STIs and crisp-packet contraception: what I learned from talking about sex in schools

Everyone has a story about crap sex education. My own consisted of a single afternoon in primary school, where a shame-faced stranger haltingly warned us about our impending wet dreams in such abstract terms that she may as well have been explaining quantum chromodynamics. That was all we got. It’s a wonder we are not all dead.

So the news that sex and relationship education will soon be compulsory in British secondary schools, with children from four years old upwards receiving lessons in relationships, should be widely celebrated. I left school two decades ago and, despite spending a solid month on the subject, I am yet to encounter a situation where I have needed to know what an oxbow lake is. Meanwhile, had my school put the same effort into sex and relationships, I guarantee that I would still be using those lessons to this day.

Leaving youngsters to figure out how sex works for themselves is the very definition of madness. For a few years, I was heavily involved with World Contraception Day, and I got to see first-hand what happens when kids have to form their own ideas about sex. The misinformation I encountered was catastrophic. I met kids who did not think you could get pregnant if you did it standing up, and kids who thought the pill protected you against STIs. There were kids who believed that post-coitally rinsing yourself out with Coca-Cola was an effective form of contraception. On one particularly bleak morning in Maidstone, I found myself arguing with a teenager who maintained that, in an emergency, an empty crisp packet would be a fine alternative to a condom.

Sure, you could argue that this ruling has come a little late, since rates of teenage pregnancies in this country have now reached the lowest point since records began. And, yes, in a balanced and sensible world this would not be necessary because parents would have already fully equipped their children to learn the importance of healthy relationships.

But still, it is vitally important. The internet has meant that, without schools stepping in to lead the way, there is a real danger that kids will educate themselves about sex with pornography. After all, no generation has ever had such easy access to porn. When I was a kid, if we wanted to look at porn we had to scour local woodlands for miraculously discarded carrier bags full of year-old Razzles. I shudder to think of the ideas we would have formed if we could have just hopped on the internet. No wonder 75% of British people want to see sex and relationship education address the harmful effects of online porn and sexting.

We have known for years that teens are more responsible in their attitudes towards sex if they are given a proper educational grounding first. And, at last, that is what they are going to get. Even if it dents the sales of fizzy drinks and crisps a little, that has to be a good thing.

STIs and crisp-packet contraception: what I learned from talking about sex in schools