Sex Education is the Best Education
Let’s just take a step back and examine how we are bombarded by sex in almost everything we do. We turn on the television and see commercials from Carl’s Jr. promoting their new burger with a half-naked woman washing a car. We get onto social media and see half naked pictures of women and men we idolize, like Kim Kardashian-West and Justin Bieber. We see ads all over magazines and malls claiming that a certain bottle of perfume will make you seduce men or women. Sex today is coming across as disoriented and promoted. It symbolizes the free-sex-with-no-responsibility mind-set. (Lerman 78) There may have been times where the media has had a huge influence on our sexual lives. Adolescents are not refrained from feeling sexual impulses either. “Adolescent sexual behavior is a natural reflection of adolescents’ physical and social development.” (Hall, Holmqvist, & Sherry 6) This heavy sexual influence would only add to the sexual fire that rages within them already. “Ten million teenagers will engage in about 126 million acts of sexual intercourse this year. As a result, there will be about 1 million pregnancies, resulting in 406,000 abortions, 134,000 miscarriages and 490,000 live births. Of the births, about 313,000, or 64 percent, will be out of wedlock. And about 3 million teenagers will suffer from a sexually transmitted disease, including AIDS.” (Besharov & Gardiner 52) Throughout America, there have been many heated debates on whether
Modern era sex education programs in the United States began in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a result of the AIDS/HIV epidemic. With the introduction of curricula teaching safe sex and the effectiveness of contraception, other curricula refuted these ideas thus creating a conflict about sex education in the U.S. Sex education in the U.S is divided into two categories: abstinence-only and comprehensive, the former being the most implemented among states nationwide. Abstinence-only programs stress the importance of abstaining from sex until marriage, fitting the “traditional” set of American morals. Covering more than just abstinence, comprehensive sex education programs not only teach students about the options they have when it comes
While teen pregnancy has been steadily decreasing, a growing number of teens infected with std's has been increasing. Sex education in schools has helped the pregnancy issue but needs to continue to further decrease teen pregnancies and to eradicate teen std's. In addition, educators need to start the sex education classes at an earlier age. Schools that teach comprehensive sex ed have a higher sexual literacy rate, lower std rates and lower teen pregnancy rate when compared to schools that teach abstinence only or have no sex ed curriculum.
"Approximately four million teens get a sexually transmitted disease every year" (Scripps 1). Today’s numbers of sexually active teens differ greatly from that of just a few years ago. Which in return, projects that not only the risk of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) has risen, but the actual numbers of those infected rise each year as well. These changes have not gone unnoticed. In fact have produced adaptations as to how society educates its young adults about sex, using special programs, various advertising, and regulating sexual education courses in public schools. One major adaptation is the advancement and availability of
They see the overwhelming importance given to sexual attractiveness in the media-one study estimated that the average teenager ahs witnessed nearly 14,000 sexual encounters on television- yet they also hear their parents and religious advisers telling them that sex is wrong. As a result, many young people begin having sex without really intending to and without taking precautions against pregnancy.
Everyone remembers having to go to a sex-ed class in late middle school or early high school. Most people remember it as extremely awkward and slightly terrifying. The difference between comprehensive sex-ed and abstinence only education can be life or death. Comprehensive sex-ed teaches people about contraception, sexual orientations, which needs to be updated, and how to be safe in general. Abstinence-only sex-ed basically only teaches to wait to have sexual interactions until married, and the benefits of it. The United States has some problems. Teen pregnancies here are two times as high as other industrialized countries (Harris), and half of all STI cases are
More teens are learning sex from the media or from their friends instead of from their parents or a sexual education class taught in schools. “Nearly three fourths of television shows contains talk about sex or show sexual behavior,” (King and Regan 2). When we drive down the road we see several stores promoting sex such as Condoms to Go, Condom Sense, Sarahs Secret, and New Fine Arts. Children who have no clue to what these stores are, automatically want to know everything about it and why it
Through these two structures, the article does more than just present a problem and a solution, but she also presents the causes and effects of that problem, making a more evolved and informative article. She identifies the problem as the media portraying teen sex or sex in general as being consequence free, one solution she mentions is to have the media and the society combine forces to campaign against teen sex. Teen-age pregnancies are somewhat indirectly caused by the media’s lack of reality when promoting sex. Goodman’s article is successfully written using both of these structures however, to make her point resolute, her rhetorical appeals need to be more prevalent and more defined.
What if a rapist was coming at someone? Do kids know what to do besides lie on the ground and cry? What if a teenager had an unplanned pregnancy? Do they know their options about abortion or adoption or keeping the baby? Will young adults know the results of their choices? Sexual education teaches all of the following, and kids in the curriculum are more likely to defend themselves in a plot when they were approached by a stranger (“Teaching children in schools…”). Sexual education teaches students about sexual health, abstinence, and information such as contraception, condoms, unplanned pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases (“Sex Education Programs”). Comprehensive sexual
I completely agree with Ralph DiClemente. When I was taught Sex Education, in sixth grade, we were taught the basics. How to use a condom, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy. I think that with younger people, when they are in relationships, they are not really sure how it works. Not just sex, but relationships in general. As an effect of that, he or she does not assert what they want or what they think is right, they go with the flow. Why? Because honestly they do not know better. With these classes of empowerment, I feel that they will get a better understanding that it is okay to voice your opinion and set boundaries and just put out there that if they are not okay with something, like not using a condom. “Knowing how to communicate
In “Is Sex All That MAtter ?” by Joyce Garity, she offers up commentary on today’s teenagers that are being bombarded with unrealistic expectations of their sexual behavior. Many of the unrealistic sexual images shown in television, advertisements, and magazines influence these adolescents behavior and dreams. Several of these advertisers trumpet sexuality making the teenagers expectation for their own sexual life unrealistic and unsafe, due to the fact that they are unaware of the consequences that can occur; For example, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.
There is a great debate on whether or not mass media has an influence on teenage pregnancy. A study done by the RAND Corporation shows that teens are twice as likely to have sex or engage in sexual acts if they see similar sexual behavior in the media. Many objects in the media that involve sex target teens. Reality TV shows and teen dramas often portray the "cool kids" as the ones who are having sex (Chandra).Today’s teens are highly influenced by what they see in the media and this can change their behavior and choices. Some will argue that the media doesn’t influence teenagers, but how can we be sure of that? Today, the media portray teen pregnancy in movies, television shows, magazines, music, news reports, and books. The problems
Due to the effects of sexuality in the media, more teens are open to sexual acts and at a younger age now. Adolescents are now open to "hook-ups" or friends-with-benefits, where they have "casual sexual encounters at parties and clubs between youngsters who are not emotionally involved with one another" which are influenced by new techology and take away the "first date" which would help put safe sex into the teens minds (Friedman). Some folks are worried that the sex in the media will counteract sex education and do not include problems that having sexual intercourse can bring about. In his article "Sex, Violence and the Media", Charles S. Clark explains:
“If the Liberals' law is passed, will sex education in the schools, including elementary grades, include the same portrayals of sexual activity which presently exist in heterosexual instruction? Will there be the same presentation of homosexual activity? Of course there will.”
Since birth human behaviour is influenced by what the individual sees and there surroundings, this influence is greatest at a young age and fades as the individual grows in age, but never completely goes away. In today’s society where sex is something that is openly broadcasted in order to promote everything from products to television shows, sex is something that the youth of today are exposed to from an early age. But what effects can this exposure at such a vulnerable stage in life cause? Early exposure to sexual content can increase the likeliness of youth participating in sexual activity by the large amount that they are exposed too, the glorification of sex, the lack of regulation of sexual content in the media by the government, and
“After a while, sex became a reality. It’s a lot harder to abstain when you’re actually in the moment, faced with that decision” (Stevens). Individuals encounter the reality of coming face to face with the temptations of intercourse; over time it becomes harder to sustain from joining the system. Students devour lust, but do not know how to control themselves and sex education provides substantial advice. With this in mind, sex education provides preparedness, answers questions, and creates awareness.