Sexuality education goes by a lot of names. Most teens know it as “sex ed,” “health class” or “life skills.” It’s also sometimes called “family life education.” Basically, it is a course that teaches you about sexuality. You may have heard the following two types of programs mentioned in the media or experienced them at your own school:

Abstinence-Only or Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

This type of program generally teaches students that premarital sex can be dangerous to their physical and psychological health. Most people who support abstinence-only programs believe that if you teach teens about birth control and safer sex, it sends them the message that “sex is OK.” These programs usually eliminate any discussions of condoms or safer sex, unless it’s to discuss failure rates of various methods, and treat topics like homosexuality and masturbation as unacceptable.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

This type of sex ed provides a positive view of sexuality as a natural part of human development. It teaches skills to help people remain abstinent, while also teaching about pregnancy and disease protection and how to take care of your sexual health and make healthy, responsible sexual decisions. Comprehensive sex ed considers homosexuality and masturbation to be normal aspects of human sexuality. Sex, Etc. is a good example of comprehensive sexuality education.

Each state makes its own decision about whether and how to teach sexuality education. From there, local school districts decide what kind of sex ed to teach.

If you want to find out what kind of sexuality education program is being taught at your school, ask your health teacher or principal, or use this document to evaluate your sex ed class.

At this point, you may have decided that you need to change the current sex ed program at your school. If so, then download our Roadmap: A Teen Guide to Changing Your School’s Sex Ed.

What is the sex ed program like at your school, and do you think it’s effective? Talk to us and share your story on our Web site.