OPINION: America must improve its sex education to reduce misconduct

Since Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct in early October, more than 75 celebrities and corporate powers have fallen from grace, their colleagues, coworkers and subordinates speaking out about everything from lewd text messages to rape. The sudden and highly public exposure of high profile assaulters has come as a surprise to many and initiated a long-overdue conversation about the culture of sex in the United States.

Though sexual misconduct is firmly mounted on the national stage, few have turned their eyes to the place many Americans first learn about sex: sexual education classes in schools. In a startling portion of the U.S., sex education is not being taught well, or even at all. Nationally, health courses rarely provide students with any information they can actually use, and an incredible number of students leave having no greater practical sexual knowledge than they did when the course began.

According to 2015 data by the U.S. Department of Education, only 22 states require that sex ed be taught, and just 13 of these specify that the instruction be medically accurate. In Mississippi, the state with the second highest teen pregnancy rate, teachers are forbidden from even demonstrating how to properly use a condom.

Many schools also advocate abstinence-only education programs. New Jersey, for example, has a “stress abstinence law” which mandates purposeful bias in its curriculum, used at schools such as West Essex.

Although abstinence seems like a clever way to stifle sexual activity among teens, according to a 2013 study by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, teaching abstinence-only programs actually increases teen sex rates. Teens have questions about changes in their body and their sexual desires, and ignoring those concerns only promotes the spread of misinformation.

While many adults would like to believe all teens will fully abstain from having sex, the reality is that they overwhelmingly will not, and the education system has a responsibility to ensure students receive all the resources they need to do so safely and consensually.

Sexual insensitivity has become common in today’s pop culture and vernacular largely as a result of sexual incompetence. Numerous colleges have become involved in publicly damning cases regarding allegations of rape and mistreatment, accused of promoting campus environments conducive to “rape culture.” In October of 2014, in a case that’s since been echoed by many other colleges, students from Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity at Yale, gathered near the female dorms and chanted, “No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal.”

Toxic attitudes about sex, such events suggest, are the product of absence—the fallout from not talking openly to teenagers about consent or sexual violence or even about how to respectfully engage in dialogues about sex.

What students, teachers and policy-makers must realize is that a lack of sexual understanding acts as a breeding ground for sexual ignorance, verbal and physical. Educating kids teaches them to respect their sexual partners. Teens who have had sex are not worn out shoes or chewed pieces of gum—they are people. Comparisons like these, common in American health textbooks, not only show a complete lack of regard for the emotions of sexually active students, but also overlook the basic biological functions of the human anatomy.

Sex education curricula need to be overhauled with relevant, medically accurate and sensitive content that actually helps students make informed decisions. However, students can help create that change on their own; they must ask questions. They must stand up for their right to know.

No misrepresentation of facts in a child’s education should be tolerated. Teens have a right to be informed about the options they face when presented with the opportunity to have sexual intercourse. They have the right to be informed about what consent is, how to use contraceptives and how to have healthy conversations about sex.

Schools across the United States have an obligation to recognize that sex is not something to be ashamed of nor scared of, but rather a cornerstone of strong relationships and emotional health.

Predators are the products of their environment—perhaps we should try changing the environment.