When
Dr. MB first asked the class what we would change about the world to make it a
better place, what seemed like a thousand ideas unloaded into my brain. Of
course, there were the obvious answers: equality for everyone, the dismantling
of various oppressions, etc. Unfortunately, how easily doable are these? What
is the likelihood that I would still be alive to see these be achieved in my
lifetime? The “what” and “why” questions are easy but the “how” is more
complex. “How” includes massive re-education and un-learning of oppressive
ideas and thoughts, as well as a complete reworking of our political and
economic systems. It seemed like aiming a bit too high for a class exercise.
Instead,
I decided to tackle something that was a little more attainable in the near
future. I think this world would be better with a more comprehensive sex
education program that is available to all.
Many
people do not have a proper sex education, whether this is because they were
taught abstinence-only sex-ed (where the students are taught only to practice
abstinence, instead of teaching them about safe sex, or STIs, or their own
reproductive organs, or the fundamentals of how and what sex is) or if their
sex-ed program is just not up to par. Many problems stem from these program
failures, including, but not limited to: higher rates or teenage pregnancy,
higher rates of STIs, guilt and shame surrounding sex, confusion about sexuality
and in particular non-heterosexual sexualities, higher rates of sexual assault
and rape due to mis-education of what consent is and isn’t, and confusion about
gender.
To
bring sex education up to a higher standard, we should begin by educating the
sex educators. While there are some sex education teachers who are
knowledgeable in this area, there are many schools and learning environments
where this is untrue. If we want to teach our children better sex ed, we have
to start by teaching the adults, especially those who will be passing this
information on to our youth. Next we need to do away with abstinence only education.
While abstinence should still be presented as an option to the students, it can’t
be the only option. Lastly, we need to start instilling in children from a very
young age the ideas of consent and respecting others’ bodies. By simply
teaching children that no means no and that any kind of physical touch should
be stopped when asked or when someone is expressing discomfort via body
language will teach children the fundamentals of consent.
I
think that these changes will greatly benefit our society and will be instrumental
as a stepping stone towards the larger goals I mentioned at the beginning of
this post. While things like equality and getting rid of oppression are very
important, I don’t think these are goals that one can achieve on their own. It
is through smaller goals put forth by individuals that will get us to that much
better place. Which is not to say that people can’t or shouldn’t focus on
several different causes at once, but that we need to take the smaller steps to
achieve our goal of a better society.
And now that my post title has got this song in your head, here you go:
