Across the United States, the majority of adolescent children receive some form of sex education before graduating high school. Sexual education units of classes are taught in two ways; comprehensively and abstinence-only. Comprehensive sexual education covers abstinence as an option, but teaches a generally wider array of sexual health options, like contraceptives and ways to avoid sexually transmitted infections. Abstinence-only education, however, teaches students that engaging in sexual activity prior to marriage is morally wrong, and these students are generally not informed of contraceptive options. Abstinence-only education is frequently backed by religious groups and taught in states where religion is dominant within school systems.
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Girls are taught far more than boys from a young age that their worth is based on their sexuality and that their sexuality ought to be limited, their sexual thoughts nonexistent. Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth and founder of the popular feminist blog, Feministing, says in her book that the “...idea at play here is that of ‘morality.’ When young women are taught about morality, there’s not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens” (x). As a society, we teach girls disproportionally to men that their value and their “self respect” should not be based on the content of their characters but rather their decision to not act upon their natural, sexual impulses. This is a violation of their moral rights and innate abilities to choose the best sexual courses for themselves without fear of pressure or …show more content…
McClain, a professor of law at Boston University and well-published feminist legal theorist, wrote an essay entitled “Some ABC’s of Feminist Sex Education” in which she sets forth “basic liberal feminist framework for sex education” and “contrasts such a framework with the conservative sexual economy of ‘abstinence-only’ sex education” (McClain 63). McClain suggests that liberal feminists should combat the ritualized religious chokehold on public policy by educating the nation’s youth comprehensively. She suggests that we focus on “capacity, equality, and responsibility” in order to educate adolescents about sex, rather than imposing a restrictive national standard on the discussion of sex and giving funding to abstinence-only education. Similarly to Irvine, McClain asserts that the religious narrative of sexual education has perpetuated the stereotype of women as “gatekeepers” of sex and that society’s narrative of sex also denotes sexuality to danger and
Girls are taught far more than boys from a young age that their worth is based on their sexuality and that their sexuality ought to be limited, their sexual thoughts nonexistent. Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth and founder of the popular feminist blog, Feministing, says in her book that the “...idea at play here is that of ‘morality.’ When young women are taught about morality, there’s not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens” (x). As a society, we teach girls disproportionally to men that their value and their “self respect” should not be based on the content of their characters but rather their decision to not act upon their natural, sexual impulses. This is a violation of their moral rights and innate abilities to choose the best sexual courses for themselves without fear of pressure or …show more content…
McClain, a professor of law at Boston University and well-published feminist legal theorist, wrote an essay entitled “Some ABC’s of Feminist Sex Education” in which she sets forth “basic liberal feminist framework for sex education” and “contrasts such a framework with the conservative sexual economy of ‘abstinence-only’ sex education” (McClain 63). McClain suggests that liberal feminists should combat the ritualized religious chokehold on public policy by educating the nation’s youth comprehensively. She suggests that we focus on “capacity, equality, and responsibility” in order to educate adolescents about sex, rather than imposing a restrictive national standard on the discussion of sex and giving funding to abstinence-only education. Similarly to Irvine, McClain asserts that the religious narrative of sexual education has perpetuated the stereotype of women as “gatekeepers” of sex and that society’s narrative of sex also denotes sexuality to danger and