Sex Education: Understanding the Western Model

Abstract

Sex education, loosely refers to some form of information pertaining to human sexuality which may include the sexual anatomy, sexual activity, reproduction, reproductive health, reproductive rights, safe sex, age of consent, birth control and sexual abstinence, etc. Sex education may encompass some or all of the above mentioned areas of study. Traditionally, some sexual information was provided to the adolescents, mostly prior to their marriage by their parents. In the late 19th century, sex education in some form was initiated in the schools in the western world. However, the sex education so imparted not only lacked proper structure and factual information but also was provided inconsistently. With the outbreak of AIDS and a staggering rise in the number of teenage pregnancies in the west, increased importance was started to be laid on sex education. Since then, various countries have adopted various models of sex education with various levels of success and failure.