Let's Talk About Sex, Baby, Let's Talk About You and Me

I live in a special living option called the GLOBE, which is a place where people who are interested in international cultures and global events all live in the same place. I applied to live here not just because it looks kind of like a hotel and the individual bathrooms are pretty sweet, but because we come together at times to talk about issues that are important to us. This week, we talked about sex ed.

Source: Voices of Youth

 Personally, I’ve never given much thought to the importance of sexual education for children and young adults; perhaps I’ve even taken my own education on the topic for granted. I went to a Philadelphia public school and in health class we had units on everything from self-respect and consent to contraceptives and safe sex (they got rid of health due to budget cuts the year we were supposed to take care of egg babies L) Planned Parenthood even came in to give presentations, did free STD testing, and made sure that we all knew of the resources available to us. I can’t imagine going to a school where the topic was not talked about at all, but that is the situation in many places across the country and the world.

For the discussion, one article we read compared teen birth rates in 6 different countries – the U.S., Norway, Canada, Sweden, Germany, and Denmark. Unsurprisingly, out of all these countries, the U.S. had by far the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates, with 52.8 pregnancies and 33.8 births per 1000 teens ages 15-19. The next highest was Canada, with 16 births, while the lowest was 2.7 babies for every 1000 teens in Sweden.

The difference between all of these countries is how they go about educating their youth on sex. For example Norway, in this interesting video, talks about sex unabashedly.

Many of those developed countries with low birth rates start their education at a young age, teaching kids about respecting themselves and others. Then, when they get older, they start teaching about puberty and the changes bodies go through. And lastly, they talk about healthy relationships and how to engage in safe and consensual sex.

However, it is understandable that this can’t be done everywhere. The main reason? Religion. Culture and tradition play important roles as well, but a lot of the time they stem from religion. A really interesting part of the discussion was talking about whether sexual education was important enough to go through with, despite heavy opposition from religious groups. In America, a lot of the people who oppose sex ed in schools are immigrants, whose beliefs go against teaching kids about sex before marriage or for anything other than procreation.

But it’s impossible to shield adolescents from sex because it’s so prevalent in the media, so what happens if they have no knowledge of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and don’t use protection? Is there any way to find a balance between personal beliefs and keeping teens and pre-teens safe by making sure they are sexually aware and educated?

Source: Pinterest

It’s a really interesting conversation to have, because there are a lot of different viewpoints that come up when discussing sex ed. This involves cultural differences, personal beliefs, and recognizing the benefits that could come from teaching kids about sex and related things like self-confidence, awareness, consent, relationships, etc.

If you want to learn more about this topic or discuss it with your fellow Penn Staters, it'll definitely be worth it to check out Penn State’s first ever S.E.X. Week, sponsored by Open the Box this April.