BodiMojo Blog

            A recent Boston Globe Sunday magazine article reported that high school students are shown images of people engaged in sexual intercourse, taught how to properly use condoms–and more, all during their sex education classes. Wow, has sex ed been given a makeover. 

            This program—called Our Whole Lives (OWL)—is implemented by a joint effort of the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ. Other programs like the OWL have been attempted in schools, but were shut down because they appeared to encourage sex among teenagers.

            The idea of teenagers – especially your own teens – having sex is scary, but teens will be exposed to sex regardless of no matter what they are told—or not told. Teens will find out through movies, magazines, Internet, friends, or any other means of communication. I think teaching teens about safe sex practices is a stellar idea. Or, you could just hope that they will somehow find out on their own.

            During my freshman year of high school, a 14-year-old girl in my English class got pregnant and chose to have the baby. She did not use a condom, or so rumor said. Had she known about means of protection and their benefits, maybe this might not have happened. The girl ended up dropping out of school. Last I heard, she had not gone back and was still single.

            Traditional sex ed classes—like the kind I had–often advocate abstinence and rarely touch upon the actual act of sex. Yes, abstinence is the best way to not get knocked up, acquire an STD, or fall victim to the plethora of emotional pains that might come post-sexual activity. But how are teens going to know what’s best to do in a situation like this if they are not even told about the details of the sexual act? How are teens going to know the benefits of practicing safe sex?

            The purpose of OWL is to prevent teen pregnancy and STD rates. It is a shame to me that people think by teaching teens about sex in schools – other than the biological and anatomical aspects of it – means that schools are advocating sex.

            There was a scene from “Mean Girls,” a 2004 movie starring Lindsay Lohan, that mocked the traditional teachings of sex ed. In the film, a sex ed teacher says, “If you have sex, you will get pregnant, and die.” Although this is an obvious exaggeration of sex ed classes, it resonated with me–this was the tone of my very own sex ed teachers in high school. It wasn’t realistic and I felt not only uninformed, but misinformed. In fact, I had to learn about sex outside my sex ed classes through my peers and magazines. Aside from learning the actual science behind sex (ie. labeling the components of sexual organs), I felt like sex ed was a waste of my time. I would like to have learned more about the act of sex and its possible consequences, means and benefits of protection, and where to get means of protection. When a sexual situation actually arises, nobody talks about anatomy.

            Schools should implement more programs like OWL because many parents are uncomfortable teaching their children about sex. If schools are going to have sex ed classes, let’s not just dance around the topic of the so-called “birds and the bees”—let’s really get nitty gritty. As one educator says, “Sexuality isn’t something you should be afraid of.”

–Angela Lee is a contributing youth writer and a recent college grad pursuing a career in public health; Angela offers the Gen Y perspective to BodiMojo.