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The problem is the way it’s taught. We teach less of what is medically accurate and
more of what fits inside of our moral and religious agenda.
Two of the biggest issues we face when addressing education in the united states
comes from the concept of abstinence and consent education to young students. Often
they choose to wait to teach about consent until later in highschool, and for some
students they may have become sexually active long before and suffered the
consequences of ignorance.
When the topic is addressed again and again that promoting safer sex through the
introduction of contraceptives is more effective, why don’t states education boards
make the change? Well my book, The Purity Myth, a best seller from the year 2009,
addresses society’s desire to keep women in this state of purity, something that
revolves entirely from their bodies and whether or not they are ‘tainting’ them with
sex before marriage.
“The desirable virgin is sexy but not sexual. She's young, white, and skinny. She's a
cheerleader, a babysitter; she's accessible and eager to please (remember those ethics
of passivity!). She's never a woman of color. SHe's never a low-income girl or a fat
girl. She's never disabled. "Virgin" is a designation for those who meet a certain
standard of what women, especially young women, are supposed to look like. As for
how these young women are supposed to act? A blank slate is best.” (Valenti).
Society has this perfect picture woman that they want to enforce on younger girls
starting early in their primary and secondary education. They don’t think to teach
them about safe sex or concraceptives and consent until after many of them have seen
the consequences for themselves and faced avoidable turmoil that society’s imposed
ignorance has forced upon them.
The plan is to break down these walls and put up an era of change, to promote the
body as something to be cherished in a way that is both safe and empowering, to teach
girls how to take care of themselves without scaring them into secrecy or removing
their birth control pills or other contraceptives. Individuals should be looking at the
scientific facts that prove their moral agendas are wrong, and using that as the first
step forward to teaching medically accurate and helpful sexual education.