Sex needs to keep its place in the school curriculum, despite what our politicians think

The Post, November 2023

OPINION: Let’s talk about sex. No one will go up in flames or immediately fall pregnant. In fact, the world will continue to spin, because as a standard part of life, it is not something to hide from, be ashamed of, or tiptoe around for our rangatahi.

Pre-election, discussions around sex education raised questions (and eyebrows), as both Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis took a clear stance that sex education and “sexuality issues” should be dealt with by families in their homes and not in schools.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to consider the gaps in this approach. However, maybe it does take a nudge to reinforce that this topic is too important to be up for debate.

Mental, physical and social wellbeing is prioritised for our youth from a young age in both home and schooling.

At the appropriate ages, we teach them everything there is to know about activities such as driving a car or cooking a meal. We want to ensure they feel safe, informed and empowered to approach these everyday tasks in the correct way, don’t we?

Yet when it comes to sex, a certain societal taboo creates a level of discomfort in providing “the talk” in the same fully rounded way.

The Ministry of Health reveals that approximately half of New Zealanders become sexually active by 17 years of age.

Therefore, fears that sexual education drives rangatahi to promiscuity can be seen as insubstantial, in favour of ensuring that those who are sexually active during their schooling years are entering the situation empowered by their knowledge.

Sex education involves far more than just the birds and the bees, with a broad range of associated topics that are extremely important to cover. In recent years, we’ve seen a necessary evolution to place a larger focus on relationships and sexuality, as well as on anatomy, puberty, consent, contraception, STDs, pornography and pregnancy.

National’s deputy leader, Nicola Willis, told an election campaign meeting that she considered sexual education should be done in the home. Her views were later echoed by her leader, Christopher Luxon.
ROBERT KITCHIN / ROBERT KITCHIN

Sexual wellness not only encompasses all of these aspects of wellbeing, but also feeds back into our mental, physical and social wellness – playing a large part in our overall state of wellbeing.

It is apparent that newer generations of our rangatahi recognise these benefits, with the existing “relationships and sexuality education” curriculum that exists today sought out by students themselves.

Three different petitions from rangatahi between 2017 and 2021 to the New Zealand parliament were instrumental in driving this change, demonstrating that effective sex education is not only needed, but wanted by our students.

This is particularly important given that STIs, teen pregnancy and sexual misconduct occur at a relatively high rate in Aotearoa.

Concerningly, the Ministry of Justice finds that 35% of females and 12% of males in Aotearoa experience assault in their lifetime, with consent and stealthing also remaining problematic and present issues in our society.

High-quality relationship and sex education in schools is found to reduce sexual assault by almost 20%, demonstrating the significant importance of learning how your body works and the standards for consensual and safe practice in sex and relationships.

As a mother, I would never say that parents shouldn’t have the right to supplement their own views into matters where they see fit. However, to ensure that all students are provided with the foundation of knowledge that they deserve, public sex education is the answer to filling this gap.

For our rangatahi that are not well-educated in this area, they will simply seek out the information in other places. Pornography, online, through friends – pick your poison.

Misinformation is arguably just as bad as having no information at all, with a carefully designed school curriculum and the input of parents a much more attractive alternative.

In a society that is making promising progress towards becoming more accepting, open and sex-positive, we need our politicians to reflect these attributes and work to move forwards – not drag us back to the past.