The late 1980s and 1990s hip hop trio Salt-N-Pepa got it right with their song "Let's Talk About Sex" with key lines such as "people might misunderstand what we're tryin' to say, you know? / No, but that's a part of life." They really understood the negative stigma people have when trying to talk about sex. Plus, "let's talk about all the good things / And the bad things that may be," yes sex does have good things and bad things, and it is important to talk about both aspects.

The rest of their lyrics include:

"Let's talk about sex for now to the people at home or in the crowd
It keeps coming up anyhow
Don't decoy, avoid, or make void the topic
Cuz that ain't gonna stop it
...
Pick up the needle, press pause, or turn the radio off
Will that stop us, Pep? I doubt it
All right then, come on, Spin

...

What we have here is subject to controversy

A three letter word some regard as a curse, see

He may fiend and have a wet dream

...

And before you even know it, they jump in the sack
As a matter of fact, sometimes it’s like that
But anyway, ready or not, here he cums
And like a dumb son-of-a-gun, oops, he forgot the condoms
“Oh well,” you say, “what the hell, it’s chill
I won’t get got, I’m on the pill"
Until the sores start to puff and spore
He gave it to you, and now it’s yours"

This song actually gives a better sex education than 28 states provide in the United States. Since only 22 states actually require sex education by law in public schools, and, shockingly, only 20 of those states have to also teach kids about HIV. So 28 states allow individual school boards to determine what their students learn, or don't learn. They may not learn about what happens when "sores start to puff and spore" because the couple did not use a condom. This song educates kids to use more than just "the pill," and many schools do not provide that information. Schools that do teach abstinence only education treat sex "as a curse" and try to "decoy, avoid, or make void the topic," but, as Salt N' Pepa understand, "that ain't gonna stop" kids having sex since 66 percent of students have sex by the time they are a senior in high school.

Michigan is a perfect example of a state that does not legally require public schools to teach comprehensive sex education, so school boards decide what students learn. However, if a school does deicide to teach sex ed then schools must stress abstinence as the only way to protect against unwanted pregnancies or STDs. Also, schools are not required to educate kids on birth control and contraceptives, such as condoms or the pill. Without this education, then when students do engage in sex they are woefully unprepared. To couple the abstinence-only information, abortion is not taught "as a method of reproductive health.” In Michigan, minors must also have parent's permission, if they are not married, to receive birth control like the pill. Needing parent permission also creates problems because if minors cannot receive birth control, but are still having sex, then more teen pregnancies arise.

Utah is another example of a state whose laws surrounding sex education really do more harm than good. It is illegal for public schools to teach "the intricacies of intercourse, sexual stimulation or erotic behavior; the advocacy of homosexuality;" and "the advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraceptive methods or devices." High school is tough enough, but teenagers trying to figure out their sexuality could have teachers telling them that being gay is not okay. They also receive no lgbtq sex education or sex education that is not lgbtq-positive. Also, they learning nothing about contraceptives or how to use them, so students may have a condom and want to practice safe sex, but do not know how because of a lack of education. Also this lack of education leads students to panic if a condom breaks because they do not learn about an important contraceptive pill: The Morning After Pill. The emergency contraceptive is important for students to learn about in case unprotected sex does happen. Banning education on the "intricacies of intercourse" also leaves students unprepared for when they do have sex. Preventing this education has terrible effects because the CDC estimates one in four girls between the ages of 15-19 have an STD, and not learning about contraceptives like condoms don't help prevent STDs. Utah State Legislature John Valentine said that what the state bans "are not the things we want taught in our schools, but those are things that should be taught in your home." But John, no one wants to talk about sex with their parents! Whenever your family is watching a movie, and a sex scene comes on, every just sits with their eyes glued to the tv waiting for it to be over. School is where students receive an education, including a sex education.

Pam Stenzel is a Christian, abstinence-only speaker, who's website claims that she speaks 500,000 students a year, is quite frightening! Her terrifying rhetoric includes telling girls that if they take birth control they "could end up dead." She has told boys that if a girl is presenting herself in a "slutty" way to the world, then he needs to run from her. Her slut-shaming attacks girls and devalues girl who have sex or try and be safe about having sex. Telling girls "If you take birth control, your mother probably hates you," is incredibly dangerous! Since a federal report states that abstinence only sex education has "no impact on rates of sexual abstinence," students she speaks to are still having sex, but are more likely to not use protection because they think their "mother probably hates" them. Not only does Stenzel propagate false claims about impurity, but she also dangerously spreads misinformation about birth control, and that anyone women who takes birth control is "10 times more likely to contract a disease . . . or end up sterile or dead." This medically incorrect information can be dangerous, because girls who do not use a form of birth control are actually more likely to contract a disease, not vice versa. She has told kids that having sex will lead to "scarred fallopian tubes and cancer . . . and you need to ask Jesus for forgiveness." She should probably be the one to ask Jesus for forgiveness, for spreading false information. Stenzel also yells about how if you have sex as a teenager you will not have a faithful marriage down the road. She claims "you get what you are," but just because someone has sex before marriage, or their partner has sex before marriage, does not mean they will have a terrible, unfaithful marriage. Stenzel's programs are counterintuitive, telling girls that using birth control is bad or dangerous will lead to more teen pregnancies. Many sex education videos, such as sticking the tape to an arm multiple times or sex makes you a chewed piece of gym, mimic Stenzel's rhetoric with the same dangerous, slut shaming message.

States like Michigan and Utah, coupled with Pam Stenzel's terrible programs lead to students ending up in dangerous situations. Abstinence-only education fails to teach students about consensual and non-consensual sex. (For anyone who did not have comprehensive sex education: consent is not sexy, consent is mandatory.) Students who actually receive comprehensive sex education are 60 percent less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy than a student who received abstinence only education. Plus, with students aged 18-19, 41 percent said they know "little or nothing about condoms," and 71 percent say "they know little or nothing about the contraceptive pill." This lack of knowledge, stemming from abstinence-only education, does not help combat unwanted pregnancies or contracting STDs, but, in fact, lead to more teen pregnancies and diseases.

It's 2016, let's talk about sex, baby.