The Importance of Sexual Education

Sexual education. We have all heard of it and maybe even laughed a little when the topic comes up. I get that it is super uncomfortable, but it might be the single most important class we take in our lives.

As a student in Texas I can say that our public school sexual education is terrible. The teacher tell us sex before marriage will send us to hell, preaches abstinence, throws condoms at us, doesn’t even ask if we have questions, and people still question why Texas has the largest teen pregnancy rate. Many doctors and health officials believe this is a very dangerous way to teach students about their health. Many students across the world suffer with lack of sexual education, which can covers topic from STD’s all the way down to periods.

Periods are seen as the most basic but most important part of sexual education. One reason being that every biological female student will be experiencing a periods around the time when schools start doing their sexual education courses. Except, some school will completely set the sexual education course on the back burner and expect parents to sit down and teach their kids everything.

Here is the thing, I haven’t met many parents or kids that are willing to have a one on one conversation with their parent about sexual health, so the topic usually goes unheard off. As kids grow up they learn things from their friends and the internet, which sometimes can be dangerous as well as faulty.

Here is an instance of lack of sexual education:

There was one girl who had no idea what a period was. When she got her first period she searched up the symptoms online, which led her to believe she had an ulcer and was about to die. She spent the entire day freaking out and eventually broke down in tears in the middle of gym class. A few students then rushed her to the nurses office to where the nurse explained to her that she had gotten her first period and was not in fact going to die.

If our sexual education systems can’t even be bothered to tell us about periods how do we expect them to teach us about STD’s and other major things. Some of the sexually transmitted diseases can kill you or majorly harm you if not treated properly. It is important that you know what they are and the treatment needed. It gets overlooked how important this class is. 99.9% of teen pregnancies are unwanted, and 80% of those pregnancies were the result of lack of education. Sexual education isn’t just about sex, but it is the first time you learn about the organs in your body and how to protect and take care of them.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly would rather experience one awkward class than multiple awkward doctor's appointments. I know it's uncomfortable, but it's a matter of your safety and health. If you have access to sexual education, you, my friend, are a very lucky person, and you should also pay attention because a lot of what they tell you will benefit you in the long run. Although you might not realize it now, ten years down the road you are going to thank yourself for learning all this information.