The days of arranged marriages, corsages and holding out until marriage are just about as out of style as top-hats and typewriters; accordingly, relationships and social patterns are continuing to evolve to new levels. In response to social changes, legislation is expected to expand. One example of these changes is the Healthy Youth Act, which, opposition notwithstanding, is a huge step for legislation in moving in the right direction to address the sex habits of today’s youth.
Traditionally, Wisconsin’s public schools have been able to choose whether to teach students sex education and what material to discuss or leave out. A lot of schools in turn gave their students basic lectures about the anatomy of the birds and the bees, along with information about some common STDs. However, a lot of these schools spoke purely in terms of absolute abstinence, with intentions of preventing their middle- and high-school age students from having any sex whatsoever. The material they chose to leave out — how to safely engage in sex — was left to rumors in the hallways and gossip among peers.
Clearly, this approach has not been working well; a recent poll showed 46 percent of students in Dane County had sex before they graduated high school. This is not a majority of students, and not quite a scary or overwhelming statistic, but considering that only 61 percent of these students used a condom, the Healthy Youth Act is highly justified and much needed.
On Feb. 24, Gov. Jim Doyle signed the Healthy Youth Act, which bans abstinence-only sex education in Wisconsin schools. Schools will still have the choice of teaching sex education or completely omitting it from curriculum. Those that decide to teach sex education, however, will no longer be able to do so with this strict abstinence-only approach. Instead, they will be required to teach extensive and accurate information regarding contraceptives and STD prevention. The law also requires that medically accurate and unbiased material be taught to LGBT youth.
Some believe this will only encourage more children to have sex, but that seems unlikely. A couple of hours in a classroom learning about how birth control works or the importance of using a condom is not going to single-handedly convince kids to have sex. Additionally, some believe that toleration of LGBT youth is flat out immoral. Others practice a more protective family atmosphere and believe that sex education is strictly taboo. They strongly oppose sex education in a public school setting due to their beliefs and fear the disruption of morals that some parents have tried so hard to drill into their children. Conversely, since some of the children in these protective families grow up with the perspective that sex is a mysterious thing that needs to be done in a secretive and dangerous manner, this mystery may stir up a desire to investigate the act regardless of what their parents have deemed morally correct.
It’s time to face the facts and accept that sex is a natural part of life and that more kids are having it and will continue to do so, regardless of whether society agrees. This is not a fact to fear, nor is it something to ignore. Placing earmuffs on these students and preventing “healthy sex” from becoming a word in their vocabulary is only hindering social development. This law will provide students with potentially life-saving information and will help them to learn the truth about sex. Students are going to make decisions about sex no matter what. The most we can do as a society is to give them the information and opportunity to make these decisions wisely. I know I’m not alone in my belief that preventing another season of “16 and Pregnant” would be an immense reward in itself.
Perhaps, however, the bill should have gone a step further. It could have included additional clauses mandating that sex education be included in the curriculum of each and every public school, and that this choice in itself should be revoked. Maybe it should have called for an open discussion of sex; if sex was spoken about more positively and openly, maybe these students would lose the spiteful desire to investigate this topic and take matters into their own hands.
Though this bill cannot promise these results nor guarantee that students use proper protection, it has potential to significantly reduce teen pregnancy rates, cases of HIV/AIDS and other unwanted consequences of unprotected sex. Although it is sadly not enough to shut out opposition, it clearly is a huge leap in the right direction.
Katlyn Grinwis ([email protected]) is a sophomore intending to major in journalism.
