Why our current sex ed curriculum needs an overhaul
This guest post is from Gemma Wilson. Gemma is a PhD Student in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney, and a Sexual Assault Survivor and Advocate. In this post Gemma outlines some of the critical elements of comprehensive sex education missing from our current sex ed curriculum. She begins by summarising some of the key recommendations for sex ed curriculum according to UNESCOs International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education - a fantastic resource that informs our consent education framework here at Learning Consent.
According to UNESCO’s International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, comprehensive sex ed is critical for preparing and protecting young people from sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, gendered and sexuality based violence and general sexism (1). Contrary to popular belief, studies have concluded that curriculum-based sex ed leads to delayed initiation of sexual intercourse, decreased frequency of sexual intercourse, decreased number of sexual partners, reduced risk taking and increased use of safer sex approaches (1, 2). Moreover, experts insist that correct implementation of sex ed prevents and reduces gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and discrimination, and increases equitable gender norms while encouraging stronger and healthier relationships (2). Therefore, if prevention of sexual violence is achieved via the implementation of comprehensive sex ed, in light of Australia’s alarming and increasing sexual assault allegations, it is evident that our current education is failing us.
But where exactly is the current syllabus failing us? UNESCO recommends that sex ed be a part of a holistic multi-sector approach to encourage young people to learn about sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing in a range of settings and contexts to lead to wider community outcomes including gender equality and improved self-identity (2). However, UNESCO states that the ongoing success of these programs is dependent on regular assessment. Both the health impacts (eg. STI and pregnancy rates) and non-health impacts (eg. gender-based violence) of sex ed programs need to be assessed through both qualitative and quantitative processes to highlight contextual and implementation factors and limitations (3).
Since 1992, the Australian government has funded The National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health to gather statistics on secondary school students’ sexual health knowledge and practices. While the National study is great for collecting data on students’ sexual health and knowledge, it does not evaluate the non-health impacts of the curriculum. One evident gap in the study was the lack of correlation between consent education and lived experience.
The survey results reveal an alarming 36.8% of female secondary students had experienced “unwanted sex” at least once (4). Of the total 28.4% of students (male, female or transgender) who had experienced “unwanted sex”, 75.8% were female (4). The proportion of these which were non-consensual is unknown, given the survey did not explicitly refer to forced or coerced sexual experiences, nor did it list force or coercion as possible “reasons for unwanted sex” in the follow up question (4).
Possible responses to the next question asking why the students had unwanted sex included “I was too drunk at the time”, “I was too high at the time”, “my partner thought I should”, “my friends thought I should” and “I was frightened”. Majority of students (51.5%) answered “my partner thought I should”, but since “my partner forced me to”, “my partner coerced me” and “my partner assaulted me” were not listed as possible answers, it is difficult to deduce how the sex ed syllabus has impacted the students’ ability to detect sexual assault and whether a lack of perceived learning is correlated with lived experience.
Furthermore, while the two responses regarding alcohol and drug intoxication could be true reasons for engaging in unwanted sex, they are also a harrowing reflection of a victim blaming society since most sexual assaults occur while the victim is under the influence.
Despite the fact that sex ed is compulsory in Australia, only 53.7% of participants said they had ever used school sex ed programs as a source of information (8). This highlights that despite having these programs in place, students are either not engaging with the content or the content is not relevant to the realities of their sexual experiences.
In terms of general feedback, 29.9% of participants noted that they wanted more same-sex attraction and gender diverse identities inclusive sex ed, 17.2% of participants discussed the need for more information about consent and relationships and 14.2% of participants wanted pleasure and sex positivity to be a greater focus in sexuality education (5).
Will the government consider these requests? Unlikely. To date, there has been no official investigation into Australian school leavers’ perceived learning of sex ed topics and the impact this has had on both health and on non-health outcomes. With respect to UNESCOs request to consider the non-health impacts of sex ed rather than the health-impacts alone, an investigation into the effectiveness of the current sex ed syllabus for preparing young Australians for relevant life experiences is urgently required. Watch this space :)
References:
1. UNESCO. International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators. Second ed. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); 2009.
2. UNESCO. Review of the Evidence on Sexuality Education. Report to inform the update of the UNESCO International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, Developed by Paul Montgomery and Wendy Knerr. Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention (CEBI), Department of Social Policy and Intervention: University of Oxford; 2016.
3. UNESCO. International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education Second ed. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); 2018.
4. Fisher CM, Waling, A., Kerr, L., Bellamy, R., Ezer, P., Mikolajczak, G., Brown, G., Carman, M. & Lucke, J. National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2018. Bundoora: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society: La Trobe University; 2019.
5. Waling A, Fisher C, Ezer P, Kerr L, Bellamy R, Lucke J. “Please Teach Students that Sex is a Healthy Part of Growing Up”: Australian Students’ Desires for Relationships and Sexuality Education. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 2020.
