Sex Ed in Public Schools

In discussing the issue of Sexual Education in Public Schools I have found that the current approach, specifically the abstinence-only curriculum of several states, abridges the positive liberties of students in several ways. The specific imposition I would like to focus on in this piece is the way that teaching abstinence-only oppresses women more than men and feeds a culture that expects women to bear the brunt of the responsibility for a pregnancy rather than men. These programs abridge women’s positive liberty by encouraging stereotypes of submission and inequality.

Many of these Sexual Education programs reinforce harmful gender stereotypes that place a disproportionate amount of responsibility on women to achieve abstinence by characterizing them as more naturally chaste and ascribing uncontrollable impulses to men. Sex Ed programs need to hold men to the same standard as women or they are subordinating women’s freedoms with an undue burden. This is a common tactic which I pointed out in my Vindication on the Rights of Women when I wrote, “Men, indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner when they try to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood”(Wollstonecraft).

This demeaning stereotype permeates into discussions about safe sex. Since abstinence is taught as the primary method of avoiding pregnancy, these courses do not adequately cover contraception, protection from STDs and consent. Simultaneously, women are portrayed as more submissive sexually and can be made to feel uncomfortable about broaching the topic of safe sex with their partners which leads to an increase in both teen pregancy and the spread of STDs. Abstinence only programs tend to induce shame in students who participate in sexual activity and disproportionately shame women for promiscuity. This aspect makes young women less likely to purchase and carry contraceptives and feeds into the false idea that women bear more responsibility for abstinence than men. Portraying women as submissive in this context is harmful because it creates a false sense of inequality with men. This false sense of inequality is paired with the relative excuse of men from being held accountable for their sexual actions because they are portrayed as uncontrollable, creating a dangerous environment for women.

This type of stereotype also allows extrapolations that can be used to unfairly downplay rape and sexual harassment. When women are portrayed as submissive and not properly educated about consent, while men are excused from much of their responsibility, a twisted subjecting power dynamic is created that puts women in danger. This curriculum must be changed to encourage sexual equality and protect women’s positive liberties in the bedroom.