I’d like to start by saying. Abstinence is not a substitute for sex education. It never will be it hasn’t been effective, and in wouldn’t be effective. Why? Because most people are going to have sex, so if all you do is tell them not to do then how are you surprised when they eventually have sex they make all kinds of mistakes and missteps. You can’t expect to leave the lights off and expect newcomers to navigate the space safely.
People talk about abstinence as though it is some holy grail of sex ed. If only we talked more about abstinence teens and young adults would stop having sex! Hate to tell you but your parents generation of teens had sex, your generation had sex mine does, and the next will. With puberty comes sexual desire, while this isn’t universal it is extremely common, and for many teens and young adults sex is a real and present possibility, and something many want.
Telling teens not to do something isn’t going to be effective, and just telling them the risks isn’t enough as many will go on to risk it anyway. Lying and misleading them into think the risks are greater then they are is a bad idea, because when they find out well good buy to any trust those teens may have had in the person(s) lying to them and those implicit in lying to them. Even if they don’t find out, they are still in the dark about the real risk, and how to protect themselves even if this “save themselves” for marriage they did don’t know the options available to them, including general sex tips like lube usage.
All that you end up doing by promoting abstinence is making those kids ignorant, not safer. Don’t believe me read through this it has some mighty good citations.
Now my rant against abstinence only education has run it’s course I know not many reading is agree with abstinence only and understand abstinence, while it is an option, is only a tiny portion of what our children need to be informed members of society in regards to sexual activity.
I’d like to see a whole (mandatory) course devoted on the subject who’s main point would be as follows.
- Reproduction and anatomy (the biological side of things, also including intersex)
- Sexuality, and a brief look into gender.
- Consent education, and education about rape culture.
- Safe sex, including contraception, knowledge about vaccine treatments, information about testing, types of sexual intercourse, including non-preventative sex. Resources resources resources, you can’t cover everything, but kids will find out if they want to know, so you might as well direct them reputable sources.
- Healthy Relationships, how to communicate, how to determine what you want what your goals are and what your comfortable with, how to share that with your future or current partner(s) and how to respect and compromise with your partner.
- Abuse identification and prevention.
By hitting this 6 major points I could see us giving children a robust foundation for them to build upon as they grow into adults.
Reproduction and anatomy so that they are getting to know what to expect, and it’s just good for health to know how our bodies worth.
Sexuality so we do not push a heteronormative agenda a leave all the LGBTQA children high, dry, lost and confused. As well has just make it clear to everyone that differences in sexual preferences exist and are both normal and natural.
Consent so people stop raping one another, and so our kids understand what rape actually is.
Safe sex because most of these kids are going to be having sex in the next several years best make sure they’re prepared.
Healthy Relationships are something wholly missed in most sex education programs, expect most people will be getting into relationships before having sex. It’s an excellent time to have kids start thinking about what they want and how to communicate those desires, and well as teaching them how to communicate in those future relationships where disagreements or misunderstanding my form.
Domestic abuse is still a massive problem in our world and give the next generation the tools to better identify and deal with it will bring about what I suspect would be some massive positive changes.
This is my ever growing outline for what I plan to be teaching to my kids in the future. I hope to see what we teach in school expand to these important lessons which I feel many children never really learn except for the hard way.
Witheeth
PS. It has been brought to my attention that some folks are think that I want to do away with teaching abstinence altogether. That is not the case, I want to do away with abstinence only education(because it’s been shown highly ineffective, achieving the opposite of it goal), other wise abstaining from sex is a perfectly valid option if you choose it. However it is ill advised and ineffective to try to force abstinence, and does not teach those necessary skills. Also don’t sex shame it’s counter productive, but I’ll do a post on that later.
hessianwithteeth 
January 2nd, 2015 at 5:46 pm
I think that the healthy relationships thing is important. Especially since there are a number of people out there whose first time is with a complete stranger or with someone who’s just an acquaintance. If you get that person pregnant you’re really screwed. Also, you might embarrass yourself. Also you could get an STD. And you don’t know whether that person is on birth control or not if it’s a girl and even if they say yes are you really going to take the word of a stranger about that type of thing? Condoms are only 85-90% effective and 98% effective with perfect use. Obviously you can’t stop casual sex but it should be discouraged in sex education.
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January 2nd, 2015 at 6:41 pm
I don’t think casual sex should be actively discouraged, I think you ought inform them of the risks effectively and honestly.Telling them not to do it isn’t going to stop them from doing it. Explaining the risks of multiple partners, and sex with relative strangers would be more effective.
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January 2nd, 2015 at 8:10 pm
Hopefully that is what was meant. Might it also be good to include the unfortunate and unreasonable tendency of boys to be elevated amongst their peers and girls to be looked down on by everybody?
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January 2nd, 2015 at 9:17 pm
I don’t think that would be a bad thing to do. I just feel like I should point out certain language choices. I may be being a bit over zealous, but I do feel that to be effective we have have to be careful not to sex shame the next generation I wouldn’t continue, but I feel I ought to write a short post about shame where I will continue this line of thought. Though the gist of it is Shame is really good a reinforcing behaviors, good and bad, but not so good at changing them. So it’s in our best interest to move away from language which shames, towards language with is more neutral. That way we can reinforce healthy behaviors and not entrench unhealthy behaviors underneath a blanket of shame.
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January 2nd, 2015 at 9:24 pm
Yes, the words used can have effect beyond the subject itself, and in fact can sometimes produce an effect opposite to that deserved.
The problem is, how to educate about the tendency of people to be unequally judgmental without using the terms used? Even better would be to remove this tendency, but even if it could be done, it would require a methodology which would be so horrendous as to be impractical.
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January 3rd, 2015 at 12:23 am
Well you don’t need to remove he tendency all together you need to make sure that the educators are well trained enough to avoid making those mistake of language with in the context of the classroom. Some mistakes are acceptable, but core definitions and concepts, particularly in the written material should be carefully combed through to remove these unintended biases.
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December 31st, 2014 at 11:14 am
A curriculum much like what you propose already exists. The class is called OWL (for “Our Whole Lives”) and it’s offered by the Unitarian Universalists. My local UU does mini courses for first and sixth graders, and then a full year course for eighth graders. I had my youngest daughter take the class. They taught anatomy and contraception and relationships, and had Planned Parenthood visit for a session, as well as having a LGBT panel one week.
The rules: The teachers take special training, and may NOT be the parents of any of the students in class. The classroom was separate from the other classrooms, and closed off and private for the duration of class. It was also confidential, what was said there stayed there. Parents had to attend an orientation and sign permission forms, but could not visit while class was in session.
Take a look here: http://www.uua.org/re/owl/296300.shtml
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December 31st, 2014 at 5:53 pm
Thanks, I am actually aware of the UU programs and I’m glad they exist, but I want something built right into the education system. Though I will save the link and use it for reference that’s for sure. Now that you mention it I may look into taking the orientation training to be able to teach it. Gotta love the Unitarians.
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December 30th, 2014 at 8:39 pm
I find it interesting that the most successful program yet piloted combined comprehensive sex education with a “understand the risks and responsibilities and wait until you’re ready” message instead of a “wait until marriage” one.
I would also hope that there would be lessons in your rape culture class about healthy expectations for men – young men often come under a tremendous amount of social pressure to be sexual conquerors, and even admist all this talk about “rape is bad,” very few people address subjects such as “men need to consent too,” “men don’t always want to have sex,” and “having sex is not the measure of a man.”
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December 31st, 2014 at 12:42 am
A class I’d approve of would have all of that. Consent, and rape culture can only be change when we move past simple narratives like man and woman. While they might be effective when given only a surface look. Deeper they fall a part. But yes the “be a man” hurts boys particularly their emotional development, and promotes teaching them to dominate and hurt to get what they want or what they think they should want.
Though such a class would not be “mine” there are far better informed and experienced people then me on that topic and to teach it effectively I’d have to defer to the experience of others.
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December 30th, 2014 at 1:28 pm
back in the 80s, the stone age when I was in high school 🙂 , I educated my friends on sex. My mom had the intelligence to let me find a copy of “Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask”, and then let me ask questions. So, I became the person to ask. And I was asked a lot, from “can you get pregnant the first time?” to “how long is a normal penis?” None of my friends got pregnant. We had a sex ed class, but taught by gym teachers who weren’t good teachers at all and were just about as ignorant about sex as the students.
The class after mine was noted by a radiostation in the nearest large city (Pittsburgh) for its ridiculous rate of teen pregnancy.
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December 30th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
When I was an ed. aide in a New Mexico middle school, the rate of pregnancy was so high, and such a problem, that sex ed was mandatory for all students…
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December 30th, 2014 at 8:49 am
I never had the sex-ed in the US, so there was no “Abstinence! Abstinence! Abstinence!” cries. Far from it, in fact, since we all got taught in school how to put on a condom (even if it was by a gangly 17-year-old who had to do it as part of a health and social care qualification).
BUT… consent was remarkably absent from it. And to my current, adult, mind, sex ed without a frank and proper grilling in consent is like trying to teach organic chemistry without mentioning carbon. And when you look at statistics on rape and read many of the anecdotes, it’s staggering how many are due to zero knowledge about what consent even is. So many stories start as “otherwise consensual activity” and are defended as “well, she didn’t say no”.
To me, that screams a remarkably simple solution: teach consent, most of the rest will take care of itself. You don’t even have to write children’s books called “Why Does Mummy Have a Collar Around Her Neck?” to teach it, because you can make points about bodily autonomy and consent separate to sexual activity. Pretty much every activity requires consent – skydiving, playing games, taking medicine and so on. Or go even younger and taken examples where parents pressure their youngest kids into kiss relatives goodbye whether they like it or not. Consent weaves its way through everything, and should be at the core. I’m willing to bet integrating consent into every aspect of sex education would solve most sex-ed problems almost immediately.
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December 30th, 2014 at 2:21 am
I don’t understand why this is still a problem in the US (I’m assuming). I’m not from there, and by the time I was eight, that’s when the information and education blitz started.
First, at home, I had to read several volumes on sexuality, reproduction, etc., written by OB/GYNs from the US. I assumed that everyone in that country had read the books, because by the time sex education classes started in fourth grade all the way through grade eleven, there was no room for misunderstanding.
Our teachers were very frank with us, too. It was a Methodist girls’ school, okay. And we were very well rounded by graduation, at least in our heads. When my classmates decided to go there with their boyfriends, it was like, group discussion time, with tea and cake. Technical details were discussed, moral support was offered. They were all church going Christians by the way, who admonished peers to not “sexbeforemarriage” their boyfriends. I use it as a verb, because the hypocrisy is astonishing.
I moved to a developed country after university, and was surprised to learn that the men living in a G8, UN Security Council country were not unlike table soccer rods, who see women as slots in which to deposit their vertigo sticks. “Have you ever had a frank discussion about sex, asking permissions, et cetera, gauging comfort levels with sex acts, STI status, use of contraception, before having intercourse, and not three minutes before doing it?” No, I just withdraw. Baby, it’s sick.
The prosecution rests.
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December 30th, 2014 at 2:30 am
Where is your school located cause no school that i know of in America is like that. I got all my sex education from my mom,she had gave me books and her notes she still had from high school on the male and female reproductive system
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December 30th, 2014 at 2:30 am
I’m not from the United States. I went to school in Jamaica.
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December 30th, 2014 at 2:33 am
Okay
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December 29th, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Exactly! Why is it so hard to grasp such simple ideas of freedom and consent! If people would just stop prioritizing one idea above the other and being intolerant to any alternate realities, the world would be an easier place to live in.
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December 29th, 2014 at 9:39 pm
Good ideas, but this will never fly in the US. Too many people are absolute ignoramus’ about sex. 🙂
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December 29th, 2014 at 9:13 pm
These six elements of education are indeed a good way to help kids “survive” their sexuality. There does seem to be one thing missing, or perhaps it is “hidden” under the “healthy relationship” bullet. After finding out all about sex and how to do it while minimizing the chances of screwing up their or someone else’s life, it would probably be a good idea to include the types of situation when it is better NOT to have sex. Not abstinence, but perspective.
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December 29th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
That’s not hidden under the just one bullet and I don’t think it’s hidden at all. I’ve been saying it all along many will want to have sex, though not everyone, and those who do want sex won’t not with everyone and not in all situations.
Research based consent, relationship, and abuse education will help give them the tools to not only survive, but to get what they want in most circumstances. Knowing these things, and teaching them means in most circumstance you’ll understand what you want and how to communicate it and how to take care of yourself your need and your wants.
If that means you want to have sex you’ll know how to do it safely and at a pace your comfortable with. If you don’t want sex then you also have the tools for avoiding it, and communicating that desire. You can’t have one with out the other. This is very basic principle of consent. If you can’t say no you can’t say yes (ie. you can’t consent).
If done right kids will understand there is nothing wrong with wanting, or not wanting sex, and will give them the agency to and the information to make those careful informed decision. IT would not only open doors, but point paths out that where not otherwise obvious.
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December 29th, 2014 at 11:34 pm
“What they want…” Perhaps people would be better off if brought up to consider what they want is not the most important factor in life. If a person follows the path that “if I want it, I deserve to have it”, they are setting themselves up for unhappiness (because we don’t always get what we want) and problems (because satisfying wants without considering all the factors can be a problem or even disastrous).
“Want” should always be only the first step (for sex or anything else for that matter). Once a want is defined, it is immensely wise to then consider if it is “deserved”. Is it affordable, is there room for it, can it be taken care of, what are the possible long term effects, and is the risk/reward ratio favorable? If the analysis is positive, then hey, why not? But if there are significant problems identified, then the want should be rejected or at least considered very extensively (i.e. figure out how to eliminate, reduce or bypass the negatives).
It kind of appears that you want the educational program to encourage casual sex. Is that really what you think would be a good idea? Or would a position of “it would probably be better to only have sex if YOU want it, and only with someone you care for deeply AND who cares for you the same, and whenever you have sex, do it with maximal safety. Because anything less won’t be as wonderful as it can be, and could screw up your life.”
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December 30th, 2014 at 12:58 am
Are you even reading what I’m writing? I honestly don’t think your critically responding to what I’m writing but responding to your own assumptions. Perhaps I’m not doing my due diligence but I’m trying to being careful to be clear, so I don’t get why you keep misunderstanding my points. But I know your fully capable so I will assume I was unclear. Allow me to restate my position to you.
I’m saying that I want a sex ed system that allows children to make up their own minds. to allow them to understand their options and the associated risks so they can make informed decisions. If that’s causal sex? Fine. Abstinence? Fine. If that’s sex with a single partner whom they trust and after they met certain criteria? Fine. Etcetera etcetera. I want to put the agency and knowledge in the hands of those who are going to need it, and part of that means both understand needs and wants. That also means if it’s done right they will be able to weight wants vs the risks and other potential consequences good and bad. To use your language (which I don’t think is really the best to apply here) to apply wants against whether or not you “deserve” them.
I want this information in the hands of those making the decisions and ultimately those teens and young adults will be the ones making those decision regardless of what we might want. So it’s our duty to give them to tools to make those decisions competently.
Your clearly deeply concern about casual sex. I don’t think you should be. Most people have little more than a passing interest in having casual sex, even teens. I’m not going to be promoting it nor I’m not going to be shaming it or saying it unacceptable. It’s an option that comes with its own risks and benefits like any other. How it relates to a given person is for them to figure out. Not you, not me, not their parents. Why? Because they are the only one’s who have the relevant information. They are the only one who really know what they want and what they will be comfortable with, and what will be right for them. They might not know right away, but it is for them to figure out not us.
We can influence them and give them guidance, but ultimately It. Is. Up. To. Them.
Once they turn 18 the ability to control what someone does drops immensely, if they want to do it and have the means, they probably will. The question is do we give them the tools and knowledge they need to make competent decisions and to fully appreciate the risks and rewards, or do we stand back let them figure it out themselves the hard way?
Back to your concerns about casual sex some kids when they are in their mid-teens think the causal sex is an expectation, something they should/ought to do. While this is not prevalent it is a common enough narrative that we ought to be somewhat concerned. However the issue is not that they are having casual sex it’s why they are having casual sex. In an education system like I’m proposing those teens would learn quickly that the only expectations which are truly of concern are those which you set for yourself and those of health, and respect (especially consent). It would help those teens make the right decision for them, and for most of them that probably means not having causal sex.
And so I’m crystal clear. I’m not saying we should promote casual sex to children and teens. I’m also not taking it off the table and will not lie by saying it’s immoral or extremely dangerous. It has higher risks then some other sexual practices, and that would have be taught for us to be honest, and thorough. Which is exactly what I’m trying to promote.
These are not light topics and would take a considerable time to teach. At least a full semester course in early high school, as well as education earlier in their lives (ideally starting before age 10) getting gradually more thorough and explicit as they get older. An important lesson for 10 and younger children could be consent, no means no, and some basic run down of reproduction and sexuality. nothing needs to be explicit just general ideas, focusing on consent. An excellent lesson regardless, and since children form most of there basic ideas around relationships by age ten it’s an excellent time to teach consent.
I hope now you better understand my actual position.
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December 30th, 2014 at 3:48 am
Thank you, that is clearer. My concern was that TV, movies and books push the idea that casual sex is no big deal AND “normal” AND often desirable. Very seldom are any of the negative aspects realistically shown. Certainly the curriculum you propose can help alleviate many of the possible problems. I was hoping that it would attempt to show casual sex in its true light, and it now sounds like that is included.
Casual sex is by no means my biggest concern since it does not always cause harm. It was clear that things I considered a bigger concern, were specifically covered by your suggested curriculum. .
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December 31st, 2014 at 12:59 am
Excellent I’m glad we could clear that up. I can agree with that your saying there is some push from culture to hold high causal sex. Ya I agree those portrayals are a problem, but this is why I want a robust education class because it will not only each the information but critical frame works which they can actually make use of that information. Part of the process would be including topical examples from culture so that the student have something they can relate too.
Though this is such a brief outline, and this is such a complex series of issues it’s no surprise I that missed some useful clarifying points. I just recognize that the option to abstain from sex is a key component of consent. You can do it at any point and at any time even if you are otherwise in the act. So I ended up glossing over it. Which I will keep in mind for the future.
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December 30th, 2014 at 1:46 pm
I agree with the discussion that happened here and made me relax against my chair once more. Now that I read your post again, I see that it is implicit in there; but on surface it seems like abstinence is not at all incorporated in your proposed syllabus.
Okay, saying it abstinence is not the proper term; ‘responsibility’ is more like it. And just as you say, giving them proper tools would enable them to shoulder this responsibility more. But then it would just be more economical if you would just update the post with what you say so that no more further people get their panties in a twist unnecessarily. ^_^
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December 30th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
(This is a reply to @hessianwithteeth and that too at the end of the thread. Got confused!)
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December 30th, 2014 at 2:08 pm
So I understand you you’d like me to be clarify that I’m not saying do away with abstinence.
Also I disagree with this statement “Okay, saying it abstinence is not the proper term; ‘responsibility’ is more like it.”
Responsibility is more complicated then just abstaining. To say that to abstain is responsible is to imply that having sex is irresponsible. That’s not what I want to teach teens it is far to simplistic of a narrative. What truly irresponsible is to not think through your choices. To blindly make decisions based on what you’ve been told and to not work to understand that information and incorporate it into how you think and what you do. Again not having sex does not = responsibility there must be understand and agency in your choice for them to be responsible. And eventually most of us are going to have sex regardless so we need to give them the tools to deal with that, and since your sexually viable and have sexual feeling very early in life (generally long before your 20th birthday) it’s best to give these tool as early as reasonably possible, because you never know when your kids might need them.
Beside I think people should not be ashamed of their sexuality, it does more harm then good because that shame prevents people from exploring and learning. If we never explore or learn then we will never know which ruts we’ve fallen into. Sure we might fall into the rut of a loving healthy relationship, but you might also fall into an abusive one or an otherwise unhealthy relationship. Shame promotes the status quo and the status quo leads to teen pregnancy and in many communities mass STI transmission. This is some of the reasons why I’m so amendment against sex shaming even implicit sex shaming.
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December 31st, 2014 at 3:26 am
Oh oh. No, you misunderstood me. I am not equating abstaining with responsibility. We both actually heartily agree!
I live in India. And sex is a taboo here; I am the first person who would like to do away with it really. Trust me.
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December 31st, 2014 at 3:51 am
Oh, so am I right I’m assuming it was sarcasm then? Because that really changes your message 😉
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December 31st, 2014 at 4:41 am
Sarcasm? No! I was saying that abstinence by itself is not a good solution. But partial abstinence aka responsibility aka caution is.
But this partial abstinence requires a person the ability to think whether sex is worth the risk or not. And therein comes the whole spectrum of sex education that you already mention.
This is a particular pet peeve of mine because I am gay and AIDS is notoriously prevalent in MSM community. In India the statistics are 0.31% for general population vs. 4.43% for MSM and 8% for transgenders (many of whom work in prostitution).
So, children should know the playground they choose to play in. For me, caution is of utmost importance; I hardly have casual sex because I cannot waste my life on a one night stand. Moreover, people in MSM community meet people in online forums only. So, if a person comes to me and tells me he wants to “fuck me so hard”, I know that he is saying it 20 others and thus he is a high-risk for STI.
But this education is missing in MSM community; they normalize having sex if the number of messages in my inbox is any indication. It is this background with which I say this responsibility of who you have sex with becomes very, very important.
And therein we converge because I play safely because of the statistics that I have gathered (and updated) over the years. This is definitely something that I consider to be an integral part of sex education.
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December 31st, 2014 at 5:16 pm
Ah okay yes now I understand what your saying. 🙂
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December 29th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
I am with you, for the most part, especially your second opening statement, “Abstinence is not a substitute for sex education.” I learned from a catholic friend in Pittsburg that, growing up, most of their parents ‘shied’ or put more correctly, refused to talk about ‘sex to their kids’. While, her mom told her all about sex, and gave her contraceptives soon as she started dating. Turned out, her friends [whose parents refused to talk about sex] were pregnant by the time they finished high school, but not her. She also told me that, some claim they are still virgins, but confess that they have annal sex. “Abstinence = annal sex”, in this case!
I should add that I am very much for sex education, as soon as girls start their period, and boys get into he active hormonal stage. Although, there is nothing wrong with emphasizing to kids the risks and dangers or early sexual intercourse – annal, vaginal or oral.
When I started my period at age 14 years, my mom told me that “I had become a woman”, and any sexual intercourse with a boy or man could get me pregnant. She did not have to scare me into, “what happens if I become pregnant”, because I had a sister before me, who did not complete high school because she became pregnant at 15 years. Growing up in a culture where contraceptives (except condoms) are not that prevalent, chances were that most sexually active adolescents were having unprotected sex.
While condoms were more available, they were not distributed to school children or in schools, but mostly on sale in a few pharmacies. In fact, few married couples bought condoms, either! I am assuming the situation is not very different from poor, rural/country and religious people/parents in this country, to whom dispensing contraceptives to their children is tantamount to encouraging or sanctioning promiscuity!
So, I think it is still important to let kids know the risks and dangers of not just unprotected sex, but also engaging in early sex as kids, in whatever form. Sex is very emotional, especially I know for women, because I am one. Though, I am sure boy carry a lot of emotional toll once they have ‘knocked up’ a girl. As it turned out, I did not become sexually active until I was 26 years of age! Please believe me; I did not want the burden and responsibilities of early-age sex! Thus, the message to our children in schools and youth groups should include sex education as well as abstinence. There are women out there who can say no! I still do not think I lost anything from waiting. In fact, I feel sometimes I lost more from starting sex, although I am glad I got to experience it still 🙂
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December 29th, 2014 at 5:37 pm
The one thing I remember from sex ed classes is “the best form of contraception is having no sex”. We need more practical advice for teenagers, especially about maintaining healthy, non-abusive sexual relationships, it’s SO important. Another idea is bringing in more education specifically for women about their anatomy and sexuality, as its often completely glazed over as if we have no sexuality! Excellent post!
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December 29th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
I agree, I could do a post on each of those six posts, out lining what I think. Though I would love to help design a curriculum. It would be a massive under taking to do it properly which I may attempt in the future with the help of others. Though to do it properly you probably need to do it over the course of a few years (starting at age 8-10) kind of like how we do it now, but more comprehensive, and then cap it off with a high school class (Grade 10) to really teach drive home the information when it’s most useful, though I’d have too do my research before I give anything more specific.
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December 30th, 2014 at 3:43 am
Yeah exactly. There’s just so much work that needs to be done on the curriculum. (Let alone, some schools don’t even seem to teach it at all)
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January 13th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
In my school district, kids watch a video (girls and boys separate) about basic puberty stuff in 5th grade. Which was pretty dumb because I aleady was almost done with puberty at that point.Luckily my mom got me this awesome book (My Body, My Self) when I was 7 about puberty that was like a journal I could fill out. It’s very scientific, and it even talked anout masturbation and sexual pleasure, which is a really important part of sexual health. It also talked about how body hair removal is a choice and different ways to remove hair depending on ethnicity (Prople of African decent are more prone to scarring and ingrown hairs that come with certain types of hair removal). So I highly tecommend that as a textbook of sorts. Besudes the video in 6th grade they have a 9 week health class in 7th grade and 9th grade. Thankfully it’s not an abstinence-based program, but it still has much room for improvement.
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