Abstract
From its beginning, sexual education in the United States has been widely debated by scholars, educators, parents, and policymakers. Almost everyone has an opinion on what the curriculum should include, as well as how and when it should be taught. In earlier days, the population these decisions affected the most, the youth, were not included in this conversation; however, contemporary literature has begun to make up for this shortcoming. Much of the work in this field focused on students’ perceptions and thoughts on how sex education programs in their schools serve them. Scholars found the typical models of sex education today omit an often-silenced group: LGBTQ+ youth. This omittance proved to have detrimental effects on the sexual and mental well-being of this population, such as a higher risk of sexually transmitted infections, intimate partner violence, and higher rates of suicide and substance abuse. This review highlights the ways current sex education curricula fail sexual minorities and illustrates how this exclusion perpetuates social inequality of the LGBTQ+ community.
Recommended Citation
Sage Burdge, Arcadia University
(2019)
"Queering Sex Ed: The Need for Inclusivity in Sexual Education Curricula,"
The Compass: Vol. 1:
Iss.
6, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/thecompass/vol1/iss6/4