Sex education
In contrast, abstinence-only sex education, which focuses solely on promoting sexual abstinence, is often favored in more socially conservative regions, including some parts of the United States.
[4] During the Second World War, UK governmental concerns grew around mass relocation, parentless youths, and young men and women working together for the first time.
For example, the mechanics of sexual intercourse could be communicated via "the keeping of livestock", as students could observe reproduction in real-time; the guidance also encouraged discussions about menstruation, motherhood courses, and personal hygiene talks.
For example, Swedish sex education guidelines and textbooks published between 1945 and 2000 originally depicted masturbation as inherently harmful but increasingly portrayed it as natural and harmless.
[18] For example, while Birmingham primary schools were protested by Muslim parents opposing the introduction of LGBT content to the guidance,[19] sociologist Jonathan Glazzard criticized the Department for Education for the document's ambiguity and "opt-out" potential.
[23] Evidence shows that a combination of comprehensive sexuality education and access to birth control appears to decrease the rates of unintended pregnancies among teenagers.
"[26] Research has also shown that delay in sexual initiation and the use of condoms and other contraception have been a result of young people adopting egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles.
believed otherwise, stating that the answer to adolescents' sexual woes and pregnancy can not lie primarily in school programmes which at best can only be remedial; what is needed is prevention education and as such parents should be involved.
[46] A survey conducted in Britain, Canada and the United States by Angus Reid Public Opinion in November 2011 asked adult respondents to look back to the time when they were teenagers, and describe how useful several sources were in enabling them to learn more about sex.
In 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion said that half of Canadians (54%) and Americans (52%) found their sex education courses at school to be useful, only 43% of Britons share the same view.
[49] New HIV infections in Uganda decreased dramatically when Clinton supported a comprehensive sexuality education approach (including information about contraception and abortion).
[51] Egypt teaches knowledge about male and female reproductive systems, sexual organs, contraception and STDs in public schools at the second and third years of the middle-preparatory phase (when students are aged 12–14).
These organizations and collectives also work closely with relevant governmental ministries and multi-lateral institutions (like UNESCO and WHO) to engage in public advocacy and policy change around acceptance and implementation of sex education.
We have also brought about a decline of 50% in new infections annually.In 2000, a new five-year project was introduced by the China Family Planning Association to "promote reproductive health education among Chinese teenagers and unmarried youth" in twelve urban districts and three counties.
The Singapore Family Planning Association has developed a series of sex education programs for young people, focusing on strict control of sexual behavior and age.
[93] Subsidized by the Dutch government, the "Long Live Love" package (Lang leve de liefde), developed in the late 1980s, aims to give teenagers the skills to make their own decisions regarding health and sexuality.
Generally the sex ed content taught in Slovakia is quite basic, sometimes lacking, though exactly what any given lesson contains varies among schools and is dependent on the teacher's knowledge of the subject.
[100] In most French-speaking cantons since the 1970s, generalized courses have been implemented by states with duly formed and trained specialists working within school health services at the secondary level.
Interventions in primary schools were started during the 1980s, with the basic objective of empowering children, strengthening their resources, and giving the capacity to discriminate what is right or wrong based upon what is and is not allowed by law and society.
[101] The compulsory curriculum focuses on the reproductive system, fetal development, and the physical and emotional changes of adolescence, while information about contraception and safe sex is discretionary[102] and discussion about relationships is often neglected.
[83] Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe[103] However, these have halved across England[104] and Wales[105] in recent years and continue to fall Some schools actively choose to deliver age appropriate relationship and sex education from Early Years Foundation Stage, which include the differences between boys and girls, naming body parts, what areas of the body are private and should not be touched unless the child is happy and gives consent.
With rates of syphilis and gonorrhea rising in the province since this change, several researchers and sex educators are criticizing the current policy, most notably Lisa Trimble and Stephanie Mitelman.
[131] For example, a 1999 study by the Guttmacher Institute found that most U.S. sex education courses in grades 7 through 12 cover puberty, HIV, STIs, abstinence, implications of teenage pregnancy, and how to resist peer pressure.
A Consultative Council for Health and Human Relations Education was established in December 1980 under the chairmanship of Dame Margaret Blackwood; its members possessed considerable expertise in the area.
[153] Parents can ask for their children to be removed from the sexuality education component of the health curriculum for any reason, provided they apply in writing to the school principal, and do so at least 24 hours beforehand so alternative arrangements can be made.
[158] Many religions teach that sexual behavior outside of marriage is immoral and/or psychologically damaging, and many adherents desire this morality to be taught as a part of sex education.
The systematic literature review examined 9881 records and assessed 61 studies, showing that phones are the leading way to deliver cognitive and behavioral results related to sexual health.
Tools identified as the most popular mechanisms for sexual health promotion were: interactive websites, text messaging, phone calls, and online education programs.
[165] Six states (California, Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington) enforce sex education curricula that includes LGBT information beginning 2020.
These standards, the Future of Sex Education argues, will start in kindergarten and will evolve into more complex topics throughout schooling as the students mature and age.
