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Reproductive Rights

E. Barakat, N. Hayek, and K. Montanez

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How Much do you really know about your own body?

(Lukashevsky, 2016)

(Lukashevsky, 2016)

The U.S. has a precarious relationship with sex education, which contributes to it having one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the highly developed world. Women are undereducated, unprepared, and lack necessary resources as a result of inadequate legislation regarding sexual health, which leads to harmful physical and physiological effects. Making sexual education accessible to women is a fundamental right that is often overlooked, and that must change.

 

Sex Education Legislation

(The 74, 2016)

(The 74, 2016)

When observing policies surrounding sexual education, states throughout the US pursue similar, weak legislative efforts. Only 13 states mandate medically accurate sex education. Only 20 states require education on contraceptives. Furthermore, 19 states promote a curriculum stressing that engagement in sexual activity must advance only within marriage. And 39 states have called for the “provision of information on abstinence,” attaching sentiments of shame and guilt to the act of sex (Guttmacher Institute, 2021).

In Florida, statutes have permitted public schools to provide “abstinence-only, abstinence-plus or comprehensive sexual health education instruction” (FLDOE, 2021). Further, the inclusion of abstinence is the sole “critical component” made obligatory when teaching about sexual health in Florida districts. The Florida Statutes went as far as to “[exempt educators] from the teaching of reproductive health or disease prevention education upon request from their parents” (FLDOE, 2021). And Florida is not recognized as a state that mandates medical accuracy or HIV education (Bradford and Johnson, 2020). While a poll with Planned Parenthood demonstrates that more than 90% of parents support the provision of sex education, with 93% supporting such during one’s middle school years and 96% during high school, the United States continues to promote inadequate policies concerning the delivery of sex education to American youth (Planned Parenthood).

 

Implementation of the Sex Ed Curriculum in the U.S.

According to the 2014 CDC School Health Profiles, less than 1/2 of high schools and only 1/5 of middle schools teach all of the recommended/necessary topics as designated by the CDC as essential components of sex education (Planned Parenthood). Most concerning about this information is that not only are school systems failing to have sex education but those that do have it within the curriculum often fall short. The number of schools requiring education about human sexuality, pregnancy, and STI prevention has actually been steadily decreasing since 2000. It is probably not a shock, based on the information above, to learn that abstinence-only is the most frequently taught style of sex education in the United States.

The implications of all of this are extreme. Many guys and girls will have sexual relations without proper education about or understanding of their sexual health. Between 2011 and 2013, only 43% of adolescent females and 57% of adolescent males received information about birth control before the first time they had sex (Planned Parenthood). This serves to show how longstanding biases and lack of proper regulation and standardization of sex education are negatively impacting the health of young adults in the U.S., leaving them uninformed and unaware of potential dangers and necessary precautions.

 

The Consequences of Insufficient Sex Education

(Guttmacher Institute, 2021)

(Guttmacher Institute, 2021)

The lack of sex education and the legislation that regulates it has been linked to many negative consequences for young women, in particular. Many schools think that by not talking about sex, adolescents will abstain from sexual interactions. The reality is that adolescents, especially young women, are simply uneducated about their bodies.

When compared to European countries, young women who grow up in the United States face more societal disapproval regarding their sexuality (Guttmacher Institute, 2016). In other “developed” countries, while there is not necessarily less sexual activity happening amongst adolescents, they are more educated and prepared for those interactions. There is a greater “acceptance of adolescent sexuality,” which allows for more conversations, understanding, and safety.

The U.S.’s “ignore it and it will go away” attitude has resulted in its ranking as the highest of all “developed” nations in not only teen pregnancy, but also, unintended pregnancies, abortions, and STIs (Guttmacher Institute, 2016; Talk: The New Sex Ed, 2020). Greater availability of free or subsidized contraceptives would result in lower rates of pregnancy and births (Guttmacher Institute, 2016). There have also been studies illustrating a strong correlation between young women being taught about their sexual pleasure and lower levels of sexual abuse and sexual assault (Talk: The New Sex Ed, 2020). Women’s pleasure is yet another aspect the United States’ sexual education curriculum fails to properly address.

 

So, What’s Next?

 There must be proper education about sexuality, anatomy, risks, and pleasure in the United States. As a society, we have created and supported a narrative that women are here to serve men and their needs. Women should be empowered and educated about their bodies and sexual health. There undeniably needs to be legislative change to implement standardized and medically accurate sex education in the U.S. to support this fundamental human right.

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