Written by Noa Fragneau
February 2, 2020
A sexual education class is defined as “a school course about sexual reproduction and sexual feelings”. Within the Québec curriculum, students are taught about sexual growth and body image, identity, gender stereotypes and roles, and social norms, as well as sexual assault, pregnancy and birth, and sexually transmissible and blood-borne infections. Teachers are required to teach sexual education for about 5 to 15 hours per year, but five hours is definitely not enough to teach all the content mentioned previously, integrate every student, work with parents and/or caretakers, and make sure all students leave the classroom understanding what everything is. Now, as a future teacher, I refuse to let my students open a secret sexual health clinic (as depicted in the Netflix series Sexual Education) because they think they cannot trust and rely on me or my colleagues to educate them.
One thing that makes it hard for teachers and students to rely on effective sexual education programs is how inconsistent they are throughout the country. If we look at how these programs vary by province and what should be known at what age, there are irregularities regarding certain topics such as gender identity, birth control, and STI’s. Students are expected to learn about these subjects at different ages and different grades, without even knowing for sure if they will be taught about everything in depth. At this point, I am perplexed how and why such an important subject is being treated so poorly. Do Canadians really think students do not need sexual education? Do they really believe all the myths and think it is best not to educate them about their own bodies and what they can do to take care of themselves? It does not surprise me that people think sexual education encourages kids to have sexual experiences earlier, that it is solely about sex, that it should be taught by parents, and that it is not appropriate at a young age. These myths are based on a poor educational system. Shouldn’t we give students all the tools and information needed for them to be safe, protected, and educated on consent early on rather than hiding it all from them in the hope that they will make the “right” choices when they encounter such a situation? Shouldn’t sexual education be taught by someone outside of home in a comfortable and non-biased way? Shouldn’t we give students what they are entitled to instead of a program where teachers feel uncomfortable starting a class discussion about it due to a lack of resources?
I do think we should do more for our students and I wish more had been done for me when I was in elementary and high school back in France. I do not remember learning about consent, protection and birth control, or what the female body looked like, as we mostly talked about the male body. The LGBTQ+ community was not mentioned at all, and neither were STIs or gender identity, therefore creating non-inclusive classrooms. All this seems crazy to me because without education, kids try to seek information elsewhere in unregulated ways. I know this because I did it, as did my friends when we had questions. For example, many teenagers watch porn and get brainwashed into thinking it shows the reality of sex when it is actually far from the truth. Without sexual education, porn is one of the only resources kids have easy access to in order to educate themselves sexually – they believe it when it’s the single reference they have. Other examples include the male belief that periods can be “held in”, that women do not orgasm if it is not vaginal, or even that vaginas stretch out after sexual intercourse, which therefore creates a culture of shaming women for their number of partners.
A lot of the time, conversations between parents and kids are uncomfortable and are cut short to only include the “necessary” information. Some parents do not even have “the talk”, as they think their kids already know enough, leaving them to learn most of it on their own without learning about different perspectives, crucial information, resources they can access if needed, and most importantly, without learning about being in a safe space where they feel supported and accepted. Truthfully, it is noticeable how sexual education is not a priority in Canada, France, and in other countries too, because it is treated as a sensitive issue which leads us to tiptoe around it. As a future teacher, I refuse to act as if this is normal and good enough for my future students. We need to review the curriculum and programs to ensure they are up to date. We need to provide resources to teachers, and to monitor teachers to make sure they are not skimming through the content. If these initiatives are taken, change can occur and students can access a better, more consistent, and high quality sexual education program.
We had a discussion in my Language Arts class a couple weeks ago about how the Education faculty does not have any courses about how to teach sexual education to our future students. As future teachers, no one tells us how to be comfortable teaching the curriculum, how to work with the students’ families especially when disagreements happen, what resources are available, and most importantly, how to commence better sexual education programming than what has been done so far nationwide. Yes, we do have great courses at McGill, but nothing about sexual education – I feel this should be a requirement! This just shows how deep this vicious circle is because as long as we don’t have programs teaching us about being well-rounded school teachers, it will be harder to change things once we are actually in the classrooms ourselves. It feels like we are being thrown out into the field and whatever sexual education we have time to teach, however we teach it, and whenever we teach it is fine as long as we complete all other requirements. McGill does have great resources like the Shag Shop, some workshops, nurses to talk to, and peer support, which feels as if they are doing their best to offer students support. However, this effort is not enough to break this poor sexual education routine in place.
Providing a good program to all students will, according to Action Canada, increase the use of condoms and contraception, reduce sexual risk-taking and increase management of situations when they arise, increase their knowledge of STIs, HIV, and pregnancy but also improve knowledge of rights and respect they ought to have within sexual relationships. Therefore, we will be able to give quality classes to our students because that is what they deserve. Children should all be able to benefit from those 5 to 15 hours, knowing they were provided with everything they need to be safe. However, Ontario allowing parents to pull kids out during sexual education classes proves that we still have a lot to do before we can make real progress. Ontario’s policy only puts kids at greater risk by not being able to learn alongside their classmates, therefore leading to the thinking that it is not that important if no one discusses sexual education at all. After all, having a comprehensive sexual education is recognized as a human right by several international human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. How come it is still of inconsistent and poor quality globally?
All in all, sexual education should be provided from teachers who have the knowledge, skills, resources, and who are inclusive with all students.This has to start the moment teachers are being trained, and not once they have been working for ten years. The cycle cannot be broken until teachers are trained properly. Until then, the inconsistent programming will lead students to seek answers for themselves. I believe they deserve better. I believe my childhood deserved better. So, let’s remember that #SexEdSavesLives, especially when fighting gender-based violence, lowering STI rates, having fewer unplanned pregnancies, and helping create safer and more inclusive environments for all.
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