Comprehensive Reality-Based Sexuality Education

Comprehensive Reality-Based Sexuality Education

What is comprehensive, reality-based sexuality education?

True comprehensive, reality-based sexuality education seeks to assist young people in

understanding a positive view of sexuality, provide them with information and skills about

taking care of their sexual health, and help them acquire skills to make decisions now and in

the future.

Ideally, sexuality education is taught in ways that are age- and experience-appropriate in

kindergarten through 12th grade. It is taught by trained teachers who teach about: sexual

development, reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body

image, and gender roles. The goal is to help young people grow into sexually healthy adults.

Being "sexually healthy" includes preventing the negative consequences of sexual intercourse,

and also includes a broad range of life-enhancing skills, such as assertiveness, effective

communication, critical thinking, decision-making, and the capacity to build relationships.

Comprehensive sexuality education doesn't happen in one place -- it involves parents,

educators, and other adults in the community. Planned Parenthood urges parents to be

involved in monitoring their children's school programs, and advocating for curricula they

want to have in their children's schools. We help parents to discuss sexuality appropriately

and accurately with their children in community-based programs for families.

We can't expect children to become sexually responsible if the adults in their lives are

uninformed about sex or uncomfortable talking about it.

What are the values of comprehensive sexuality education?

Among the values inherent in reality-based sexualit...

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lives -- especially for the millions of teens who have already begun having sex -- 61% of

male high school students and 48% of female high school students. (CDC, U.S. Dept. of

Health and Human Services, SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS -

UNITED STATES, 1990. MMWR 1992; 40; 885-888.)

Schools can give young people the facts and the relationship skills they need to become

responsible adults, and can break the cycle of ignorance, denial, and shame that often passes

from one generation to the next.

Most parents say they want their children to receive sexuality education in school. One poll

found that 89% of American adults support sexuality education in schools, and 73% want

schools to make contraceptives available to students. (Louis Harris and Associates, PUBLIC

ATTITUDES TOWARD TEENAGE PREGNANCY, SEX EDUCATION, AND BIRTH

CONTROL. May 1988.)