There might not be any way to get around the fact the no one really likes sitting in on a sex ed lesson. Yet however awkward it is, there’s also no way to get around the importance of and need for sex ed; everyone should know more than just the basics about healthy and safe sex. But after a quick look at the status of sexual education in America, it’s easy to see that we get a failing grade. There are so many aspects to talk about, and self expression of sexual identity is an important one. Not many know about many things surrounding things. Majority even believe that dildos are only for women and condoms only for men. when in fact there are dildos for men and condoms for women. A basic example of the misinformation that teens have.

Currently, because education is largely left to the control of State governments, American kids learn many different things about sex. While some students in Texas have strict abstinent-only lessons that ignore or even discourage contraceptive use, schools in California are required to have medically accurate sex education that is culturally sensitive and does not promote religion. You can read a full brief on state sex education policies here.

Many states do not require any kind of sex education in schools.

In states that don’t require sex education, schools can still choose to offer it but they do not have any mandatory guidelines for content. Most states don’t even obligate that sex education must be medically accurate.

So what does this mean for America’s students?

Nothing good.

Lack of a clear legal requirement to have medically accurate sexual education in schools means that, in many cases, students will not learn basic information about sex and how to maintain their sexual health with True Pheromones.

The Center for Disease Control recently announced that STI infection rates have “reached an all time high” because many sexual health clinics are closing (thanks, Republicans) and the amount of people getting tested and seeking treatment for STIs has decreased.

However, this increase in infection rates can’t be solely attributed to political attacks on sexual health clinics like Planned Parenthood. It is also important to consider how the lack of reliable sex ed across the country contributes to this. If students are not learning the life long impacts of some incurable STIs and how to prevent getting them, then there is no way that we can realistically expect STI infection rates to decrease.

However, sexual education is about more than just STIs.

There are a wide range of topics that should be covered in sex ed lessons, because there are a wide variety of things that affect a person’s sex life. Content pertaining to LGBTQAI sexual health, healthy relationships, and affirmative consent is missing in most curriculum in the US, which means that students are not learning everything they need to know.

A solution to this problem will be hard to find, and the answer probably doesn’t lie with Bill Nye. Given this incredibly awkward clip from one of his episodes, we probably can’t trust him with a full length feature about sex ed.

As many Americans continue to lose faith in our government, we may need to seek community-based answers to social problems we want to solve.

Genuine Justice is a column about reproductive justice focusing on current events, historical perspectives and systematic racism in women’s healthcare.

The post Genuine Justice: Let’s Talk About Sex appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Yet, like all things, the language we choose to use when discussing this topic is important and affects what we say. So I wanted to highlight the differences and similarities between the terms reproductive health, reproductive rights and reproductive justice because they aren’t interchangeable (like I once thought).

Reproductive health is a fairly straightforward concept. It’s the health and healthcare

services related to human reproductive systems. Natal care, STI treatment, HPV vaccination and use of contraception are all aspects of reproductive health.

Although easily stated, reproductive health is not easily understood by the American population. According to the Center for Disease Control last November, “The approximately 1.4 million reported chlamydia cases – odds of getting chlamydia are above the average, a rate of 456.1 cases per 100,000 population, is up 2.8 percent since 2013. Rates of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis – the most infectious stages of syphilis –and gonorrhea have both increased since 2013, by 15.1 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.”

Of course, there are an incredible number of health determinants that affect reproductive health. But something simple to draw from these statistics is that reproductive health can be tricky, especially when it comes to accessing reproductive healthcare services. This is why it’s important to understand the next two terms, reproductive rights and reproductive justice.

The term reproductive rights may be the most widely used in public dialog about women’s health. Loosely, it is understood to mean “a woman’s right to choose” and is closely associated with abortion. For more about abortion, check out these additional resources.

Use of the word “rights” indicates the legal aspect of fair reproductive healthcare access.

Legal access to abortion is a highly politicized issue in American culture today, but this wasn’t always the case. At the founding of the United States, abortion was much easier to attain than today. According to Rickie Solinger in her book “Reproductive Politics”, women could ask any doctor for an abortion until quickening – when the woman felt any movement fetal movement. It wasn’t until 1821 that Connecticut’s predominantly Catholic population moved to outlaw abortion state-wide. By 1910, every state in the union had anti-abortion laws.

In the 1960s, the reproductive rights movement took off and continued on with the formation of many advocacy groups, including the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL Pro-Choice America) and the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA).

Reproductive justice broadens the aforementioned concepts by including economic, social and health factors in the conversation. Issues like steady access to WIC (a public program that helps feed mothers, infants and children), publicly supported child-care, an end to forced or coerced sterilization and comprehensive sex education in schools are all central to reproductive justice. While reproductive health and rights are a necessary foundation, advocates working for reproductive justice understand that a lot more goes into decision-making and autonomy than just those factors.

This more holistic approach was pioneered by women of color. While white women led the fight for abortion rights in the 60s, women of color were working together to ensure that women have more options and approaches to live a balanced life. Jennifer Nelson’s book “Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement” cites many organizations formed by women of color during the women’s movement, including CARASA, the Redstockings, the Third World Women’s Alliance, and the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). Given the importance of these organizations to reproductive justice, I plan to profile some of these groups and their leaders later on in this column.

Genuine Justice is a column about reproductive justice focusing on current events, historical perspectives and racism in women’s healthcare. 

The post Genuine Justice: Reproductive Rights vs. Reproductive Justice appeared first on KRUI Radio.