Yeah that’s right folks, this article is about sex, the thing everyone wants but no one wants to talk about.
Sex is a huge part of life, hell without sex we wouldn’t have life, but there are many many different philosophies on it. How you should have it, who you should have it with, when you should have it, what you should know about it, how you should talk about it, IF you should talk about it.
The first time most of us remember formally talking about sex was that puberty talk in elementary school where you learned that soon you’re going to become a ~women~ and start having ~feelings~ for others. So, you’re sitting there all nervous that you’re going to have a crime scene in your pants every month and how can a person lose blood for days straight and not die. Then maybe you had “the talk” with your parents and you got all red and screamed “Mom! You’re embarrassing me! I don’t want to talk to YOU about THIS” And finally, you graduated to the true sex ed in high school where they told how it all works and probably made you watch a scarring video.
I know a lot of you are cringing reading this. I’m truly sorry if I brought up any bad memories of your gym teacher sliding a condom over a banana. But let’s get real people, this stuff is really really important.
Personally, I have never felt uncomfortable talking about sex, because it was very normalized for me (not in some weird creepy way). I’m also a pretty open person, it’s tough to make me uncomfortable. However, that is not the case for most people, sex is not something openly discussed which can be straight up unsafe! If kids are not properly educated on sex it can lead to many unwanted outcomes; pregnancies, STIs, and even emotional turmoil.
Sexual education should be REQUIRED and the information taught should be REQUIRED to be scientifically proven. For most of you it probably seems like this is common sense but in many states, it is not legally required to be taught, and in some it’s not legally required to be true.
I do understand that in some religions sex is only meant for your spouse. That should continue to be taught, however, safe sex should still be taught to the people who receive that religious education. Endorsing safe sex does not endorse sex out of wedlock, endorsing safe sex does not endorse having sex!
Kids in high school are full of all kinds of hormones that their bodies are not used to. As much as anyone tells them not to do something, some of them are bound to do it. The least we can do is provide proper information for if and when that happens. This could prevent teen pregnancies, STIs and even abortions.
Another important topic when it comes to sex is consent. Consent and sex go hand-in-hand and that NEEDS to be emphasized by educators in order to raise a generation that respects one another.
No matter who you are, or what you decide to do in life, you should have the right to have all the information before you make those decisions.
