The Need For Age Appropriate And Medically Accurate Comprehensive Sex Education

I will be blunt. People are having sex. Lots of it. The first piece of evidence for this is our world population. The world's population has increased from around 0. 9 billion in 1800 to 3 billion in 1960 to 7. 4 billion in 2015. That is a lot of people and we know that in to make more people the easiest most direct way is for people to have sex. This brings me to my next point: teens are having sex. Yes, if you have a teen at home, chances are he or she is having sex. In fact, in a survey from 2009 released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found that 46% of all high schools teens reported having had sexual intercourse. Additionally, the National Center for Health Statistics release data from a study where 42 % of females ages 15-19 and 43% of males ages 15-19 reported having had sexual intercourse. Thus, as these surveys suggest, folks are have sex including teens. This is why I strongly believe that Fresno County school districts should mandate age appropriate and medically accurate comprehensive sex education.

One would assume, with so many people having sex, the ramifications of sex would be much more clear for people to understand, specially for teens. Sex is messy, both literally and figuratively. It comes with a number of benefits as well a with a number of possible negative outcomes. Besides sex being a means by which to attain physical pleasure, it has many other functions in the ways we relate to others. Sex can be an essential way by which people can attain intimacy and fulfillment in a romantic relationship, and it can be the means by which to form a family. However, there are negative consequences that can be a result of having sex without a solid knowledge base about sex. These consequences include unplanned pregnancy, particularly teen pregnancies, and contracting a sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV with can lead to AIDS. This are problems that are particularly prominent in the Central Valley of California as it was highlighted by Fresno Bee Reported Mackenzie Mays in her 2017 series “Too Young?”. According to Mays’ reporting half of the 10 counties with the highest teen birth rates in California are located in the Central Valley. Moreover, Fresno County had the second highest and the third highest rates of syphilis and chlamydia, respectively, in California. This is particularly critical here in the valley when you pair these statistics and the fact that in 2011 the Fresno school administrators cut sex education classes to balance their budgets.

In order to better address the importance of age appropriate and medically accurate comprehensive sexual education we have to specifically define what these terms mean. In 2015, the state of California signed into law the California Healthy Youths Act which mandated that all school districts provide comprehensive sexual education. This is significant because it helped define some important terms that are necessary when discussion sexual health and education. First of all, “age appropriate” was defined as “topics, messages, and teaching methods suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group. ”

Next, “medically accurate” can be defined as “verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in peer-reviewed journals, where appropriate, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ” Lastly, “comprehensive sexual health education” can be defined as “education regarding human development and sexuality, including education on pregnancy, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections”. Now that these terms have been more closely defined we can begin to understand how a comprehensive sexual health education can adequately equip teens and their allies, and help address some of the disparities we see in our communities. This includes the higher rates of teen pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections in the Central Valley. According to the California Department of Public Health, the births rates for females ages 15-19 was 17. 6 for every 1, 000 females statewide. This compared with the birth rates in 2000 of 46. 7 births for every 1, 000 females of the same age group illustrates a dramatic decrease in teen pregnancies statewide.

However, when juxtaposed with the birth rates for Fresno County a stark disparity can be seen. Although the teen birth rate has seen significant drops in Fresno County as it has in the rest of the state it still remains significantly higher when compared to the statewide average. In 2015, according to the California Department of Public Health, the birth rates for females ages 15-19 in Fresno County was 29. 1 births for every 1, 000 females. This makes Fresno County the county with the 9th highest teen birth rates in the state of California. In 2011 the Fresno schools administrators cut sex education classes for their curriculum citing financial reason, this fact in conjunction with the significantly higher rates in teen births in Fresno County helps highlight a gap that can be filled with comprehensive sexual health education that has the potential to help lower teen birth in Fresno County and eliminate the disparities highlighted by the data. A sexually transmitted infection, or STI is an infection transmitted by sexual contact cause by a virus, bacteria, or parasite as defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The most prevalent infections include: chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. Anyone engaging in any sexual activity is as risk to contract or spread these infections. STIs like Chlamydia and gonorrhea can be easily treated with antibiotic but often go on treated due to absence of symptoms which can lead to long-term problems like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Other STIs can cause much more severe and long-term complications if they go undiagnosed like syphilis and HIV. In 2017 Fresno County was ranked the county with the sixth highest rate of Chlamydia in the state. In 2016 there were 6, 447 cases of Chlamydia reported to the California Public Health Department with an incidence rates of 652. 5 per every 100, 000. There was a higher incidence of the infection in women compared to men with a higher incidence rate seen in females between ages 15-29 with the highest incidence rate of over 3000 per 100, 000 in females ages 20-24. Moreover, Fresno County had the highest rate of Chlamydia in females ages 15-24 in all of California. It is interesting to note that the majority of these women would have been of high school age sometime on or after the Fresno schools administrator cut sex education classes in Fresno County schools. Although there is no evidence this is a cause and effect relationship; it is an important correlation to note.

Syphilis is a STI that can be divided into 4 stages primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary and can lead to significant complications that affect multiple organs including the heart, brian and eyes if left untreated. Additionally, syphilis can be transmitted to newborns during childbirth resulting in congenital syphilis. According to the California Department of Public Health in 2017, Fresno County was ranked to have the fourth highest rate of early syphilis, which includes primary, secondary and latent syphilis. In 2017 Fresno County was also ranked to have the highest incidence rate of congenital syphilis in all California counties. A total of 60 cases were reported in Fresno County in 2017, an increase four times that of the number of cases in 2013 which was only 14. The incidence rate for congenital syphilis was 396. 9 per 100, 000 live births in 2017. According to the California Department of Public Health in 2017, Fresno County was ranked to have the ninth highest rate of gonorrhea. In 2016 there were a total of 1, 987 reported in Fresno County with an incidence rate of 201. 1 per every 100, 000. There was a higher incidence rate of the infection in men compared to women with the higher rate seen in males ages 20-34 with the highest incidence rate of almost 800 per 100, 000 in males ages 25-29. Together chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most common types of sexually transmitted infections reported among teens and young adults. These statistics are a strong reminder that there is a significant gap in the level of access to comprehensive sexual health education in communities like Fresno County that acknowledges the fact that teens and young adults are having sex.

Considering the high rates of teen pregnancy and the high rates of STIs an important question one should ask is: what do teens actually know about sex? In 2017 the Fresno Bee conducted a survey of 160 Fresno Unified high school students. The survey was anonymous and voluntary. In the survey, 70 percent said they did not feel comfortable talking to teachers about sex and 60 percent said the they did not feel comfortable talking to their parents about sex. If they are not comfortable taking to teachers and parents who are teens talking to or getting information about sex from then? Well, it turns out the majority are getting their information about sex from their friends, TV, or online. In fact, in the Fresno Bee survey 40 percent of student cited friends as their source and 35 percent cited TV or the internet. Only 13 percent cited school and 8 percent cited their parents. This Fresno Bee survey seems consistent with the statistic about teen pregnancy and STI rate in Fresno County. Moreover, in the same survey, 40 percent of Fresno Unified high school students surveyed reported having had sex at least once and 31 percent said they had had unprotected sex. Moreover, as part of their “Too Young?” series the Fresno Bee set up “listening posts” at local youth programs to get statement from students about what they were learning in school about sexual health and what they wish they could learn about. One said statement was from a 19 year in Visalia who explained the majority of her learning materials and textbooks were out of date and she shared being taught slogans such as “Keep your rocket in your pocket” and “No dingy before the ringy” but never received any resources on how to have safer sex. Surprisingly, she share an anecdote where she asked her mother if she would be willing to talk to her about sex to assess how her mother would approach the topic but was only told “Just wait until you’re married and then I’ll tell you. It’s very easy. ”

It is clear that the hurdles to promote a more knowledge based approach to sex by teens are high as illustrated by this young woman's experience. However, if we expect to make strives to lower the disparities in teenage pregnancies and the high incidence rates of STI in our communities. There needs to be a community base solution that takes place at the ground level and is community driven.

In conclusion, people are having sex. Teens are having sex. Avoiding or pretending this facts are not real has only lead to the Central Valley and Fresno County having some the highest rates of teenage pregnancies. It has also lead to disportionately elevated rates of sexually transmitted infections when compared to the statewide average. The Fresno Bee Editorial Board put it best in their December 10, 2017 Editorial: “we’ve failed our children by neglecting sex education” and if we continue to deny the importance of age appropriate and medically accurate comprehensive sexual health education we will continue to fail our children.