Sex Education Talk

The sex education talk that was given by Planned Parenthood was by far the best sex education talk that I have ever experienced. What I remember the most from the lecture is all the different types of birth control. For all female birth control there seems to be one main way it works. The birth control pill, patch, or ring all release a drug into the body that does not allow the sperm to travel to the eggs. The female birth control is being constantly developed and improved. The male version however has not changed all that much. It is simply a piece of latex that does not allow the semen to enter the female body. It has not changed all that much in the past fifteen or twenty years. She said as the class was ending that there is a product being tested and developed that is similar to the female birth control that simply stops the semen from containing sperm. By doing this the ability to control pregnancy would be increased greatly. To me the best type of birth control is one that does not need to be used on a regular basis and that is per say forgettable but not permanent.

The lecture related to all the movies and stuff we have been doing in class. During high school the best sex education lecture that children received is that here is a boy and here is a girl, do not you take off each other’s clothes until you are married. There was basically no information given. It is the classic version of an abstinence talk. The movie we watched previously in this class, The Education of Shelby Knox, showed that the children want a better sex education talk and the school system and government does not want to approach the topic. It is a topic that is per say taboo and that the general population does not want to have to think about. The unfortunate side effect of this is that more and more teens are getting pregnant and AIDS is spreading more rapidly. The sex talk that was presented to our class is what is needed in schools today. By presenting teenagers with the necessary knowledge about their body and the risks that are associated with sexual activity it gives teens a fighting chance of understanding without getting hurt. The comparison between what is accepted as the normal for sex education in schools today and what needs to be presented to students as the normal is like trying to compare apples and oranges. There is really no way to compare them. Abstinence talks, while it pleases the loud minority, does not help the vast, softer spoken, majority of the population that knows that it needs to change. The belief that teens are not going to have sex until they are married is in all reality a dream. It is never going to happen. The hormones and curiosity of that age are too overwhelming for every teen in the country to not have sex. The talk needs to change so that teens are able to understand the side effects of their actions before they occur.

One example of this is that the abstinence sex talks imply/ inform people that there is only one form of sex. This is not true. While this is the only type of sex that you can become pregnant from, it is not the only form of sexually activity. Other forms include oral and anal sex. Neither of which will cause you to become pregnant but can cause you to receive sexually transmitted disease. This is something that most teens would be/ are unaware of because they were never told, and via experimentation you would never know that you had a disease. Other things that the speaker talked about that is not discussed in the normal talks are stuff about the male and female body. About how similar the two bodies are. Also, that the reproductive tract of a female takes up no more than the size of your hand. The differences are endless and it is all saying the same thing. Give a better talk so that teens will be correctly educated.