While the topics of abstinence and pregnancy often come up
with regards to teen sex education, something less talked about is teen’s risk
of STI’s. With abstinence only education in many states, teens are often left
in the dark about how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.
How does this lack of information impact the sexual health of teens?
In a study presented by Advocates for Youth, various factors
of sexual health in the US were compared to Germany, France, and the
Netherlands. These European countries have a greater societal openness about
sexual topics and the governments fund a more open and comprehensive sexual
education, compared to that in the United States. These policies and societal
views have a positive impact. The percentage of the adult population with
HIV/AIDS in these European countries is much lower than the United States.
Teenagers in Germany and the Netherlands are 5-6 times more likely to use
contraception than teenagers in the USA.
While contraception policies are often fought over in a
political arena, it is important that we take a step back and think about who
is really being impacted by sex education and contraception policy. The old, white men (This is a another issue
in itself) that work on these policies in Washington D.C. have little to no
personal connection to the people that feel the impacts.
What can we do, as college students, to ensure that future
generations of Americans have access to reliable information and contraception
to ensure safe sex?
Sources:
This article is very relevant to both teenagers and young adults in high school and college. Abstinence only education has allowed many youth who are having sex to go without knowledge about sex that they should have access. America has portrayed itself as a free society, but often the policies that are set in place by law makers completely contradict the concept of being free. As a current college student, things that we should start doing is collaborating with sex education programs to spread information about the realities of sex and how you can effectively protect yourself. Also it might be effective to incorporate these programs into student orientation, when there are masses of students all together at one time.
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