Sex Sells
Sex is everywhere. It’s in the lyrics of the number one hit song. In an episode of your favourite show. It sits amongst the apps on your phone, taking the form of Tinder or Grindr. It lingers on the lips of your friends when they tell you how their weekend went with him. It watches you from across the bar, with a drink in hand and a lazy smile.
So why is it that speaking about sex in educational terms is such a taboo?
I am sure that everyone will admit, there are certain aspects of sex, sexual relations, and sex-related body parts that they didn’t learn about until long after graduating high school. The educational system is partly to blame for this, but so is a general lack of conversation concerning sex-ed.
Blogs posts and online articles much like this one are, therefore, vital if we are to endorse teaching people how to have sex safely, what to expect, and — above all — to never be ashamed of their bodies. Unfortunately, it has been left to other people, sex-ed endorsers, to ensure that we are all informed on these issues. For instance, if it hadn’t been for a Tumblr post I stumbled across the other day, I may never have known about postpartum bleeding, the passing of blood and clots for up to 6 weeks after giving birth (note to my parents: rest assured, I don’t intend to experience anything like that for some time, but it’s still important to know).
So, with this in mind, I’ve interviewed Sexuality & Relationship Education Workshop volunteer, April Hepworth, to hear her opinion on modern sex awareness.
Q. Why did you decide to get involved in sex education?
April: When I started college I began engaging online with discussions around sexuality; watching Youtube videos by Laci Green and Hannah Witton and doing my own research into women’s sexual experiences and different forms of contraception and period products. I have always maintained a strong feminist ethos and all this new information from powerful young women amazed me, completely changing the way I view my own body and sexuality. It became an area that I was really interested in and passionate about. I now lead our project which aims to create and deliver a sex education curriculum that is more comprehensive and inclusive.
Q. Are there any topics that are often misunderstood or unknown by others?
A.: From my discussions with people, and from my own experience, it is fair to say that pretty much any topic that isn’t the biology of puberty or STI’s is entirely missing from most sex education programmes (and in fact, even the information provided on these is often not complete or totally accurate). Society is ever-changing, yet it appears sex education hasn’t. Crucial topics such as sexual orientation, gender, healthy relationships, consent, nude pictures; all of which we see day-to-day in the media, need to start being talked about in the classroom.
Q. What do you think the most important part of sex education is?
A.: There needs to be a movement away from scaremongering in Britain’s sex education. The topics themselves are all of equal and crucial importance - the emphasis is that we shouldn’t be actively discouraging young people from having sex, but providing them with the information to make informed decisions about how they use their own body, and give them the resources to stay safe in whatever they choose to do.
Q. Do you think sex needs to be talked about more?
A.: Not necessarily. It appears that people are talking about sex everywhere you look in our society: on TV shows, in advertisement, at work, in schools. What needs to change is the way we discuss it and what topics we are discussing, ensuring that everyone feels open and comfortable talking about sex, but also recognising when people aren’t and respecting that.
Q. Do you feel as though schools do enough to teach young children about sex?
A.: For the most part, they do fall short for many reasons out of their control. Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools, therefore there isn’t a national curriculum or standard to which schools can be held accountable for. There is definitely more that they could do. One way which would improve our current sex-ed programmes is ensuring that the teachers delivering sex education classes have had some formal training, either through the school, local government, or one of the many organisations who send in someone trained to teach sex-ed.
After all, you wouldn’t expect an art teacher to be able [to] teach a science lesson, so why would they be any better at teaching sex education?
Another change that would have a big impact on sex education is ending the segregation between what boys and girls are taught. Firstly, and most obviously, a child’s gender or sexuality won’t necessarily align with the assumed cis/straight standard, meaning this specific and exclusive information may not be relevant or helpful to the child. However, in terms of pedagogy it seems absurd to tell a child information which only applies to themselves. For instance, just because we live here, do we only teach British history in our History lessons? Because we are a historically Christian country, do we only teach Christianity in our Religious Studies lessons? Of course not! We learn about Germany, Russia, America; we learn about Islam, Judaism, Sikhism. It’s important to know what’s going on around you and to understand how other people live.
Q. How do you feel about the way sex is portrayed by the media?
A.: The only time it’s a problem is when it’s directed at children, or has misogynistic associations. If that’s not the case then I think it’s smart to use a natural sexual drive to engage people, and it can be a very positive tool. Unfortunately, it is often the case that sex portrayed and used by the media is exploitative and damaging.
With thanks to April Hepworth, Sophie Peace and Ella Nelmes.
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