Lets Talk About Sex!

Education
Tyler K. Anderson
Sex education may be a key part of slowing the amount of sexually transmitted infection
(STI) being spread in the country. The amount of STIs in teens and young adults, ages 15-24, in
the United States is on the rise. This age range represents 25% of the sexually active population,
but account for close to half of the almost 20 million new STIs diagnosed in the US each year.
That is according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, which also shows that 47% of all high school students say they have had sex, 15%
saying they have had sexual intercourse with four partners or more. That seems like a
staggeringly high number of high school students getting it on if you ask me, or maybe I just
went to the wrong high school. They go on to say that only 60% of these students surveyed
reported condom use. Oh well, only 40% are not practicing safe sex, thats merely 4 out of 10.
True, but lets scale up
and realize that,
statistically, out of every
1,000,000 sexually active
high school students there
are 400,000 that do not
use a condom. Bigger
numbers seem like a
bigger problem doesnt it?
CDC Graph (right)

The CDC also

states that the teen birth

rate in the US has
declined to its lowest
levels since data
collection began.
Congrats! But while our
numbers have dropped to
record lows, the US still
has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world with roughly one in four girls becoming
pregnant at least once by their 20th birthday. These teen mothers are far more likely to drop out
of school, be below the poverty line, and require government assistance, than mothers of older
age groups.
Well, who is not teaching their children about these facts? That would be we as a
country. Wait, the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world?
That doesnt sound like something our country would do. Currently, only 22 states, and the
District of Columbia, require that sex education be taught in public schools. Oh, and only 19
states require that sex education must be medically and factually accurate. That means there are
a whole 28 states where sex education is not required, medically accurate or not. How can a

highly developed country, such as ours, have not even half of its states teaching such simple sex
education? Surely the US government is pushing for every state to require that teens have a sex
education class provided, right? Wrong.
According to Advocates for Youth, no highly effective sex education program is eligible
for federal funding because there are mandates which prohibit educating youth about the benefits
of condoms and contraception. Sure, Johnny can see a commercial for condoms while watching
the Teen Mom marathon, but what about teaching Johnny the benefits of those condoms in
school? Not on Uncle Sams dime! Schools can pry their sex-ed money from Sams cold, dead,
hands.
In contrast, the US has spent billions of dollars supporting abstinence-only-until-marriage
programs. That doesnt seem so bad, right? Why not just tell the youngsters to abstain? Well,
we do, and that actually seems like more of a problem as it turns out. One study shows the
relationship between state-level sex education policies and the states STI rates. The study
showed that states with mandates emphasizing abstinence instead of sexual education had the
highest rates of infection in adolescents. That study also reports that states with no mandates for
abstinence and encouraged sexual education had the lowest average rates of infections among
adolescents and the overall population as a whole. And those abstinence-only based programs,
well it turns out the US may have been lying about them all along.
An investigation by the US House of Representatives found that over 80% of abstinenceonly curriculum supported by the Department of Health and Human Services included, false,
distorted, and misleading information about sexual health. The group Advocates for Youth state
that the investigation found falsehoods about the, effectiveness of contraceptives; false
information about the risks of abortion; gender stereotypes and religious beliefs conveyed as
scientific fact; along with medical and scientific errors of fact. So, the Federal government
wont pay to teach our children about practicing safe sex, but they will pay to teach our children
false information about abstinence?
Advocates for Youth also cite that research has identified highly effective sex education
and HIV prevention programs that affect multiple behaviors and/or achieve positive health
impacts. They claim that in states with required sex education, improved behavioral outcomes
have included delaying the first time students had sex, as well as reducing the number of new
partners, and reducing the frequency of unprotected sex. As the study I referred to earlier shows,
in these states with required sexual education the rates of STIs have also dropped, while they
continue to rise in the youth of states with no sexual education, or abstinence-only programs.
Why should it be up to schools to do it? Isnt this an issue parents must discuss with their
children? You mean the parents who probably never had sex education themselves, let alone
sexting, the internet, and TV shows that star teen mothers? While parents will tell you that they
always want their children to be safe and well informed, they would most likely also teach their
children the abstinence-only-until-marriage route. Now dont get me wrong, Im not saying
abstinence is wrong to teach, but it should be along with contraception information. This issue
has just gone way beyond the individual household. STIs are a national, public health problem.

Our population has never been as large as it is now, and we have never been faced with
more sexually transmitted infections. It only makes sense that our students be taught about sex
in the classroom as part of their education. I was required to take a sex-ed class in high school,
and yes, they did push abstinence very hard, but they did also teach us about condoms and other
ways to protect ourselves during sexual intercourse. Maybe it was just the horrifying pictures
shown in the class of genitals affected by STIs, but having learned what I did has influenced the
practices I take in my personal relations ever since.
So lets just recap some of these numbers we learned about: Nearly half of all new STI
diagnoses occur in only 25% of the sexually active population. That 25% just happens to be
between the ages of 15-24, just when sex gets intriguing. 47% of those teenagers will have sex
during high school. 40% wont have protected sex. 28 out of 50 states that these students live in
dont require sex education. Because I went to public school, I cant total these numbers for you,
but I did learn enough to know these STI rates are a huge problem; and luckily my public school
also taught me to prevent getting an STI in my sex-ed class.