Odds are, most of what you learned about sex and your sexual anatomy and health, you had to purposefully seek out as an adult. Odds are even better that if you did not purposefully seek out this information, you are woefully misinformed about topics such as sexual anatomy, reproduction, and sexual health. Spend five minutes on r/badwomensanatony on Reddit to realize how little an alarming number of adults know about their own anatomy.

Requirements for sex education are alarmingly disparate across the country. There is no national standard in the United States for K-12 sexual education. Less than half of the states in the union, 24 by most sources, even mandate sex education be included in public education. Twenty of those states require information about birth control methods and efficacy to be provided to students and only 13 states require medically accurate sex education. You read that right. Only 13 of the states even bothering to require students to be educated about their sexual and reproductive health require that what is taught be medically, technically, and scientifically accurate.

Many states instead take an “abstinence only” approach to sex ed and refuse to introduce safe sex practices or information in their curriculum. A direct result is that most young people venturing into their sexual lives have no idea that most people affected by STI's show no outward symptoms and they should be tested after each new partner to protect themselves and future partners. They have not been taught that condoms are the most effective method for a sexually active person to prevent disease. They are also unaware that although the vast majority of STI's are treatable, repeated treatment protocols can decrease fertility. These are life and health saving practices that are not taught because sex is such a taboo and secretive subject in American society still. Abstinence is a valid and safe choice that should be fully supported, but it is a choice that should be made from a place of enlightenment about the alternatives.

An often-repeated argument for not teaching sex ed in school is that is a parent should be responsible for this education. In this scenario, who taught the parents the proper information? If the parents were never taught sexual anatomy, accurate reproductive science, and keep up with the latest protocols for prevention and testing of STI's, how can they be expected to pass on helpful and practical education? Beliefs about sex and morality surrounding sex and sexuality are far different than facts and discussion about sexual anatomy and health.

This leaves most adults fumbling to learn about sex and sexual health on their own, through friends and the internet. Much of this information is suspect, at best, comically inaccurate at worst. Collegiate sexual health programs are trying to combat the taboo nature that is associated with sexual topics in America, and fill the gaps in information formed by inadequate or non existent sexual education.

For more, accurate, information about sexual health, please visit these online resources.

American Sexual Health Association

The Centers for Disease Control

The World Health Organization