At some point in junior high, you were forced to take sex ed. In theory, the class teaches you about the importance of reproduction understanding, but anyone who actually paid attention in the course knows that is complete bullshit. At 15 years old I knew the teachers were preaching myths, but it wasn't until I grew I realized how much those lies impacts the students. The U.S. sex education system is a failure and will continue to be a failure until the districts actually want to change the culture.
First of all, the school didn't teach us safe sex at all. While funding Planned Parenthood is constantly debated, the federal government spends over $1.5 million on abstinence-only education programs and that is never debated...literally ever. Sure, theoretically abstinence-only sex ed is the most effective form of safe sex, but in all reality, it doesn't work. Teens are going to have sex, it's human nature. Millions of studies have proven that abstinence-only education programs are failures and yet schools continue to allow it in their curriculum and wonder why teen pregnancy rates are so high.
My sex ed teacher felt uncomfortable teaching about sex, so some lady from the local pro-life clinic visited the class to preach about abstinence. Let's just call her "Carol." Carol was a big believer that if women wouldn't "spread their legs" STD's and unwanted pregnancies wouldn't happen. She made us watch videos of women regretting their abortions, but never once brought up the fact that women have a right to choose what happens to their bodies. Carol taught young women that it isn't okay to have sex or to not want to be a mother, but refused to acknowledge that men also have a part in sex as well. For example, Carol brought an outfit that a 15-year-old girl would typically wear out on a date: A tank-top, shorts, flip-flops, lipstick and earrings. She held up the shorts and asked the class, "would you allow your daughter to wear these?" Many of my classmates raised their hands and she replied, "well, your daughter would get raped." She continued on to say that the tank-top showed too much cleavage, inviting a man to sleep with you, wearing lipstick would think a man has a right to kiss you, wearing earrings allows the man to see nothing but sex and wearing flip-flops is easy access to getting naked. I had never been more appalled in my life. Not once did this woman say anything about the man asking for CONSENT. She told young women that it is your fault if you get raped, but never told the young men that they shouldn't rape. I talked to my male teacher about the situation, and he said: "well, don't you see where she's coming from?" No, I don't understand where she's coming from. It's never okay to rape and it's never okay to accept rape culture. This is why we live in a world where the leader of the free world is allowed to brag about sexual assault.
Another failure of abstinence-only sex ed is not acknowledging contraceptive methods. I can see how parents could argue that they want their children to learn abstinence, but my parents wanted me to learn about contraceptive methods. Unfortunately, I learned zero contraceptive methods in sex ed. We weren't even taught to use condoms to avoid STDs, Carol said: "just don't have sex and there won't be STDs!" If Carol would open a textbook and read the statistics on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, maybe one life could be saved from HIV/AIDS. Condoms are 99 percent effective when used correctly, but for some reason, the school didn't want us to know that. I didn't even know you had to take birth control daily until my gynecologist had to explain it to me. So, I looked like a dumbass, so thanks a lot, Carol. Not only did the school system fail to acknowledge contraceptive methods, but they refused to even talk about LGBTQ+ safe sex. Reality check, there are other people in this world other than straight dudes and just because you want to stay in your bubble where only heterosexuals exist, doesn't mean everyone else wants to.
Our schools are breading students into a culture that degrades women and leads men into the patriarchy. If you want young men and women to be educated on reproduction, you cannot continue to allow schools to teach abstinence-only sex ed. If you feel as though the public school failed you, attend your school's board meetings. Maybe something will finally change.
