Posts
With the Pope's latest remarks reinforcing the practice of foregoing comprehensive sex education, along with the report about the AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC , the conversation about sexual health has been propelled into the forefront.Abstinence only education is unrealistic. The argument that educating young people about sex will encourage more of them to have sex is ridiculous. If anything, the discussing of sex without details or information will make them more curious and increase the likelihood that they experiment with unsafe sex, because they won't know about contraceptives or the consequences for failing to protect yourself.
I am a proponent of disseminating knowledge and information, as well as encouraging abstinence. All of the females that I know say they wish they had waited until they got older before having sex. This is due to experiencing the physical and emotional consequences of sex.
Unfortunately, teenagers think they know everything. If the teenagers exposed to comprehensive sex education decide to have sex, they can make an informed decision. However, if they chose not to put the information they've received to use, they will have no one else to blame.Sex education of any kind, along with other information should start at home. With that said, it is important to talk to children early, before their friends tell them everything, and then there's no room for what you have to say. There are websites to give parents tools and tips regarding this and other topics, use them.
I agree. I had sex education in middle school and again in college. I think primarily, because my freshman year I went to a HBCU and they are known to be highly invested in the lives of their students. But I will say when I had sex education in middle school I was like in the 6th grade, and honestly it wasn't that informative. I'm assuming there were some things they did not want to discuss, but in these times you need to discuss everything!!!! I was also taught in church at our annual retreat for youth go YPD's!!!! about abstinence and why it was important not just for me as an individual but because "our bodies are a temple for God". It made abstinence and safe sex more important to me. They presented it to us in a way that made fear having sex or having sex with numerous guys, which is what I think kids need today. We need to be real and stop watering down are discussions with young people. I also feel like there needs to be more discussions on STD's and viruses. Growing up I didn't know anything about HPV but now that there is a vaccine every high school and college student can probably tell you what it is.
ReplyDelete