I came across an article scrolling through my News Feed on Facebook. The title, “I Waited Until my Wedding Night to Lose My Virginity and I Wish I Hadn’t”, intrigued me. I remember reading, horrified by the reality of the problem expressed in this article: the youth is being severely misinformed about sex.
The woman who wrote this article had, from the beginning, relished in her virginity. She was, somewhat, brainwashed by her church that the most important thing about her was to remain pure or she would consequently burn in hell. “I learned that as a girl, I had a responsibility to my future husband to remain pure for him. It was entirely possible that my future husband wouldn’t remain pure for me, because he didn’t have that same responsibility, according to the Bible,” she states in the article. Her religion forced a dated and destructive idea of “purity” on her through fear without any outside competition from education. Safe sexual expression was not an option. Her virginity defined her until she married, then once she was allowed to express her sexuality she felt guilty. In fact, she spent the remainder of her wedding night, after consummation, crying on the bathroom floor because sex felt wrong and dirty. After two years she finally told her husband about her hatred for sex, and sought therapeutic help.
Poor sexual education allows religion and other factors to have a large effect on the sexual health of our nation. For women who are aged 15 – 19, the live birth rate is 29.4 per 1,000. The need for better sexual education in schools is imperative. Sex is an important part of human life. Lack of education leads to many problems for all young men and women. Knowing about proper contraception, safe habits, and all around safe relationships is something that the youth must learn about.
It’s been proven many times that abstinence-only education is not effective. Comprehensive education is the only way to help students learn the right way to lead healthy, and safe sex lives. Safety is important physically, with the prevention of STDs and teen pregnancy, and emotionally, with teaching students about the danger of abusive relationships and the importance of sexual expression however one pleases. Comprehensive education, also, focuses on the importance of consent and the freedom of sexuality. Nobody should feel pressured into having, or not having, sex. No one should be shamed for their sexual choices. Everyone deserves to choose with whom, when, and how they would like to express themselves sexually and it’s wrong to deny teenagers information and education on this subject.
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