caregiver can result in poor emotional regulation, impulsivity, and attachment problems.
  • Comprehensive sex education addresses these issues by providing evidence-based, culturally appropriate information on healthy relationships, consent, communication, and bodily autonomy.

Sex education is often the first experience that youth have with understanding and discussing their gender and sexual health.

Youth deserve to a strong foundation of developmentally appropriate information about gender and sexuality, and how these things relate to their bodies, community, culture, society, mental health, and relationships with family, peers, and romantic partners.

Decades of data have demonstrated that comprehensive sex education programs are  effective  in reducing risk of STIs and unplanned pregnancy. These benefits are critical to public health. However, comprehensive sex education goes even further, by instilling youth with a broad range of knowledge and skills that are  proven  to support social-emotional learning, positive communication skills, and development of healthy relationships.

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Comprehensive sexuality education: For healthy, informed and empowered learners

CSE Zambia

Did you know that only 37% of young people in sub-Saharan Africa can demonstrate comprehensive knowledge about HIV prevention and transmission? And two out of three girls in many countries lack the knowledge they need as they enter puberty and begin menstruating? Early marriage and early and unintended pregnancy are global concerns for girls’ health and education: in East and Southern Africa pregnancy rates range 15-25%, some of the highest in the world. These are some of the reasons why quality comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is essential for learners’ health, knowledge and empowerment. 

What is comprehensive sexuality education or CSE?

Comprehensive sexuality education - or the many other ways this may be referred to - is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality. It aims to equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that empowers them to realize their health, well-being and dignity; develop respectful social and sexual relationships; consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others; and understand and ensure the protection of their rights throughout their lives.

CSE presents sexuality with a positive approach, emphasizing values such as respect, inclusion, non-discrimination, equality, empathy, responsibility and reciprocity. It reinforces healthy and positive values about bodies, puberty, relationships, sex and family life.

How can CSE transform young people’s lives?

Too many young people receive confusing and conflicting information about puberty, relationships, love and sex, as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. A growing number of studies show that young people are turning to the digital environment as a key source of information about sexuality.

Applying a learner-centered approach, CSE is adapted to the age and developmental stage of the learner. Learners in lower grades are introduced to simple concepts such as family, respect and kindness, while older learners get to tackle more complex concepts such as gender-based violence, sexual consent, HIV testing, and pregnancy.

When delivered well and combined with access to necessary sexual and reproductive health services, CSE empowers young people to make informed decisions about relationships and sexuality and navigate a world where gender-based violence, gender inequality, early and unintended pregnancies, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections still pose serious risks to their health and well-being. It also helps to keep children safe from abuse by teaching them about their bodies and how to change practices that lead girls to become pregnant before they are ready.

Equally, a lack of high-quality, age-appropriate sexuality and relationship education may leave children and young people vulnerable to harmful sexual behaviours and sexual exploitation.

What does the evidence say about CSE?

The evidence on the impact of CSE is clear:

  • Sexuality education has positive effects, including increasing young people’s knowledge and improving their attitudes related to sexual and reproductive health and behaviors.
  • Sexuality education leads to learners delaying the age of sexual initiation, increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives when they are sexually active, increasing their knowledge about their bodies and relationships, decreasing their risk-taking, and decreasing the frequency of unprotected sex.
  • Programmes that promote abstinence as the only option have been found to be ineffective in delaying sexual initiation, reducing the frequency of sex or reducing the number of sexual partners. To achieve positive change and reduce early or unintended pregnancies, education about sexuality, reproductive health and contraception must be wide-ranging.
  • CSE is five times more likely to be successful in preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections when it pays explicit attention to the topics of gender and power
  • Parents and family members are a primary source of information, values formation, care and support for children. Sexuality education has the most impact when school-based programmes are complemented with the involvement of parents and teachers, training institutes and youth-friendly services .

How does UNESCO work to advance learners' health and education?

Countries have increasingly acknowledged the importance of equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop and sustain positive, healthy relationships and protect themselves from unsafe situations.

UNESCO believes that with CSE, young people learn to treat each other with respect and dignity from an early age and gain skills for better decision making, communications, and critical analysis. They learn they can talk to an adult they trust when they are confused about their bodies, relationships and values. They learn to think about what is right and safe for them and how to avoid coercion, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and early and unintended pregnancy, and where to go for help. They learn to identify what violence against children and women looks like, including sexual violence, and to understand injustice based on gender. They learn to uphold universal values of equality, love and kindness.

In its International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education , UNESCO and other UN partners have laid out pathways for quality CSE to promote health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality, and empower children and young people to lead healthy, safe and productive lives. An online toolkit was developed by UNESCO to facilitate the design and implementation of CSE programmes at national level, as well as at local and school level. A tool for the review and assessment of national sexuality education programmes is also available. Governments, development partners or civil society organizations will find this useful. Guidance for delivering CSE in out-of-school settings is also available.

Through its flagship programme, Our rights, Our lives, Our future (O3) , UNESCO has reached over 30 million learners in 33 countries across sub-Saharan Africa with life skills and sexuality education, in safer learning environments. O3 Plus is now also reaching and supporting learners in higher education institutions.

To strengthen coordination among the UN community, development partners and civil society, UNESCO is co-convening the Global partnership forum on CSE together with UNFPA. With over 65 organizations in its fold, the partnership forum provides a structured platform for intensified collaboration, exchange of information and good practices, research, youth advocacy and leadership, and evidence-based policies and programmes.

Good quality CSE delivery demands up to date research and evidence to inform policy and implementation . UNESCO regularly conducts reviews of national policies and programmes – a report found that while 85% of countries have policies that are supportive of sexuality education, significant gaps remain between policy and curricula reviewed. Research on the quality of sexuality education has also been undertaken, including on CSE and persons with disabilities in Asia and East and Southern Africa .

How are young people and CSE faring in the digital space?

More young people than ever before are turning to digital spaces for information on bodies, relationships and sexuality, interested in the privacy and anonymity the online world can offer. UNESCO found that, in a year, 71% of youth aged 15-24 sought sexuality education and information online.

With the rapid expansion in digital information and education, the sexuality education landscape is changing . Children and young people are increasingly exposed to a broad range of content online some of which may be incomplete, poorly informed or harmful.

UNESCO and its Institute of Information Technologies in Education (IITE) work with young people and content creators to develop digital sexuality education tools that are of good quality, relevant and include appropriate content. More research and investment are needed to understand the effectiveness and impact of digital sexuality education, and how it can complement curriculum-based initiatives. Part of the solution is enabling young people themselves to take the lead on this, as they are no longer passive consumers and are thinking in sophisticated ways about digital technology.

A foundation for life and love

  • Safe, seen and included: report on school-based sexuality education
  • International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education
  • Safe, seen and included: inclusion and diversity within sexuality education; briefing note
  • Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) country profiles
  • Evidence gaps and research needs in comprehensive sexuality education: technical brief
  • The journey towards comprehensive sexuality education: global status report
  • Definition of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) thematic indicator 4.7.2: Percentage of schools that provided life skills-based HIV and sexuality education within the previous academic year
  • From ideas to action: addressing barriers to comprehensive sexuality education in the classroom
  • Facing the facts: the case for comprehensive sexuality education
  • UNESCO strategy on education for health and well-being
  • UNESCO Health and education resource centre
  • Campaign: A foundation for life and love
  • UNESCO’s work on health and education

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the importance of sex education essay

Why education about gender and sexuality does belong in the classroom

the importance of sex education essay

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There is currently no consistent standard of sex, sexuality, gender and respectful relationships education across Australian schools. Each state and territory makes decisions about what they teach in schools. Additionally, religious schools have exemptions under anti-discrimination laws to decide how they approach these issues, and whether they include them at all.

Despite the gains made in the marriage equality debate, Australia has been unable to translate this into inclusive sex and sexuality education for young people. While countries such as England and Canada are adopting progressive, consistent sex education programs at a national level, Australia has not.

Read more: Australian sex education isn't diverse enough. Here's why we should follow England's lead

The federal Department of Education is spending A$5 million to develop resources to teach respectful relationships in Australian schools. According to one news report , these resources will not include topics on toxic masculinity, gender theory or case studies about young people’s sexual activity. This project is a part of the women’s safety package announced in 2015 by the Turnbull government, which seeks to educate young people about violence against women.

The federal government is quietly trying to distance these resources from Victoria’s Respectful Relationships program, which has been criticised by some conservative commentators. Politics aside, there is an urgent need for these resources. Gendered violence against women and LGBTIQ people is too common in Australia.

No more federal funding for Safe Schools

Only a few years ago, Australia was very close to having a standard national resource for sex, sexuality and relationships education – the Safe Schools program. Its creators aspired to consistency across all state and territory educational jurisdictions in Australia, in line with the nationally consistent Australian Curriculum .

the importance of sex education essay

Safe Schools was designed as an evidence-based , educational anti-bullying program. The program had LGBTIQ inclusion at its core, and sought to create safe and inclusive environments for LGBTIQ students. Resources used to help deliver the program were developed by experts and carefully selected to ensure they were age-appropriate for the students using them.

The federal government stopped funding the program in mid-2017, following an extended public pillorying by conservative politicians and media commentators . This ranged from concern students were encouraged to cross-dress and role-play as gay teenages to false claims the program showed children how to masturbate and strap on dildos.

Read more: FactCheck: does the Safe Schools program contain 'highly explicit material'?

An inconsistent approach

Safe Schools has been replaced by an eclectic mix of programs, which vary from state to state. As a result, Australia has an inconsistent approach across state education systems.

In Victoria, the Building Respectful Relationships program was trialled in 2015 in response to recommendations Royal Commission into Family Violence and rolled out more broadly since 2016.

The program contains strong messages of healthy relationships, violence prevention and control, which young people can relate to, regardless of their situation. The program has received criticism claiming it’s simply a repackaged version of the Safe Schools program. It runs concurrently with Safe Schools, which is now implemented in nearly all government secondary schools in Victoria.

Safe Schools programs are also run in one government school in the NT, 21 government schools in Tasmania and 24 government schools, 3 independent schools and 3 other educational settings in WA.

At the federal level, funding has been confirmed to make the John Howard-inspired school chaplain program permanent. The School Chaplaincy program is intended to support the social, emotional and spiritual well-being of school communities across Australia. This may include support and guidance about ethics, values, relationships and spiritual issues.

Federal discomfort with sex, sexuality and gender discussions

Scott Morrison has made a number of comments about LGBTIQ issues in his short time as Prime Minister. Morrison said schools don’t need “gender whisperers”, referring to an article which stated teachers were being taught how to spot potentially transgender students.

It has since been clarified teachers were being trained on how to support students if they identify as transgender, not to identify potentially transgender students.

Morrison has also brushed aside concerns about gay conversion therapy , and publicly stated he sends his children to a religious schools to avoid “ skin curling ” discussions about gender diversity and sexuality.

Other members of the Coalition have publicly echoed similar beliefs, including Tony Abbott and Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz who actively spoke out against voting “yes” in the same-sex marriage plebiscite for fear it would lead to a “ radical sex education program for schools ”.

A strong case for sexuality, gender and sex education

Gender and sexual diversity are part of the rich multicultural landscape of contemporary Australian society. But research indicates there’s significant cause for concern about gender-based violence and family violence. Education about respectful relationships was identified as a key way to combat this in the Royal Commission into Family Violence .

Likewise, current research about young people and sex, sexuality and gender diversity is alarming. There are still high levels of mental health issues (such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide) among LGBTIQ young people as a result of bullying, discrimination, and harassment at school and in the wider community.

The data indicate increasingly high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people are also a significant concern. Rates of chlamydia and gonorrhoea diagnoses in Australia are highest amongst people aged 15-24 years .

the importance of sex education essay

Regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, research indicates young people need to be reliably informed about safe sex. The ramifications of not doing so are far too significant. Research shows school-based sexuality education improves sexual health outcomes for young people.

Likewise, Australia has unacceptably high rates of family, domestic and sexual violence, while gender inequality permeates most aspects of society. This can be mitigated through reliable education about healthy relationships. Family, domestic and sexual violence is not a sign of a healthy society .

Read more: Young people want sex education and religion shouldn't get in the way

Sex, sexuality, respectful relationships, and gender all need to be discussed in schools as a component of a whole-school approach. This should not only include in-class education, but it should also be addressed in school cultures, policies and procedures, and in gender equity among the staff.

This is important because we need safe, inclusive schools that celebrate diversity. It’s also important to raise awareness among young people to mitigate family, domestic and sexual violence.

This article has been updated since publication to clarify that there are government schools in Victoria which run Safe Schools programs, and that the Building Respectful Relationships program is run concurrently, not as a replacement.

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the importance of sex education essay

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Guest Essay

After Roe, Sex Ed Is Even More Vital

the importance of sex education essay

By Eva Goldfarb and Lisa Lieberman

Drs. Goldfarb and Lieberman are professors of public health at Montclair State University and authors of “Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education.”

Religious-right political groups that have spent decades dismantling abortion rights in much of the country have been gunning for sex education for just as long. Their dangerous and cynical efforts now appear under the guise of “parental rights” and “school transparency” on the floors of state legislatures and at school board meetings.

High quality, evidence-informed sex education is critically important, effective and supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans . Limiting access to that instruction threatens the health and safety of young people, particularly those in states where access to reproductive health care is scarce in post-Roe v. Wade America.

Sadly, sex education is on shaky ground in many parts of the United States. Florida’s “ Don’t Say Gay ” law, which went into effect this month and denies students in younger grades the opportunity to learn about gender identity and sexual orientation, was just one of many recent state bills seeking to restrict access to comprehensive sex education. While groups pushing these laws argue that such instruction puts children at risk of sexual exploitation, our research has found that comprehensive, medically accurate sex ed in fact protects them.

Despite the lies and distortion meant to scare parents away, adults across the political spectrum have said they support sex education for their children. And for good reason: States or counties that support teaching about both contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted infections have lower rates of S.T.I.s and adolescent pregnancies ; states that rely on abstinence-only approaches, now rebranded as “sexual risk avoidance,” have higher teenage pregnancy rates.

In a systematic review of 30 years of peer-reviewed research that explored sex education outcomes beyond pregnancy and S.T.I. prevention, we found that high-quality sex education decreases intimate-partner violence, as well as homophobic bullying and harassment. It promotes healthy relationships and helps prevent child sex abuse by increasing skills to identify and report such offenses.

Sex education improves skills like empathy, communication, managing feelings and ability to establish and maintain positive relationships and increases a sense of self-control and safety. It also strengthens media literacy, which can help young people find reliable information about sexual and reproductive health and rights while being able to detect false or misleading information.

The challenge is that only 11 states mandate sex education that is medically accurate, while others expressly stipulate that, if sex education is taught, coverage of abortion is prohibited or can only be portrayed negatively. States that don’t require medical accuracy in sex ed often allow schools to use programs with false, misleading or distorted information. Some only discuss contraception in terms of failure rates and withhold lifesaving information about the use of condoms to prevent S.T.I.s and pregnancy.

Others assert long disproved claims, such as that having a legal abortion puts someone at greater risk for infertility and suicide. They also promote stigmatizing moral and religious beliefs — using terms like “virginity” and “chastity” in an effort to push abstinence — and teach that sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.

The good news is that even in states that restrict sex education, concepts of fairness, dignity and respect — as well as consent and bodily integrity (that we each have the right to say what we do with our own bodies) — are regularly taught in early grades without controversy. They are just not recognized as sex education. Indeed, some of the most effective sex education outcomes we found from elementary through high school were achieved not just in traditional health or sex education classrooms, but in English, social studies, physical education, music and art classes.

Even in states hostile to abortion, it is possible to promote school-based instruction that meets the National Sex Education Standards, which are research-based guidelines that one of us, Dr. Goldfarb, helped develop for the core content and skills needed for effective K-12 sex education. Federal legislation has been proposed that would support high-quality sex education and impede federal funding for abstinence-only programming. (Further, people can review in-depth profiles of the sex education environments in their states, including up-to-date information on legislative and advocacy efforts to secure comprehensive sex education.)

Because sex education is often under local control, even in states with more progressive policies , instruction can fall short, especially on highly politicized topics like abortion. It is imperative to dispel the misinformation young people are exposed to about the dangers of abortion. Contrary to what many students are taught, someone is far more likely to die from giving birth than from a legal abortion. And we need to normalize the procedure for young people, since around one in four women and many trans and nonbinary people have an abortion in their lifetimes.

For many young people, especially those whose sex education is lacking, the internet becomes a primary source of sexual health information. While social media platforms like TikTok are not a sufficient substitute for classroom-based learning, a growing number of sex educators and health care providers are turning to them. Websites such as Amaze.org, PlannedParenthood.org, Scarleteen.com and Sexetc.org are filled with accessible, accurate and developmentally and age-appropriate information for young people.

In the post-Roe era, we must fight state by state, district by district, to fend off attacks on sex education based on falsehoods and fear. Community members must speak up for medically accurate sex education at the local level, where curriculum decisions are often driven by who shows up at public meetings and who sits on the school board.

Many of those who have worked to deny access to critical reproductive health care for millions of Americans are also determined to keep our young people ignorant, disempowered and at even greater risk. These efforts are dangerous and must be stopped. Without sex education, post-Roe America will be even bleaker when it comes to sexual health.

Eva Goldfarb and Lisa Lieberman are professors of public health at Montclair State University and authors of “Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education.” Dr. Goldfarb helped develop the National Sex Education Standards, and Dr. Lieberman was a researcher on the effectiveness of the New York public schools’ condom availability program.

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The State of Sex Education in the United States

Kelli stidham hall.

Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Jessica McDermott Sales

Kelli a. komro, john santelli.

Department of Population & Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York

For more than four decades, sex education has been a critically important but contentious public health and policy issue in the United States [ 1 – 5 ]. Rising concern about nonmarital adolescent pregnancy beginning in the 1960s and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS after 1981 shaped the need for and acceptance of formal instruction for adolescents on life-saving topics such as contraception, condoms, and sexually transmitted infections. With widespread implementation of school and community-based programs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, adolescents’ receipt of sex education improved greatly between 1988 and 1995 [ 6 ]. In the late 1990s, as part of the “welfare reform,” abstinence only until marriage (AOUM) sex education was adopted by the U.S. government as a singular approach to adolescent sexual and reproductive health [ 7 , 8 ]. AOUM was funded within a variety of domestic and foreign aid programs, with 49 of 50 states accepting federal funds to promote AOUM in the classroom [ 7 , 8 ]. Since then, rigorous research has documented both the lack of efficacy of AOUM in delaying sexual initiation, reducing sexual risk behaviors, or improving reproductive health outcomes and the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education in increasing condom and contraceptive use and decreasing pregnancy rates [ 7 – 12 ]. Today, despite great advancements in the science, implementation of a truly modern, equitable, evidence-based model of comprehensive sex education remains precluded by sociocultural, political, and systems barriers operating in profound ways across multiple levels of adolescents’ environments [ 4 , 7 , 8 , 12 – 14 ].

At the federal level, the U.S. congress has continued to substantially fund AOUM, and in FY 2016, funding was increased to $85 million per year [ 3 ]. This budget was approved despite President Obama’s attempts to end the program after 10 years of opposition and concern from medical and public health professionals, sexuality educators, and the human rights community that AOUM withholds information about condoms and contraception, promotes religious ideologies and gender stereotypes, and stigmatizes adolescents with nonheteronormative sexual identities [ 7 – 9 , 11 – 13 ]. Other federal funding priorities have moved positively toward more medically accurate and evidence-based programs, including teen pregnancy prevention programs [ 1 , 3 , 12 ]. These programs, although an improvement from AOUM, are not without their challenges though, as they currently operate within a relatively narrow, restrictive scope of “evidence” [ 12 ].

At the state level, individual states, districts, and school boards determine implementation of federal policies and funds. Limited in-class time and resources leave schools to prioritize sex education in competition with academic subjects and other important health topics such as substance use, bullying, and suicide [ 4 , 13 , 14 ]. Without cohesive or consistent implementation processes, a highly diverse “patchwork” of sex education laws and practices exists [ 4 ]. A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute noted that although 37 states require abstinence information be provided (25 that it be stressed), only 33 and 18 require HIV and contraceptive information, respectively [ 1 ]. Regarding content, quality, and inclusivity, 13 states mandate instruction be medically accurate, 26 that it be age appropriate, eight that it not be race/ethnicity or gender bias, eight that it be inclusive of sexual orientation, and two that it not promote religion [ 1 ]. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study found that high school courses require, on average, 6.2 total hours of instruction on human sexuality, with 4 hours or less on HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy prevention [ 15 ]. Moreover, 69% of high schools notify parents/guardians before students receive such instruction; 87% allow parents/guardians to exclude their children from it [ 15 ]. Without coordinated plans for implementation, credible guidelines, standards, or curricula, appropriate resources, supportive environments, teacher training, and accountability, it is no wonder that state practices are so disparate [ 4 ].

At the societal level, deeply rooted cultural and religious norms around adolescent sexuality have shaped federal and state policies and practices, driving restrictions on comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, and service delivery in schools and elsewhere [ 12 , 13 ]. Continued public and political debates on the morality of sex outside marriage perpetuate barriers at multiple levels—by misguiding state funding decisions, molding parents’ (mis)understanding of programs, facilitating adolescents’ uptake of biased and inaccurate information in the classroom, and/or preventing their participation in sex education altogether [ 4 , 7 , 8 , 12 – 14 ].

Trends in Adolescents’ Receipt of Sex Education

In this month’s Journal of Adolescent Health , Lindberg et al. [ 16 ] provide further insight into the current state of sex education and the implications of federal and state policies for adolescents in the United States. Using population data from the National Survey of Family Growth, they find reductions in U.S. adolescents’ receipt of formal sex education from schools and other community institutions between 2006–2010 and 2011–2013. These declines continue previous trends from 1995–2002 to 2006–2008, which included increases in receipt of abstinence information and decreases in receipt of birth control information [ 17 – 19 ]. Moreover, the study highlights several additional new concerns. First, important inequities have emerged, the most significant of which are greater declines among girls than boys, rural-urban disparities, declines concentrated among white girls, and low rates among poor adolescents. Second, critical gaps exist in the types of information (practical types on “where to get birth control” and “how to use condoms” were lowest) and the mistiming of information (most adolescents received instruction after sexual debut) received. Finally, although receipt of sex education from parents appears to be stable, rates are low, such that parental-provided information cannot be adequately compensating for gaps in formal instruction.

Paradoxically, the declines in formal sex education from 2006 to 2013 have coincided with sizeable declines in adolescent birth rates and improved rates of contraceptive method use in the United States from 2007 to 2014 [ 20 , 21 ]. These coincident trends suggest that adolescents are receiving information about birth control and condoms elsewhere. Although the National Survey of Family Growth does not provide data on Internet use, Lindberg et al. [ 16 ] suggest that it is likely an important new venue for sex education. Others have commented on the myriad of online sexual and reproductive resources available to adolescents and their increasing use of sites such as Bedsider.org, StayTeen.org, and Scarleteen. [ 2 , 14 , 22 – 24 ].

The Future of Sex Education

Given the insufficient state of sex education in the United States in 2016, existing gaps are opportunities for more ambitious, forward-thinking strategies that cross-cut levels to translate an expanded evidence base into best practices and policies. Clearly, digital and social media are already playing critical roles at the societal level and can serve as platforms for disseminating innovative, scientifically and medically sound models of sex education to diverse groups of adolescents, including sexual minority adolescents [ 14 , 22 – 24 ]. Research, program, and policy efforts are urgently needed to identify effective ways to harness media within classroom, clinic, family household, and community contexts to reach the range of key stakeholders [ 13 , 14 , 22 – 24 ]. As adolescents turn increasingly to the Internet for their sex education, perhaps school-based settings can better serve other unmet needs, such as for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including the full range of contraceptive methods and STI testing and treatment services. [ 15 , 25 ].

At the policy level, President Obama’s budget for FY 2017 reflects a strong commitment to supporting youths’ access to age-appropriate, medically accurate sexual health information, with proposed elimination of AOUM and increased investments in more comprehensive programs [ 3 ]. Whether these priorities will survive an election year and new administration is uncertain. It will also be important to monitor the impact of other health policies, particularly regarding contraception and abortion, which have direct and indirect implications for minors’ rights and access to sexual and reproductive health information and care [ 26 ].

At the state and local program level, models of sex education that are grounded in a broader interdisciplinary body of evidence are warranted [ 4 , 11 – 14 , 27 – 29 ]. The most exciting studies have found programs with rights-based content, positive, youth-centered messages, and use of interactive, participatory learning and skill building are effective in empowering adolescents with the knowledge and tools required for healthy sexual decision-making and behaviors [ 4 , 11 – 14 , 27 – 29 ]. Modern implementation strategies must use complementary modes of communication and delivery, including peers, digital and social media, and gaming, to fully engage young people [ 14 , 22 , 23 , 27 ].

Ultimately, expanded, integrated, multilevel approaches that reach beyond the classroom and capitalize on cutting-edge, youth-friendly technologies are warranted to shift cultural paradigms of sexual health, advance the state of sex education, and improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescents in the United States.

Acknowledgments

Funding Sources

K.S.H. is supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development #1K01HD080722-01A1.

Contributor Information

Kelli Stidham Hall, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

Jessica McDermott Sales, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

Kelli A. Komro, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

John Santelli, Department of Population & Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York.

The Importance of Sexual Education Essay

Personal sexuality.

Sexual education has an integral role in removing one’s doubts on sexuality and sex related topics. It has often been identified that sexual education helps one to get a clear picture of the male and female sexuality. The sexual counseling and orientation class that I received was really effective in taking away the veil of sexual illiteracy and it enabled me to understand what human sexuality is. Regarding my personal experience with the class, I can identify it as one of the most effective classes which I ever attended and it helped me in changing my concepts about sex. As it was a class that covered almost all the sections of sexuality, the participants got the opportunity in properly identifying and clarifying their doubts on this topic. It was effective to get a clear picture of sexually-transmitted diseases and their evil effects on mankind. The proposed paper is an attempt to explore what sexuality is and the misconceptions of individuals about sexuality, based on personal experience of attending an orientation class on sexuality.

Researchers show their willingness to reach the conclusion that misconceptions and vague beliefs about sexuality contribute severe physical and mental disorder and behavioral problems. Various studies prove that effective orientation courses and sex education programs help to solve sexual problems and permit a person to mould a desired outcome in a person’s sexual life. The course promotes enormous knowledge and scientific information about sexuality in adolescence. In case of an adolescent, physical and mental changes affect seriously. In case of a male, biological changes such as puberty, growth of sexual organs and sexual attractions towards opposite sex are very common. In my own personal opinion the orientation course helped me to create scientific notions about sexual difficulties and sex-related diseases. The course helped me to deal sex as something serious and responsible phenomena in a person’s life. The web article entitled Sexual Difficulties remarks that; “Sexual difficulties belong to the group of conditions known as psychosomatic disorders, in which the body expresses the distress via a symptom, such as low libido.” ( Sexual Difficulties, p. 1).

Adolescent period is the most crucial time in a person’s life and the detailed description by the course person gives new knowledge about the behavioral changes and disorder problems. Both male and female suffer from lack of love, consideration, respect and proper interaction. Like other people, I also have some vague concepts about sexual changes and psychological impacts on a person’s life. After the orientation course I could understand more about male and female anatomy and their psychological impacts. Through the course I have got an opportunity to comprehend the term gender problem. Effective interaction between the course person and the listeners reduced the complications of the topic and it enabled me to admit sex is not only a means of enjoyment and merrymaking but a vital part of the process of human growth.

Like any other student, I was also not an exception and I had kept a false illusion over sexuality. One of the prominent lessons that I learned during the classes was about the gender issues. As I am one of the members of the male chauvinist society, I had formed my concept of sexuality with male possessing dominance. These classes planted in me the seeds that sexuality is a positive and healthy experience in which man and woman have equal roles. It was the class that cultivated in me the due respect to my opposite sex and I began to regard them equal to me. Understanding of female and male sexual anatomy and physiology helped realizing the genital change and growth in male and female. The transitional period of male and female from adolescence to youthhood is always problematic to children that their ignorance often leads them to mental and physical disorders. Some of the studies have identified children becoming depressed caused with the lack of sexual education. But it is possible for one to say that sexual education is always effective. The words of Dr. D Kirby, et al. make clear this fact when they rightly comment thus, “…there can also be many negative consequences of adolescent sexual behavior.”(Kirby, et al ). Now I am capable of recognizing the real physiological problems of children. I have also understood the ill-effects of prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases.

The course which I attended says how the relationship between partners can make a stronger one. They are of the opinion that if the partners build up a good communication with each other along with a good sexual relationship they can lead their life happily. While going through this class I realized that it is only by making a deep communication I can make my family relationship an ardent one. In the relationship with my partner I find some dissatisfaction because we are not always sharing our likes and dislikes. I think it is because of this there is a great gap between us. Now there is no good relationship between us because there is no deep communication between us. But after attending this class I understood about the relationship between the male and female sexual anatomy and how deep love and communication can help to make a good relation with my partner. I also got a good idea about sexually-transmitted diseases and what all difficulties will be there in the sexual relationship and by hearing the solutions I tried to change my attitudes toward my partner. Earlier I was not concerned about my partner’s wish or difficulties but now I care my partner and I try to understand the difficulties which my partner faces and in the coming days I will take care to make our relationship a success. I understood from the class that if there is a true love between partners and if they try to understand each other one can make their life a fruitful one.

The course gave a lot of valuable information about how to lead a happy and peaceful married life and what are the ways to attain such perfection. The course mainly focused on to have an understanding about the good and bad effects of keeping a sexual relation. The course gave comfortable contents which every one can put into practice. First of all the good content I consider is keeping a deep love and communication between the partners. This information is enough to lead a happy life, because if these two are put into practice there will be no clash and quarrel between the partners in sexual matter. For instance if one does not reveal his or her dissatisfaction about the manner of the partner in sexual relation, it will make a silent pain in the mind of the dissatisfied person and this will lead the person to be in a great hatred to his or her partner and thereby the relation too. So there should be a healthy communication and a kind of ardent love between the partners to avoid such hatred and other similar situations. The other comfortable content I found in the course is the description and discussion of male and female anatomy and physiology as it helps both the partners to understand every likes and dislikes of the other and can mingle with the other in an appropriate way. The discussion about sexual difficulties and solutions are also comfortable as it is highly favorable to know the causes of such difficulties and also the methods to solve those problems. The most important content I found in the course is the discussion about sexually transmitted diseases as it will create awareness among the people who keep different relations. So it will play a crucial role to change such attitudes and thereby the relation. These are the comfortable contents that I found in the course and are valuable to lead a better life.

Male and female anatomy and physiological features constituted more important knowledge for me. Each male and female has his/her own physical and genetic features. Comparing the physical changes of female in adulthood, female development is too fast and noticeable. I think one of the most valuable one is that the course provided proper awareness about inevitable relationship between physical growth and psychological changes. The given information helped me to know more about the structure of both male and female physical organs, especially the various changes of genital organs and their biological functions. The knowledge about opposite sex enabled me to respect persons from opposite sex. Childhood sexuality and its significance in development process were highly thought-provoking areas of the discussion. Genetic abnormalities and various sexual diseases are not familiar topics for me. Jane Coad and Melvyn Dunstall write “There are genetic conditions that result in a range of variable sexual development, such as Klinefelter’s syndrome and Turner’s syndrome.” (Coad, and Dunstall, p. 100). The course and orientation programs were helpful to number of people who have only some vague knowledge about personal sexuality.

To conclude, one can infer that there should be attempts to educate children on sexuality and the human body. From my personal experience of attending the class on sexuality, I have understood the importance of sexual education as it helps students to understand persons of their opposite sex. Proper understanding of male and female anatomy and physiological features is important in one’s life. Attending such classes remind one about the significance of a healthy sexual relation and its role in promoting better life situations. Scientific information about sexuality and the transition in the adolescent period also assumes significance. Male biological changes such as, puberty, growth of sexual organs and their sexual attraction to their opposite sex are quite common and if one is totally ignorant of these facts he/she may face some mental stress or in some cases it may lead to mental depression. Regarding sexual relation in married life, one can see that sex and sexual satisfaction have integral roles. Failure in understanding his/her pair in sexual relationship often leads to the ruin of family relationships. So, one is sure of the fact that sexual education has an elite role in one’s life. Proper sexual education should be given to children to avoid sexual illiteracy and sexual crimes.

Works Cited

  • Coad, Jane., and Dunstall, Melvyn. Anatomy and Physiology for Midwives . Elsevier Health Science. 2001. Web.
  • Kirby, Douglas., etal. School- Based Program to Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors: a Review of Effectiveness . Public Health Report, 109. 3(1994): 339-360. Pub Med Central Journal List. 2009.Web.
  • Sexual Difficulties. Andrology Australia.2006.
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, November 14). The Importance of Sexual Education. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-importance-of-sexual-education/

"The Importance of Sexual Education." IvyPanda , 14 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-importance-of-sexual-education/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'The Importance of Sexual Education'. 14 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. "The Importance of Sexual Education." November 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-importance-of-sexual-education/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Importance of Sexual Education." November 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-importance-of-sexual-education/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Importance of Sexual Education." November 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-importance-of-sexual-education/.

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the importance of sex education essay

Simple & Easy Sex Education Essay Titles

  • The Other Side: the Importance of Sex Education in High School
  • The Ongoing Debate Over Sex Education and Its Influence on Our Children
  • Why Sex Education for Children Is Very Important
  • The Importance of Sex Education in Today’s Schools
  • The Religious and Cultural Aspect of Sex Education
  • Single Sex Education Are Becoming More Complicated Countries
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  • What Sex Education Topics Are Most Effective in Elementary Schools
  • Gender Discrimination for Single Sex Education
  • How Sex Education Can Change Teenage Sexual Behaviour
  • Why Teens Need Comprehensive Sex Education

Good Essay Topics on Sex Education

  • The Importance of Sex Education in America and to American Teenagers
  • The Main Features of Sex Education in Traditional Societies and Its Importance
  • The Effects of State‐Mandated Abstinence‐Based Sex Education on Teen Health Outcomes
  • Why Sex Education Should Be Taught in Schools
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  • The Importance of Teaching Sex Education and Homosexuality
  • The Three Forms of Sex Education in the United States
  • The Inclusion of Sex Education in the School Curriculum
  • When Values Clash with Faith: Sex Education in Religious Based Schools”
  • What Are the Pros and Cons of Sex Education in Hong Kong Secondary Schools
  • Should Sex Education Be Increased in Schools to Curb Problems in Society?
  • The Impact of Single Sex Education on Girl ‘S Academic Performance
  • The Need for a Comprehensive Sex Education in American Schools
  • The Benefits of Sex Education in Public Schools
  • Why High schools Should Have Sex Education Starting Freshman Year

Research Questions About Sex Education

  • What Age Should Sex Education Be Taught?
  • How Should Sex Education Be Taught?
  • What Are the Pros and Cons of Sex Education in Hong Kong Secondary Schools?
  • Can Single-Sex Education Improve Students’ Academic Achievement in Middle School?
  • What Sex Education Topics Are Most Effective in Elementary Schools?
  • Has the Media and School-Based Sex Education Reduced the Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases?
  • Why Should High schools Have Sex Education Starting Freshman Year?
  • Does Sex Education Influence Sexual and Reproductive Behaviour of Women?
  • Why Is Same-Sex School Education Better?
  • How Far Should Schools Teach Sex Education?
  • Why Is Sex Education for Children Very Important?
  • Does Sex Education Work?
  • Why Should Sex Education Be Taught in Schools?
  • How Can Sex Education Change Teenage Sexual Behaviour?
  • Why Do Teens Need Comprehensive Sex Education?
  • Will You Choose CoEd or Single-Sex Education?
  • Our Current Sex Education, Why Doesn’t It Work?
  • Demand for Sexual Services in Britain: Does Sex Education Matter?
  • Co-Education and Single-Sex Education: Which Will Benefit Children More?
  • Why Do Teens Need Sex Education?
  • When Values Clash with Faith: Sex Education in Religious Based Schools?
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  • Which City or Country Has Sexual Education for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?
  • How to Educate the 4th-6th Elementary Student About Sex?
  • How Successful Is Abstinence-Only Sex Education in Reduce Teen Pregnancy?
  • Is Introduction Sex Education in Schools Useful?
  • Does the School Provide Enough Information on Sex Education?

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News | ‘It’s important to speak up,’ says a…

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News | ‘it’s important to speak up,’ says a childhood sexual abuse survivor, a 43-year-old mother of 7 shares her survival story after being sexually assaulted at age 12..

the importance of sex education essay

WEST CHESTER — On a fall day 31 years ago, a 12-year-old girl met with a detective from the Willistown Police Department and saw her life change forever.

And not necessarily in a good way.

But the decision that Shannon Haas — then known as Shannon Schroeder — made that day is one that she does not seem to regret years later, and is one that she encourages others who find themselves in her shoes to follow.

On Oct. 15, 1992, Haas reported to police that the man whose family she had been babysitting for the past several months had sexually assaulted her in the bedroom of a house on Spring Road in the township where he was a caretaker. She was able to fight him off, she said, but on the way home he threatened to harm her, indicating he had a gun, if she ever told anyone about what he had done.

She decided to tell her story anyway.

Surviving sexual assault and sharing the story can be empowering. (Andrey Popov - Getty Images)

Initially, she said that the man, John Barton Hand, had kissed her and put his hand underneath her shirt. But a year later, she went back to the detective to whom she had first reported the assault, the late David Boyle, and revised her story. Hand had molested her in far more serious ways than simple groping, she said.

“Although she doesn’t want to talk about the incident,” Boyle wrote in a 1993 affidavit accusing Hand of aggravated indecent assault, ‘she stated it should come out what he did to me.’ ”

That message — making sure that the world would know about the crimes committed against her — is one that she has returned to decades later now by speaking out about the importance of sexual assault survivors unburdening themselves about their own experiences and reporting the offenses committed against them to authorities.

“I think people are afraid to speak up,” Haas told a reporter in an interview Wednesday. “They are afraid of what’s going to happen to them. I am not going to lie: I went through what I went through, and I went through hell in my teenage years.

“But if I would have kept that in, I believe from what I have heard of people that have kept it in and then later down the road … they got into drugs and it was a cover up because they were so scared of what happened. Or other paths that people have taken.“

“It’s important to speak up because we didn’t do anything wrong because we didn’t ask for it,” Haas said.  “I didn’t ask for that to happen.”

Haas, now 43, a wife, and mother of seven children, who still lives in Malvern where she grew up, reached out and spoke with MediaNews Group as a way to connect with those who have been subjected to abuse and have disclosed it to give them a simple, yet eloquent, message — “You are strong. You are a hero. You are saving other people lives by speaking up. You did nothing wrong. You aren’t alone. You didn’t ask for this. You are amazing.”

MediaNews Group does not normally identify the victims of sexual crimes in news stories. Haas, however, gave permission to use her name for this report.

Her case made headlines at the time largely because of Hand’s past. In 1973, Hand had been arrested and convicted of armed rape in Delaware and had been sentenced to a life term. He was paroled after serving 12 years and moved to Pennsylvania, and after his arrest in Chester County would return to Delaware to continue his life sentence.

According to a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Corrections, Hand died in prison on Sept. 9, 2013 at the age of 63.

According to information from the Chester County District Attorney’s Child Abuse Unit, studies show that survivors of child sexual abuse face years of aftereffects of the assaults. Unlike physical assault, where broken bones may heal relatively quickly, the impact of a sexual assault lasts years, and evinces itself in harmful behavior.

Those victims are four times more likely to experience drug abuse in their lifetime; are four times more likely to suffer from post traumatic syndrome in adulthood; and are three times more likely to endure a major depressive episode as adults.  Adolescents who were sexually abused have a three to fivefold risk of delinquency and are more likely to be arrested than their peers who have not been abused.

Sexually abused children tend to perform lower on tests measuring cognitive ability, academic performance, and memory as compared to similarly-situated peers with no history of abuse, those studies show. Adults with a history of child sexual abuse are more than twice as likely to attempt or commit suicide.

“These consequences impact every aspect of life, percussive effects of the overwhelming impact of childhood sexual abuse,” First Assistant District Attorney Erin O’Brien wrote in an email.

Haas’s own experience is testimony to those impacts.

In the interview, she said that beginning in her years at Great Valley High School, from which she graduated in 1998, she started to change.

“It was everything,” she said. “I ended up having post traumatic stress from it. I ended up having an eating disorder from it. I became a little bit more sexually active. I wasn’t confident in myself. I put myself around people that were more hurtful. I knew in my head I would not get hurt in that way because I already knew the type of person they were.”

“I was already down on myself and felt like crap from what happened,” she said.

Hand had groomed the 12-year-old girl he met at the Charlestown Greene apartment complex, including her as a babysitter in family trips and parties, making her a part of his family, and getting her to trust him. As a teenager, she gravitated towards those boys and men she knew she could not trust from the start.

She became pregnant while a senior at Great Valley, married the father of the child, and did not attend college.

Haas said that she began to turn her life around with the birth of her son.

“I knew I had to change,” she said. “I had a baby who needed me. That was a ‘click’ when I had to do better for myself, and I had to take care of my child.”

She divorced her first husband, and in 2002 met Matthew Haas, who lived in the same townhome complex as her parents.

“We clicked right away,” she said. “He saw me for me and it was different. That’s what fully changed.”

She also told him what Hand had done to her. They married in 2003.

“It is something that happens,” said Matt Haas, who accompanied his wife for the interview. “I knew it’s not her fault. She was a victim of that. For God’s sake, she was 12 years old. What I knew is that Shannon was a good person. We talked a lot.

“It’s not something that bothered me” he said. “And I knew she had the eating disorders and confidence problems because of it. I knew we had to build her confidence back up. Here is a really smart and attractive young woman who has exactly no confidence. The world was just beating her down. It just seemed wrong.”

Even though Hand was returned to prison in Delaware and spent the remainder of his life behind bars, Haas’s memory of the legal process in her case is not pleasant. She remembers being intimidated by Hand and his wife as they appeared for court hearings, and of feeling afraid of what he could do to her as he stayed free on bail.

Then, as she prepared for trial in March 1994 more than a year after coming forward, she learned that he had agreed to plead guilty to indecent assault, the less serious of the charges against him. He was given probation by the late Judge M. Joseph Melody Jr.

And even though she had praise for the way she was treated by the prosecutor assigned to her case, David Pless, who died in 2015, she regrets the way the case ended.

“I was bothered that I didn’t get to speak up,” she said, recalling that she was denied a chance to give a victim impact statement, something that is commonplace today in the county’s court system. “ I remember I was really mad. I remember saying to my Mom, ‘I’m not okay with that. This isn’t fair. I want to speak up.’ This happened to me.

“It would have brought a release to me,” she said. “Because I was ready. I wanted to speak about what happened. And as happy as I was knowing that he was going to go to jail, but it didn’t give me that full closure. I didn’t get to speak. I didn’t feel like real justice happened to my case.”

Today, Haas is a stay-at-home mother after leaving her career working with people affected by dementia. She and Matt are hoping to relocate to the beach sometime in the future, and laugh about what it might be like if her eldest gives them grandchildren.

But she still has a desire to help those who have been victimized recover from their ordeal.

“It’s very hard to come forward,” she said. “Because you are facing it again as you speak. You are feeling it a different way as you are speaking about it. And that is mentally draining.”

But in coming forward, “you are saving the next victim,” she declared.  “That to me is what is so important: you are making a difference. We are not going to let that person go and do that to somebody else.”

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

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COMMENTS

  1. The Importance of Sex Education Essay by EduBirdie

    In the early 90's, the main focus of sex education was inclined towards the concept revolving around marriage and role of family members. However, with time the definition behind sex education has changed to a great extent. The school nowadays are more focused towards educating teenagers about prevention of unwanted pregnancies and sexually ...

  2. Why Sex Education Matters

    In 2014, a study found that 93% of parents supported having sex education in middle school and 96% supported teaching sex ed in high school. A 2017 study again found that 93% of parents favored sexuality education in schools. ... Understanding the six key principles that guide healthy sexual experiences is an important component of reproductive ...

  3. The Importance of Access to Comprehensive Sex Education

    Benefits of comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive sex education provides children and adolescents with the information that they need to: Understand their body, gender identity, and sexuality. Build and maintain healthy and safe relationships. Engage in healthy communication and decision-making around sex.

  4. Comprehensive sexuality education: For healthy, informed and ...

    The evidence on the impact of CSE is clear: Sexuality education has positive effects, including increasing young people's knowledge and improving their attitudes related to sexual and reproductive health and behaviors. Sexuality education leads to learners delaying the age of sexual initiation, increasing the use of condoms and other ...

  5. Sex Education in the Spotlight: What Is Working? Systematic Review

    Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) "plays a central role in the preparation of young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life" (p. 12) [ 17] and adolescents who receive comprehensive sex education are more likely to delay their sexual debut, as well as to use contraception during sexual initiation [ 18 ].

  6. Comprehensive sexuality education

    On sexuality education, as with all other issues, WHO provides guidance for policies and programmes based on extensive research evidence and programmatic experience. The UN global guidance on sexuality education outlines a set of learning objectives beginning at the age of 5. These are intended to be adapted to a country's local context and ...

  7. Why Sex Education Is Important [Podcast]

    Comprehensive sex education has positive effects, including increasing young people's knowledge and improving their attitudes related to sexual and reproductive health and behaviors. ... Why Sex Education Is Important [Podcast] Aug. 25, 2020 min read By The Education Team None. When only 13 states require sex education to be medically accurate ...

  8. Why education about gender and sexuality does belong in the classroom

    Sex, sexuality, respectful relationships, and gender all need to be discussed in schools as a component of a whole-school approach. This should not only include in-class education, but it should ...

  9. After Roe, Sex Ed Is Even More Vital

    In a systematic review of 30 years of peer-reviewed research that explored sex education outcomes beyond pregnancy and S.T.I. prevention, we found that high-quality sex education decreases ...

  10. What else can sex education do? Logics and effects in classroom

    In academic debates on sex education, an important opposition has arisen between those that regard sex education as a health intervention (Schaalma et al., 2004), and those that counter the depoliticized rhetoric of health (Bay-Cheng, 2017).This article contributes to understanding sexuality education beyond health effects or critique, through exploring sex education in school spaces.

  11. What is Sex Education?

    Sex education is high quality teaching and learning about a broad variety of topics related to sex and sexuality. It explores values and beliefs about those topics and helps people gain the skills that are needed to navigate relationships with self, partners, and community, and manage one's own sexual health.

  12. The State of Sex Education in the United States

    For more than four decades, sex education has been a critically important but contentious public health and policy issue in the United States [1-5].Rising concern about nonmarital adolescent pregnancy beginning in the 1960s and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS after 1981 shaped the need for and acceptance of formal instruction for adolescents on life-saving topics such as contraception, condoms, and ...

  13. The Importance of Sexual Education

    Personal Sexuality. Sexual education has an integral role in removing one's doubts on sexuality and sex related topics. It has often been identified that sexual education helps one to get a clear picture of the male and female sexuality. The sexual counseling and orientation class that I received was really effective in taking away the veil ...

  14. Essay on The Importance of Sex Education

    The education they receive plays a major role in the way they make decisions. Sex is a controversial topic brought up frequently throughout a child's life. Based on the way it is taught, the child makes decisions that may forever change his or her life. (Sex Education That 3) Although it is often opposed, the two most essential ways children ...

  15. (PDF) Sex education: A review of its effects

    Abstract. This paper reviewed 33 empirical studies which assessed the effectiveness of sex education. Methodological issues were considered within six sections: (a) populations, (b) instructors ...

  16. Sex education essay (docx)

    Writing an essay about sex education requires a comprehensive understanding of the topic and its implications for individuals and society. Here's a structured approach you could take: **Introduction:** - Begin by introducing the importance of sex education and its relevance in today's society. - Define sex education and explain its role in promoting sexual health, preventing negative outcomes ...

  17. The Importance Of Sex Education

    The Importance Of Sex Education. Satisfactory Essays. 1340 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. Sex education is one of the most debated problems in education, which has been floating on educational agendas for ages. There has been a constant dialogue about the role that sex education should play in curriculum of K-12 education.

  18. Simple & Easy Sex Education Essay Topics

    Good Essay Topics on Sex Education. The Importance of Sex Education in America and to American Teenagers. The Main Features of Sex Education in Traditional Societies and Its Importance. The Effects of State‐Mandated Abstinence‐Based Sex Education on Teen Health Outcomes. Why Sex Education Should Be Taught in Schools.

  19. The Importance of Sex Education Essay

    The Importance of Sex Education Essay. Good Essays. 1209 Words; 5 Pages; 7 Works Cited; ... When looking at the statistics, sex education can play an important role in adolescents now days. In 2011 54% of twelfth graders have had sexual intercourse and 38% were currently sexually active (Adolescence pg. 197). ...

  20. Goals of Sex Education for Teenagers

    What Are the Goals of Sex Education? Taught by trained professionals. Evidence-informed. Trauma-informed. Book an Appointment. Sex education is designed to help the youth gain the information, skills, and motivation to make healthy decisions about sex throughout their lives.

  21. The Importance Of Sexual Education Essay

    According to the podcast by Owens, sexual education (sex ed) was not taught in public schools in the United States prior to the 1960s and its introduction during the 1970s resulted in a cascade of evils on the American people thereafter. Indeed, if Owens is to be believed, sex ed was not even a twinkle in lawmakers eyes until Planned Parenthood ...

  22. New series highlights the importance of a positive postnatal experience

    The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP) have launched a new series on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal care experience in BMJ Global Health with six articles presenting evidence on the importance of understanding women's, parents' and health workers' perspectives and a rights-based approach to strengthen quality ...

  23. The Importance of Physical Education in Schools

    Physical education (PE) is a vital component of a comprehensive educational curriculum that promotes the physical, mental, and social development of students. This essay explores the significance of physical education in schools, discussing its benefits, challenges, and the role it plays in fostering lifelong healthy habits.

  24. The Importance of Sex Education Essays

    The Importance of Sex Education Essays. 701 Words 3 Pages. Sex education should be increased in schools. Nearly one million women under the age of 20 get pregnant each year. That means 2800 women get pregnant each day. If students are educated about the effects sex has on their lives, it lessens their chance of having children at an early age.

  25. CBSE Boards 2024: Check Important Questions For Chemistry Exam

    Important Chemistry questions a) An element has an atomic mass 93 g mol-1 and density 11.5 g cm-3. If the edge length of its unit cell is 300 pm, identify the type of unit cell.

  26. 'It's important to speak up,' says a childhood sexual abuse survivor

    WEST CHESTER — On a fall day 31 years ago, a 12-year-old girl met with a detective from the Willistown Police Department and saw her life change forever. And not necessarily in a good way. But ...

  27. Takeaways from Fani Willis' stunning testimony in Georgia

    The Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and 14 of his allies took a stunning turn Thursday when two top prosecutors testified under oath about their romantic relationship at a ...

  28. The Controversy of Teaching World Literature and the Importance ...

    The significance of this study is to show that World Literature remains an essential field and to highlight the importance of translation. This study questions the modes and purpose of translating literary texts. The result of this study includes a discussion of the need for translation to promote the wide circulation of literary texts and ...