When I reached the age 13, I was sat down with the girls in my gym class on the bleachers to learn about the world of sex, STDs and self-respect.

At one point, the teacher took out a peppermint patty, unwrapped it and passed the candy around the class. One girl sneezed on it, and our hands were dirty from being in the locker room changing. The teacher proceeded to say to us, "Imagine you are this candy. You have been passed around, and you are dirty. You are infected (referring to when the girl sneezed on it) and no one would want you." As if the candy represented us being touched by multiple sexual partners.

Looking back at this experience, I am appalled that I let a teacher tell me no one would want me because at one point in my life, I may have multiple sexual partners.

According to the Alabama state law, abstinence from sex outside of marriage is the expected social standard. It should also be understood that this same law states, "An emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state." Not only are students being taught that sex is wrong, they are also being taught in school that they will not be accepted for being gay, lesbian or transgender. I should not have to point out here that it is not a school's responsibility to tell someone what they are worth as a person.

I never learned how to properly use a condom in sex ed, neither did the multiple pregnant girls at my high school. My teacher told me she wasn't allowed to even show us how to use one. I never learned about different types of birth control's effects on my body, but I did learn that the one percent chance that they might fail meant I would definitely get pregnant if I ever used it.

It seems a bit counter intuitive to teach how well a condom works, but not how to actually use it. I was pressured to sign an "abstinence only" pledge to keep in place of a condom in my wallet, as if that would help me. I got to see terrifying pictures of STDs, but was never instructed how to get them treated, and how to prevent them aside from abstaining from sex.

Interestingly enough, Montgomery and Dallas county have four times the rate of STDs than the rest of the country. Alabama also has an extremely high teen pregnancy rate, as recorded by The National Campaign having 32 briths per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19.

Living in Alabama for nearly my entire life, I have observed that sex is a taboo, a closed topic, and not to be spoken about openly and positively in schools. In my opinion, this is the biggest flaw and the root cause of high STD and pregnancy rates. Rather than treat sex like it's a behind the door topic, conversations about it should be open, honest, and factual. Instead of teaching people that they lose parts of themselves to every person they have sex with, it would be more useful to explain different types of birth control, and the proper use of a condom. If pictures of severe STDs are going to be shown as a scare tactic, students should be taught that there is treatment for them, and that they are not "dirty" or "unwanted" simply because they had sex out of wedlock.

The bottom line is, from my experience in school, is that teenagers are going to do what they want, regardless of what adult says in front of them in a class room. Instead of teaching students that sex is this act that changes you forever for the worst if you aren't married, they should be taught that sexuality is a healthy part of growing up, and ways to understand and grow with it.