Sex education leaves teens vulnerable to sexual assault
The way sex education is taught in a school setting leaves young adults vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
Education
Sex
Sexuality
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Context
When sexual activity becomes normalised at a young age, children and young teens believe that they are engaging in consensual sexual activity when, in reality, they are being sexually assaulted.
The Argument
Between 1997 and 2013, more than 1,400 children in Rotherham were groomed and abused by multiple adults in a paedophile ring. Among the victims were children as young as eleven-years-old.
These girls, in many cases, were under the impression they were in loving relationships with men involved in the paedophile ring.
When these older men engaged in sexual activity with them, they believed they were having consensual sex with an older sexual partner. In reality, they were being systematically groomed and sexually abused.[1]
Had these children not been exposed to sexual themes from a young age, and had sex normalised through comprehensive sex education classes at school, they may have been more aware that what was happening to them was alarming.
Counter arguments
A comprehensive sex education program that deals with both the legal and social definitions of consent does not leave children more vulnerable; it protects them from abuse.
In an ideal world, these girls would have been taught that consensual sex cannot take place between an adult and a child and that any adult that engages in sexual activity with them is abusing them.
They would also have been made aware of the dangers of grooming and how to identify adults who are behaving inappropriately with them.
It was not the fact that the children were exposed to sex education in school that left them vulnerable, it was that the sex education they received was inadequate.
When taught effectively, a thorough and comprehensive sex education program empowers young adults to protect themselves against exploitation.
Proponents
Premises
[P1] When children learn about sex in school it becomes normalised.
[P2] They then believe that it is a normal part of teen and pre-teen life.
[P3] This impairs their ability to identify sexual abuse.
[P4] Therefore, sex education should be kept out of schools.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P3] Comprehensive sex education programs heighten children and teens' ability to detect sex education.