Sexual Education for Adolescents
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Sexual Education for Adolescents
One of the compelling arguments in support of sex education is the lack of information and sometimes misinformation that exists in the community. There is barely any teenager who wants to have a negative outcome from any voluntary sexual escapade. However, statistics show that the majority of adolescents end up with the exact opposite of what they wished for. Some of them get pregnant while others contract STIs. This means that they will have to deviate from their normal lives as adolescents to deal with these upcoming issues. But why does this happen? The majority of teenagers will indicate that they fail to use contraception because they think they cannot get pregnant (Lehmiller, 2014). When a teenager says they cannot get pregnant from being sexually active, it means that there is an information gap.
There is a need for sexual education to provide the correct information on the consequences of sexual activity. Educators in this field also tend to deliver scary information that leads to adverse outcomes of adolescents. For instance, there is an emphasis on contracting STIs for adolescents if they engage in sexual activity. The message here is that sex is scary. What these educators leave out is that adolescents can still have pleasurable sex but stay safe. Another place where misinformation comes to play is with abstinence-only education. These adolescents are people with feelings, and one time or another, they will feel the need to become sexually active. However, if the teachings revolve around abstinence-only, then there is a problem as they are more likely to engage in unsafe sex in fear of reprimand or judgment from society. This will often result in adverse sex outcomes.
Another compelling argument in support of sex education is the lack of involvement of most parents. The parent is the first teacher that a child has typically. However, parents tend to shy away from the discussion of such a topic (Lehmiller, 2014). This leaves the adolescents to discover the topic of sex through other channels such as their peers and the media. What this does is that the children may come across false information. In their quest to experiment, they may experience adverse outcomes. Most of these negative outcomes are hard to reverse, and they alter the life of the adolescent forever (Breuner & Mattson, 2016). Therefore, comprehensive sex education for the adolescent will ensure that they do not go out seeking the wrong information. If it involves the parent, it will also ensure that the parent understands the importance of talking sexual things over with the adolescent. For shy parents, they can also learn methods to approach this topic without scaring away the adolescent. With this, the adolescent will have a safe space and an area where they can seek advice and confide in matters of sexual activity.
References
Breuner, C., & Mattson, G. (2016). Sexuality Education for Children and Adolescents. American Academy of Paediatrics
Lehmiller, J. (2014). Sex Education, Contraception, and Pregnancy. The Psychology of Human Sexuality. John Wiley & Sons