As an academic leader in higher education and a public health practitioner, I wanted to have a better understanding of what the nation and California’s policies are on sex education before students reach college – so a focus on middle school and high school curriculum. What I found was eye-opening. With no federal mandate in place, states are left to their own devices to create and fund curricula on sex ed. Sadly, what exists is a perplexing patchwork of policies that would have any seasoned policymaker scratching their head.
Staying true to its progressive form, California stands nearly alone in its enactment of mandated curriculum around sex ed and HIV prevention education to middle and high school students. But these policies are relatively new. The California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA) was enacted on January 1, 2016, by the California Department of Education, and it “requires school districts to ensure that all pupils in grades seven to twelve, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education.”
The Act emphasizes the importance of protecting sexual and reproductive health, developing healthy attitudes, promoting safe relationships, and fostering an understanding of sexuality as a normal part of human development. importance of protecting sexual and reproductive health, developing healthy attitudes, promoting safe relationships, and fostering an understanding of sexuality as a normal part of human development.
As a researcher who studies health equity, CHYA seems like a fair and logical mandate – one that you would assume other states would want to emulate. This is simply not the case.
I’ll start with the positive. Thirty-nine states have mandates around sex education or HIV education. Now with the negative. This means 11 states have absolutely no requirements to teach their young this crucial information. Only 18 of those 39 states require that the sex education provided be medically, factually, or technically accurate. Only 10 states require instruction to be appropriate for a student’s cultural background and ensure that it is not biased against any race, sex, or ethnicity.
In a 2020 publication in the Journal of Adolescent Health, which analyzed over 80 peer-reviewed studies: Comprehensive sex education offers students much more than just preventing sexually transmitted infections. Students shared that after receiving science-based sex and HIV prevention education, they 1) experienced reduced homophobic bullying, 2) learned how to prevent dating and intimate partner violence, and 3) improved their knowledge related to personal safety and touch. This is astounding.
Let’s look a little further into the impact of these findings. If students can avoid early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, sexual abuse, and interpersonal violence and harassment – all while feeling safe and supported within their school and among their peers – they are more likely to experience academic success and future stability. I can’t think of better reasons why all states would not mandate comprehensive sex education and HIV prevention in middle and high school.
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I am concerned that we have entered an anti-science era in our society. This erosion of trust in science, institutions, and government agencies has now extended into an area crucial for the development of responsible citizens and for shaping a healthier society.
While California champions progressive policies, there are still misconceptions and resistance in our own state surrounding comprehensive sex education. As Californians, it’s incumbent upon us to stay informed and stand against this anti-science movement, promote scientific literacy, and champion the importance of comprehensive sex education in shaping a brighter future for all.
What can we do about this? The first step is to vote. We must choose leaders who make decisions based on evidence and data. Leaders who will usher in policies and programs that improve our society’s health literacy and scientific thinking so that we stop the anti-science movement from eroding our society.
Bernadette Boden-Albala is the director and founding dean of the UC Irvine Program in Public Health and is a social epidemiologist with more than 25 years of experience researching social determinants of health.