Sex Education: Where school went wrong

 I haven't stepped foot inside a classroom as a student in over 20 years, but I remember vividly the sex education discussion I had to go through in 8th grade health class. It was a two week course that was designed to teach us what happened to our bodies during puberty, it went into detail what anatomically happened when you got pregnant, and we spent several days discussing STDs and STIs. I can't speak for classes that you may have gone through in those days, but for my school (which was in a highly conservative city), they made sex seem so unnecessarily scary that it should have been called Abstinence 101. Each lesson seemed to make sex this highly dangerous practice that could land you pregnant, infected, or dying with each session you attempted. And I get it, they don't want teens to have sex while they're in school, because they don't want teen parents to become a huge issue, and they want everyone to practice safe sex to reduce the chances of spreading stuff.

But come the fuck on! 

First and foremost, yes, there's always a possibility that you can catch something, just as easily that you can catch a cold walking past a stranger at the store (or Covid, as a more recent and traumatizing example). But if you just use basic common sense and protection, the odds are greatly reduced to less than one percent. Birth control, condoms, shots and IUDs; these are great ideas to protect against pregnancy. Naturally, the only way to help prevent STDs and STIs is to wear condoms (yes, they do make condoms for women), but open communication also should be standard, especially if one person knows they have something that can spread to another if proper steps are not taken. I've got friends who are living with things that can spread who have healthy sex lives because they are open with their partners and they take steps to help ensure the health and safety of everyone involved. Naturally, the most effective way to prevent spreading anything is abstinence, but if that's the road you want to take, you may as well go the distance and become a nun or priest. 

The takeaway from this post is simple: school teaches us to be overly cautious with sex to the point of paranoia, but honestly, basic measures help reduce the chances of negative outcomes. I say reduce, not prevent, because nothing except abstinence is 100 percent effective. No matter what, there is always that chance that something can happen (my first kid is a prime example, but I still love them). But you shouldn't be afraid of sex just because of what school teaches you to fear. You just need to practice open communication and use common sense.