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SEX ED IN AMERICA
Mending a Broken System
By Angelica Hunt
Sexual education in the United States has always been a deeply contested topic, as Americans cannot
decide what should and should not be taught to their children about sex and the many facets of it. The
topic of sex in schools has been taboo for years, and this distaste for discussion has trickled into what and
how children are being taught.1 However, just because sex education is taboo in schools does not mean it
is unacceptable everywhere else- it is easily accessed through the media, television, social media, and
basically any device with access to the internet.2 In America’s sexualized culture, it is not uncommon for
young children to be exposed to inappropriate forms of media, but oftentimes they will not be able to
understand what they are seeing because these topics are not extensively covered in schools.3 This lack of
information in schooling for sexual health topics creates the potential for misinformation about sex and
will negatively affect teens’ ability to make healthy, informed decisions when it comes to their
relationships.4
2
There are two distinct sides pushing the debate which has made it difficult to come to a compromise over
regulations; on one hand, most sexual conservatives would prefer abstinence-only education, and on the
other hand, the majority sexual liberals prefer comprehensive education.5 Because of varying personal
beliefs, there are few federal laws regarding sexual education in American schools, and each state has
created its own limited laws for schools districts to follow.6 It is safe to say that the existing regulations
are not nearly enough for students to completely understand what sex is and how to safely go about
approaching it because every student nationwide is receiving a different amount of education on the
topic.7
Despite the U.S. being a developed nation with advanced healthcare and resources, it still has
significantly higher rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than most other
developed nations in North America and Europe.8 This can be partially attributed to the currently
implemented programs or lack thereof, which do not provide students with the information and resources
to have sex safely.9 Most schools in the country still are only teaching abstinence-only sexual education
even though multiple studies, the national teen pregnancy rate, and STI contraction rates have proven that
this form of education is ineffective in its preventative efforts.10 Based on these statistics and reasonings,
it is clear that sexual education in the United States is currently not providing students with enough
education to form healthy and safe sexual relationships. This issue brief will discuss the existing policies
for sexual education and the inherent problems that exist from those programs. It will also discuss the
needs of American students and provide a better implementation of these standards on the federal, state,
and local levels through several government policy recommendations.
____________________________________________________________________________________
FRAMING THE ISSUE: THE IMPACT OF SEXUAL EDUCATION
For the United States, sex ed has only existed in a regulated sense since the 1980s and 90s due to societal
issues that forced lawmakers to take action.11 In the 1960s, there was an increasing problem with high
levels of nonmarital teen pregnancies, then the HIV/ AIDS epidemic that began in 1981 and began
affecting American citizens galvanized lawmakers into dealing with the need for sexual education.12
Lawmakers then realized there was a great need to provide information about contraception and STIs in
order to begin preventing teen pregnancy and the spread of HIV, but chose mostly abstinence-only forms
of education for students because it better represented their religious ideologies.13 Since then, the U.S. has
made strides to decrease teen pregnancy rates, but it still has some of the highest rates in the industrialized
3
world, and STI contraction rates are still very high for Americans aged 15-24.14 Younger demographics
make up 25 percent of the sexually active population but are responsible for about half of all new STI in
the United States annually; without the prevalence of education about contraceptives within the
overarching topic of sexual health, there is little chance or other alternatives to decrease those statistics.15
____________________________________________________________________________________
CURRENT SEX ED REQUIREMENTS IN THE U.S.
4
Sexual education is not regulated on the federal level, meaning there are not any universal standards that
all states must enforce.22 For the most part, the federal government only influences sexual education by
the means of allocating funds, and the topics that lawmakers support are represented in focus programs
and what streams of funding are available.23 There has been a transition of funding mostly abstinence
programs to funding evidence-based comprehensive sexual education; from 1996 to 2010, 1.5 billions
dollars worth of funding went into abstinence-only education, but today there are about 50 million dollars
available to pay for abstinence-only education.24 As of 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, two streams
of funding were created for evidence-based sexual education, the Personal Responsibility Education
Program (PREP), and the President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) that require the
coverage of contraception, STIs, HIV/AIDS, and some topics about the preparation for adulthood.25
On a local level, school administrators and their respective school boards are in charge of creating sex ed
curriculums that follow state laws.31 In the past, states have withdrawn funding from both abstinence and
evidence-based fund streams, which trickles down to the funding that each school district receives for
their individual health programs, highly influencing the material that schools will teach.32 Every school
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administration has the ability to create a plan for sexual education that reflects its views as long as state
laws are followed, which allows for religious agendas to be included within school curriculum through
the promotion of abstinence.33 Many schools also allow parents to sign consent forms to opt their children
out of sexual education in health courses, preventing them from obtaining critical information about
‘sensitive’ topics their parents would prefer their children not learn about.34 Based on location and region
of the country, certain schools in the country (more religious areas) will gravitate to abstinence-only or no
education, and some schools in more liberal areas (cities) will more likely have comprehensive forms of
education.35
____________________________________________________________________________________
HOLES IN THE EXISTING LOGIC
There are many flaws in the American sexual education system that justify the need for drastic changes in
how the system is implemented in schools, and the logic behind some of the current sex ed programs in
the country has been proven ineffective. One of the biggest issues for sex ed in the United States is the
ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education, as this has been proven in many studies.36 Abstinence-only
programs are rejected by health professionals because they have been proven unable to delay the onset of
sexual initiation, and only allow teachers to highlight the failures of contraceptive use and contraceptive
methods.37 Studies done by the Guttmacher Institute, a group that does research on reproductive health
issues, show that teens who are taught with abstinence-only methods do not start having sex later and are
also less likely to use contraceptives when they do so.38 In a report prepared for Democrats of the House
of Representatives in 2004, abstinence-only education was described as reinforcing “gender stereotypes
such as female passivity and male aggressiveness,” and is said to spread false or misleading information
to teens.39
6
____________________________________________________________________________________
STUDENTS’ SEXUAL EDUCATION NEEDS: OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Sexual education teaches students life skills that they will use during their lives, and they are not
obtaining this information from schools, but rather from doctors, parents, peers, the media, and the
internet.46 This leaves the potential for acquiring fictitious or inaccurate information from unreliable
resources when the best provider of sex ed should be school health classes.47 There are several long-term
benefits to the implementation of evidence and consent-based education that will aid current and future
students and are supported by health professionals and researchers.48 The execution of such programs
have the ability to decrease the occurrence of sexual assaults and the resulting legal proceedings, allow
7
individuals to make informed decisions with consequences in mind, and in general, save millions spent
annually on the aftereffects of sexual or domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, and HIV/STI cases.49
It is the duty of parents and school administrators to provide students with accurate, unbiased information
so as to allow them to make decisions about sexual relationships themselves.50 In the Netherlands, age-
appropriate forms of relationship and sexual education are provided to students at very young ages to lead
eventually into comprehensive sex ed directed at middle and high school-age students.51 Their teaching
model starts at age four and teaches about love and healthy relationships.52 At eight, children learn about
gender stereotypes, and at eleven, students begin learning about sexuality and birth control in
correspondence to the start of puberty.53 For the Netherlands, this approach has been successful in
decreasing teen pregnancy rates and unwanted STI rates, providing a model for the United States.54
Taking the success of other nations into consideration for new reform and policy will produce a more
successful model for sex ed in the United States.
____________________________________________________________________________________
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
____________________________________________________________________________________
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CONCLUSIONS
For the last 50 years, sexual education in the United States has not been providing students with accurate,
comprehensive information, hindering their capability to make healthy, safe decisions when it comes to
sexual relationships. We as a society need to eliminate the stigma that prevents us from talking about sex
and instead focus on preparing children and teens to make informed decisions that will not harm those
around them. We must educate our nation’s teens and provide them with the necessary knowledge about
sexual health because they deserve the facts. Though it may be difficult to get federal and state
governments to create laws that accurately reflect the information students should be taught, doing so will
allow for the United States to become a healthier nation in the long-term.
ENDNOTES
1
Emily A. Horne, "Sexual Education across the United States: Are We Doing It Right?" available at
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1675
&context=scripps_theses.
2
Mona Adem, "U.S. Sexual Education Fails to Inform Its Youth," The Sundial, available at
https://sundial.csun.edu/2012/10/sexed-fail/ (last accessed March 2019).
3
Ibid
4
Elyse O'Neill, "Religion and Sex: The Politics of Abstinence-Only Sex Education," Berkeley Political Review,
available at https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2016/05/14/religion-and-sex-the-politics-of-abstinence -only-sex-education/;
Mona Adem, "U.S. Sexual Education Fails to Inform Its Youth;" Jill Anderson, "The State of Sex Education,"
Harvard Graduate School of Education, available at https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/12/state-sex-education
(last accessed March 2019).
5
Emily A. Horne, "Sexual Education across the United States: Are We Doing It Right?"
6
Kate Blackman and Samantha Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools," National Conference of State
Legislatures, available at http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx (last
accessed March 2019); Emily Bridges and Debra Hauser, "Youth Health and Rights in Sex Education,"
Futureofsexed.org, available at http://www.futureofsexed.org/youthhealthrights.html (last accessed March 2019).
7
Elyse O'Neill, "Religion and Sex: The Politics of Abstinence-Only Sex Education."
8
Nursing Staff at USC, "America's Sex Education: How We Are Failing Our Students," USC Department of
Nursing, available at https://nursing.usc.edu/blog/americas-sex-education/ (last accessed March 2019); Mona Adem,
"U.S. Sexual Education Fails to Inform Its Youth."
9
Elyse O'Neill, "Religion and Sex: The Politics of Abstinence-Only Sex Education;" Emily A. Horne, "Sexual
Education across the United States: Are We Doing It Right?"
10
Sarah McCammon, "Abstinence-Only Education Is Ineffective And Unethical, Report Argues," NPR, available at
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/23/545289168/abstinence-education-is-ineffective-and-unethical-
report-argues (last accessed March 2019).
11
Kelli Stidham Hall and others, "The State of Sex Education in the United States," National Institute of Health,
available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426905/ (last accessed March 2019).
12
Ibid
13
Ibid
14
Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools."
15
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "STDs in Adolescents and Young Adults - 2016 STD Surveillance
Report," available at https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats16/adolescents.htm.
(last accessed March 2019); Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools."
10
16
Christine Parascandola, "To Curb Sexual Assault, U.S. Schools Must Teach Consent," Roosevelt House Public
Policy Institute at Hunter College, available at http://www.roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu/?forum-post=curb-
sexual-assault-u-s-schools-much-teach-consent. (last accessed March 2019); Jill Anderson, "The State of Sex
Education."
17
Christine Parascandola, "To Curb Sexual Assault, U.S. Schools Must Teach Consent;" Saeed Ahmed and
Christina Maxouris, "Only These 8 States Require Sex Education Classes to Mention Consent," CNN, available at
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/29/health/sex-education-consent-in-public-schools-trnd/index.html (last accessed
March 2019).
18
Christine Parascandola, "To Curb Sexual Assault, U.S. Schools Must Teach Consent."
19
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "STDs in Adolescents and Young Adults - 2016 STD Surveillance
Report;" Sieving and others, “A clinic-based youth development program to reduce sexual risk behaviors among
adolescent girls: prime time pilot study,” Health Promot Pract 2012; 13(4): 462–471; Upchurch and others, “Social
and behavioral determinants of self reported STD among adolescents,” Perspect Sex Reprod Health 2004; 36(6):
276–287; Shay McHale, "Comfort Is Not Safety: Sex Ed in America," RIT Reporter Magazine, available at
https://reporter.rit.edu/views/comfort-not-safety-sex-ed-america (last accessed March 2019).
20
Catherine Brown and Sarah Shapiro, "Sex Education Standards Across the States," Center for American Progress,
available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/05/09/450158/sex-education-
standards-across-states/ (last accessed March 2019).
21
Kelli Stidham Hall and others, "The State of Sex Education in the United States;" Daniel E. Hall and others,
"Informed Consent for Clinical Treatment," CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, available at
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3307558. (last accessed March 2019).
22
Jill Anderson, "The State of Sex Education."
23
Bridges and Hauser, "Youth Health and Rights in Sex Education."
24
Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools;" Bridges and Hauser, "Youth Health and
Rights in Sex Education;" Vicki Pittman, “Comprehensive Sexuality Education or Abstinence-Only Education,
Which Is More Effective?” Journal of Research for Educational Leaders (3)(2006): 60-91, available at
https://www2.education.uiowa.edu/archives/jrel/spring06/ documents/Pittman_0514.pdf.
25
Brown and Shapiro, "Sex Education Standards Across the States;" Bridges and Hauser, "Youth Health and Rights
in Sex Education."
26
Brown and Shapiro, "Sex Education Standards Across the States;" Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex
Education in Schools."
27
Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools;" Guttmacher Institute, "Sex and HIV
Education," available at https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv -education (last accessed
March 2019).
28
Ibid
29
Kelli Stidham Hall and others, "The State of Sex Education in the United States."
30
Nursing Staff at USC, "America's Sex Education: How We Are Failing Our Students;" Ahmed and Maxouris,
"Only These 8 States Require Sex Education Classes to Mention Consent;" Brown and Shapiro, "Sex Education
Standards Across the States."
31
Bridges and Hauser, "Youth Health and Rights in Sex Education."
32
Ibid
33
Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools;" Bridges and Hauser, "Youth Health and
Rights in Sex Education."
34
Blackman and Scotti, "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools;" Guttmacher Institute, "Sex and HIV
Education."
35
Emily A. Horne, "Sexual Education across the United States: Are We Doing It Right?"
36
Columbia | Mailman School of Public Health, "Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Is a Failure," available at
https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/abstinence-only-until-marriage-programs-and-policies-
are-failure (last accessed March 2019); Sarah McCammon, "Abstinence-Only Education Is Ineffective And
Unethical, Report Argues;" Aaron E. Carrol, "Sex Education Based on Abstinence? There's a Real Absence of
11
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