Sex Education: An Area for Debate in the Internet Age

In the age of technology we often turn to the internet and other forms of technology to educate, especially on the topics that many want to avoid in the school system such as Sex Education. I am not sure if this is the case in the United Kingdom, but it sure is here in the United States. That being said, the National Health Services is now under fire for offering ‘grossly inappropriate’ sexual materials to underage youth through the development of a new website and smartphone app.

For youth age 13 and over, the program offers anatomical depictions of the human body and sexual organs, a sex dictionary of slang terms, and a question and answer section. Based off of the Netherland’s sexual education program, which is more liberal and includes not only the physical and biological facts but also the facts of pleasure, this new program is getting large amounts of negative feedback. Those against it are stating that the information offered is unnecessary, inappropriate, grossly irresponsible, encouraging an “unhealthy obsession with physical acts”, and condoning of sexual experimentation from underaged youth.

Having done research into the field of sexuality for several years I have to disagree with the above sentiments. Youth need appropriate education to not make mistakes, and to know what to expect. They need to have an understanding of their own bodies and others, which allows for (in my opinion) enhanced respect in sexual relationships. I agree with these sentiments stated in the article: “It would be naïve to think that many young people are not regularly accessing far more explicit material and if we want to give them access to relevant information, we have to move with the times – 53 per cent of ten-year-olds have accessed some kind of porn on the internet.It is far better that we provide accurate information for them which is easily accessible and monitored by professionals.”

In the technology age, there are far more nasty and inappropriate ‘education’ out there that could be easily accessed so I fully agree in a government combating that in an effort to provide information. To me, they’ve done a good job of offering a platform for this which has been youth tested, and uses age appropriate tools and lingo but of course there will still be negativity surrounding it. Many people still view sexuality and sex education as a personal issue, ignoring that the outcomes of sex (especially the negatives) weigh on us as a national and global society in so many ways.