MEYSOON QURAISHI APRIL 16, 2021

The Sex Education Crisis in the US

Misinformation and Propaganda in place of a fact based education is
causing preventable harm to our youth

In the United States, over 750k teenagers become pregnant each year along with 20
millions cases of STIs for people between 15-24. The US consistently ranks first among all
developed nations for abortion, teenage pregnancy, and STD’s.4 Additionally, the US
fosters a rape culture alongside adverse mental health issues regarding sex and
sexuality.2 This can be linked back to the fact that only 38 of the 50 states have sexual
education laws, and 30 of those promote abstinence only education.4The lack of
regulation of sex education in the US is problematic and it is time that a change is made
and Universal Comprehensive Sex Education is implemented in order to reduce harm to

our youth. 

A History of Sex Education in the US

In 1912, public schools provided handouts to help educate students about reproduction and pregnancy however these were extremely
vague leading to confusion among youth. Not until the 1950s, did the American Medical Association (AMA) took a stance on public health
issues and began to push for a comprehensive five-part series to standardize the curriculum in schools.3 This was short-lived. In the 1960s,
sex education became stigmatized at the hands of conservative and religious groups who believed, without proof, that education was
leading to teenagers engaging in sex premaritally. No change was made until the 1980s in the midst of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, which was
when religious groups exploited the health crises in order to force schools and legislative officials to implement abstinence-only education
in the US in the same way as youth safety. 3This trend only continued into the future and appears in today’s education system.

National

Policy

The abstinence-only education took DC by storm in 1996 when they began to lobby for
federal financial support. They were awarded $250 million by the government allowing for
the successful overhaul of this curriculum in public schools. Advocates for mature
conversations about sex, health, and sexuality became prominent in the early 2000s. But
unfortunately, this was no help seeing that in 2003 federal funding increased by $15 million
annually to promote abstinence-only education. Despite the increase in evidence that this
education was causing harm, the Bush administration continued to pedal these ideologies by
adding $170 million to these programs. As recently as July 2019, the Trump administration
decided to eliminate the Teen Pregnancy and Prevention Program (TPP). This program
awarded 84 communities in order to close the disparity gap through implementing an
educational sexual curriculum. This cut of $216.3 million shocked the educational community
and will likely have a severe impact on minority teen youth within the next decade. 
 The Stark Difference in Education

The sex education a teenager will receive can vary greatly from school district to school district and sometimes even
from school to school. These discrepancies in education have caused problems and will continue to cause for youth in
the US if universal sex education is not implemented in schools. Often, rural areas, as well as minority-majority areas,
will have the most harmful education, creating disparities in STI, teenage pregnancy, and abortion rates.5 Historically,
these disparities only continue to grow. There are three main types of sex ed a teenager may receive. 

ABSTINENCE ONLY 4
These programs are based on Judeo-Christian beliefs which state that it is a sin to have sex
outside of marriage. Often, they are labeled as “Sexual Risk Avoidance Programs” as these

1
programs preach that the only safe sex is on that takes place inside of a marriage. These
programs abstain from providing any information about contraception, specifically condoms,
and avoid talking about birth control and other ways to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The belief
system is that this education will leave teenagers with no other choice than to wait, however, this
renders untrue as areas with these teachings have the highest STI and teenage pregnancy rates.

ABSTINENCE PLUS 4
2 This style of education also promotes the ideology that sex should only be engaged in within a
heterosexual marriage. However, these programs include information on condom use and other
types of contraception. They also include limited information on what a healthy relationship and

COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM 4
This education provided medically accurate and age-appropriate information on everything
3 ranging from choosing abstinence to safe sex for both heteronormative and
nonheteronormative relationships. It teaches about the use of contraception and condoms and
provides detailed information about how to reduce one’s risk of unwanted pregnancy as well as
STIs. A comprehensive curriculum also details information about healthy relationships,
communication skills, human development, consent as well as other topics.
Problems in the Present
With little to no regulation on sex education in the United States, many schools are allowed to push their own personal agendas onto
students instead of using a fact based curriculum. Some of these teaching have little effect on teenagers. For example, Abstinence-only
education is taught with the intention of delaying sexual activity in teenagers through fear and misinformation.1 However, there is currently
no evidence to support that this education is able to reduce the rate at which teenagers engage in sexual behavior. In fact, in 2007 the Title V
AOUM program found that teens in abstinence-only education programs were just as likely to engage in sexual behavior as teens who had
not, and the mean of the ages of first sexual encounters was around the same age as well.7 However, the lack of regulation is not a
victimless crime. The teachings of abstinence education can have long-term effects on teenagers and cause harm even if they are able to
avoid unwanted pregnancy and STIs.

Harm to Minority Communities

In the United States, there are wide disparities in regard to unintended

fertility correlated with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.
Specifically, the non-Hispanic black and Hispanic teenage population are
more likely to be victims of unintended fertility and STI’s than the white
population. This is due to the variation in the accurate knowledge about
sexual and reproductive health provided to disadvantaged communities.
Additionally, these communities are more likely to possess these
misconceptions due to lack of access to proper education leading to mistrust of contraceptives such as hormonal birth control.
The lack of regulation on sex education in school contributes to the lack of understanding leading to the underestimation of
the risk of pregnancy, hesitancy to use contraceptives, and increase chance of facing sexual assault.

Harm to the LGBTQ+ community

In high school, LGBTQ students are often ostracized and “other'd” for their identities and this is unfortunately no different in the
classroom. Many teachers and textbooks fail to provide sex education that addresses their needs. Currently, less than 5% of the
LGBTQ students reported positive representation in regards to their health classes. Research suggests that this lack of inclusive
education has lead to youth looking towards peers as well as online which is neither age-appropriate nor medically accurate.8 This
puts this community in a vulnerable position and can put children in dangerous positions when trying to explore and understand
their sexuality. By leaving a whole group of youth out of the conversation, they leave sex ed with none of the tools to know how to
safely use their bodies, increasing the harm and injustice the LGBTQ community faced. 
 Harm to Women and Girls

Programs that feature abstinence-only rhetoric enforce harmful and sexist stereotypes that can have lifelong effects.4 The
information in these programs supports the harmful and outraged ideology that women are the gatekeepers of aggressive male
sexuality, contributing to the ever-present rape culture in the United States. This mode of education actively undermines gender
equality whilst exacerbating racial and sexual inequalities. To further explore these discrepancies, it's important to look at some
abstinence-only education programs.

Why KnOw, enforces the idea that women are simply sexual beings while men are supposed to find worth in their productivity.
“Women gauge their happiness and judge their success… by their relationships. Men’s happiness and success hinge on their
accomplishments.” In Facts and Reasons, they claim that “men, true to the stereotype, are more likely to engage in sex with a
warning to the woman there will be no commitment.”5Women are also blamed for how they are perceived by men as exclusively
sexual beings. In the Heritage Keepers’ curriculum, “females need to be careful with what they wear because males are looking!
The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. for this reason girls have an added responsibility to wear
modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts.”4

These ideologies cause great mental stress on young girls and women. Additionally, it enforces the idea that women are at fault
for men’s actions leading to victim-blaming and an increased amount of shame regarding sexual assault, coercion, and rape. 

Universal Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE)

“Comprehensive sexual
education is a curriculum-
based process of teaching and
learning about the cognitive,
emotional, physical and social
aspects of sexuality. It aims to
equip children and young
people with knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and values that will
empower them to realize their
health, well-being, and
dignity; develop respectful
social and sexual
relationships; consider how
their choices affect their own
well-being and that of others,
and understand and ensure
the protection of their rights
throughout their lives.”4 -
UNESCO
Destigmatizing Sex Education

One can go about this in many ways, but overall there is going to
need to be a change in the culture that is created in students and
schools. The narrative is often that sex is something that should
never be talked about and is a shameful act, when in reality it is a
completely natural phenomenon. By approaching talks of sexual
education from an academic and fact-based perspective, schools can
reduce the taboo nature surrounding these discussions.
Additionally, by creating shame-free and anonymous environments
for students- the conversations regarding sex and other topics can
be more approachable. This allows for students to go somewhere
safe for their information rather than looking to the internet or to other youth. By stopping the spread of misinformation
about implementing universal sex education, it can put parents at ease in regards to exposing their children to these
stigmatized and unnecessarily sexualized topics. 

Effects on Teens and Communities at Large

Young people have the right to receive reliable information that prepares them for a safe, healthy, and fulfilling life.
CSE is able to fulfill this by empowering teenagers to make well-informed decisions about their bodies,
relationships, and sexuality. It also has shown to allow teenagers to be able to recognize situations in which they are
uncomfortable/unable to consent and navigate said situations in a safe manner. It also allows for the removal of
shame surrounding sex, especially for women and sexual assault survivors.5 Additionally, it allows for a reduction in
gender-based violence. 8By implementing CSE schools provide education that approaches sex from a positive
perspective that emphasizes respect, inclusion, empathy, responsibility, and equality.

Effectiveness Abroad

CSE has been implemented in other countries and shows definite results in youth regarding sexual health and
safety. Women who go through teen pregnancies are significantly negatively impacted due to low high school
completion rates. A Cochrane review of 41 control trials in Europe, Mexico, Nigeria, and the US was able to confirm
that by giving children CSE they were able to prevent unintended pregnancies.10Additionally, a study was conducted
in Kenya with 6,000 students who received CSE as a part of their school curriculum. 10It was found that receiving CSE
resulted in delayed sexual initiation as well as increase condom use compared to children who did not receive this
education. Many studies have also concluded that CSE reduced the number of partners which allows for the
reduction in the rate of STDs. 5
Potential

Policy and Action

Implementing CSE at a school level is important and can serve as a great resource for students to stay safe and healthy. However,
for CSE to reach its full effectiveness it is necessary that there is a regulation put into place that promises all students the
education that they need and deserve. As discussed prior, there are large disparities regarding the quality and effectiveness of
the sexual education an adolescent receives. Additionally, the lack of federal regulation allows for personal agendas to be
weaved into the curriculum which, as demonstrated, can have adverse and harmful effects on our youth. To be an advocate for
change, it is necessary to support federal legislation and vote with the safety and health of children in mind.

Real Education for Healthy Youth Act Youth Access to Sexual Services Act

(REHYA) (YASHS)

  REHYA is a bill that would fund teacher training YASHS act is a bill that promotes CSE by targeting marginalized
regarding sexual education and provide grants for CSE to youth and promoting the improvement of sex education. Currently,

public and private entities that focus their education on sex education often fails and shames many at-risk disadvantaged
people who deserve to have CSE that will enhance their futures. The
adolescent health/ education or decide to train sex educators.
YASHS Act would create a grant program to support the providing of
The bill also focuses on encouraging the inclusiveness of LGBTQ
CSE to people of color, immigrant youth, school-age parents, LGBTQ
youth in the sex education programs as well as would prohibit
youth, youth in foster care, and youth in juvenile detention. The
allowing federal funding towards programs that teach an anti-
funding would only be provided to those who taught medically
LGBTQ curriculum. Federal funding would also be denied to accurate and inclusive education.  The bill was written with the
programs that withheld information about HIV or contained intention of combating the abstinence-only education peddled by
non medically accurate or ineffective information, promoted the government in the past century as well as combat the recent
gender stereotypes, or demonstrated to be inconsistent with actions of the Trump administration. 1

the ethical imperatives of public health The goal of the bill is to

prevent “ pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, sexual
abuse, dating violence, bullying, and harassment” through the
implementation of federal funding and training of teachers. 7

Implementing CSE for a Brighter Future

Currently, youth in America are struggling due to the lack of comprehensive sex education
and it is leading to and adverse dangerous reality. The lack of regulation when it comes to
sex education has lead to discrimination coupled with high STD transmission rates and high
rates of unwanted teen fertility. By implementing CSE in curriculum a community is able to
create a safer and healthier environment for children.
 Bibliography

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house-bill/2701.

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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426905/.

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8. Leppanen, Holly. "Comprehensive Sex Ed: A Brief History." Annex Teen Clinic. Last
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 A%20Call%20to%20Action%20LGBTQ%20Youth%20Need%20Inclusive%20Sex%20
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