The Ongoing-Yet-Completely-Curable Epidemic

By Youth Health Promoter Omiyea Stanford

Omiyea Stanford

Did you know that one out of every four teens becomes pregnant at least once before age 20? Did you know that despite a dramatic decline in teen birth rates and teen pregnancy, the United States still has one of the highest teen birth and pregnancy rates in the industrialized world? Do you know why? Well there are a mess load of reasons, but, a lack evidence-based sex education plays a huge part. Discuss, dissect, and digress? Yes we shall.

A lack of Evidence Based Programming (EBP), is an enormous part of the problem. Abstinence Only Education (AOE), EBP’s bitter enemy and arch nemesis that just won't die, is still used in classrooms across the country. There are so many reasons why AOE programming doesn’t work, including its misogynistic foundations and messages, idealism of heterosexual marriage, sex and gender bias and oppression, lack of consistency in teaching even the most basic aspects of sexual health like anatomy and reproduction, and lack of regulation of information accuracy and bias. However, one of the most prominent problems, is that it is just plain unrealistic! It’s not enough to offer one solution, especially one where the only answer is to do nothing, which is completely impractical and futile. Sex and sexual stimulation are basic human wants and needs, and AOE teachings disregard and create shame around that fact. AOE teachings leave students who become sexually active as teens with zero knowledge of how to protect themselves. EBP, however, works a little bit differently. Ok, actually, it works a lot differently. 

Evidence Based Programming (EBP) teaches that abstinence is an option, but not the only option. EBP prepares students for any path they choose by providing them with accurate, inclusive, and unbiased information that spans every aspect of sexual health, sexual safety and responsibility, and even the aspects of healthy relationships. Despite the facts indicating that EBP is effective in reducing teen pregnancy and STD/HIV rates, it is still is meet with googolplexes of opposition. A common critique, is that if you teach kids about sex, then they will be more likely to have sex. My reply is, "and?"  Firstly, EBP obviously doesn't encourage and teach kids how to have sex. It teaches them what sex is, and how to be safe if/when they have it. Come on people, that one was a given. Secondly, why do adults feel like it is their solemn duty to keep teens from being sexually active? That’s half of the problem in the nutshell! Teens having sex isn’t the issue! That isn’t what we should be trying our very hardest to prevent. It’s ignorance! This urge in adults to stop teens from becoming sexually active is more about keeping teens “innocent” then it is about keeping them safe. Leave them in the dark and hurl a “just don’t do it” at them every time sex comes up, and I guarantee you they’ll be defenseless. Make sure that they are given the information they need about all the aspects of sexual health, and they will have the ability to make informed, safe and healthy decisions about their own sexual health based on what they want for themselves. Sounds like EBP is our cure-all right? Well, not exactly. There is still something vital to sexual health education that is missing from even the EBP curriculum. And what is that? Pleasure and sex positivity! 

Obviously sex isn’t just about reproduction. If it was we’d barely do it, and we’d probably have a lot less humans on earth than we currently do. Humans are one of the very few species of animals on earth that have sex for fun. If this is true, then why is it that pleasure and sex positivity are missing from EBP curricula in our classrooms? Even with EBP, information about sexual health is given in sex negative ways; in other words, sex is only ever really talked about as it relates to anatomy, reproduction, and preventing the negative consequences. The topic of pleasure is treated similarly. This is an extension of our inability to accept and acknowledge true human sexuality and sexual nature. Pleasure positive sex education curricula really means not disconnecting pleasure and positivity from sex. It’s all a matter of keeping a balance between teaching young people that, yes, sex can be dangerous and it can have very serious consequences, but it can also be fun, pleasurable, satisfying, and enjoyable as well. Sex and pleasure positive EBP would provide the information young adults need to be safe, and dispel shame around sexual desire. Four words: two birds, one stone. 

Fellow YHP Blinky Lawrence
making his voice heard

And now for the big question: what do we do? Education is an enormous factor in the teen pregnancy epidemic, but in the larger scheme of things, our issues with sex education is just a symptom of a bigger issue. Our culture and society’s lack of ability to accept and acknowledge true human sexuality and nature is not a problem that can be repaired overnight, and as an extension, neither will the teen pregnancy epidemic. Want to know how you can do your part? Be an advocate for sex positive EBP education! If you’re a parent, make sure your kids are informed. If their school won’t teach them, you teach them. Teens; fight for your right to be educated! Get the right information from anywhere you can. Fight for sex positive EBP in your schools and communities. Last but not least: spread the word. A huge part of why the teen pregnancy epidemic is an epidemic at all is that people don’t know what they’re up against. So get the real numbers and statistics, and put the information into circulation in and around your communities. 

May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, but efforts shouldn’t end after May 31. Be an advocate 365 days a year! The teen pregnancy epidemic is an incredibly large issue to tackle, but it’s the small efforts of individuals that will bring it down to size. So go ahead people-- get out there and knock this epidemic down a peg or ten.