Sex Education, Please

It's a sad headline in the Times today: Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls. And when you break down the numbers, the implications become more serious. Half of all black girls surveyed were infected--as opposed to 20% of white girls.

Why is this happening? One of the biggest reasons is lack of information. In a country where our backwards government will only fund abstinence-only sex education (a better name would be sex misinformation), teenagers are not getting access to information about sex and sexually transmitted infections. They are not told the symptoms of the diseases they are at risk at, not told how to get help if they become infected, nor are they told how to prevent infection (latex condoms are the best protection.)

Telling teenagers not to have sex, particularly in a world where sex is everywhere, is not effective. Teenagers will have sex, they have done so since the beginning of human civilization. The best sex education is one that explains the risks and gives them the knowledge to make the best decisions for themselves and the tools to protect themselves.