For most of us, our formal and informal sex education was shame and fear-based. Whether we got it from school, our parents, the church, etc., it was likely bad or inaccurate information. So bad, in fact, it might have been better if we hadn’t learned it at all. 

Here to talk about some of the long-term effects of your bad sex education, is O.school CEO Andrea Barrica and O.school digital marketer Christina Cerqueira. 

Even though comprehensive sex education leads to a decrease in teen pregnancies and a decreased spread of STIs, only 20 US states require medically-accurate sex ed. Those schools that do offer it often teach an abstinence-only, heteronormative education, and use scare tactics to keep people from trying anything. "I could list every STD in existence, but I couldn't tell you how to practice safe sex," says one viewer.  

Rarely does pleasure enter into the conversation at all. For that reason, so many of us carry shame about our natural desires and have self-esteem and body image issues. 

Our sex ed has also perpetuated some truly dangerous messages: Enforcing certain dress codes for girls, for example, sends the message it’s their responsibility to control boys’ urges. The larger message here being that women have a god-like sexuality they need to hide. If they’re assaulted, maybe it was their own fault. It’s no wonder sexual violence is so pervasive … 

The list of ways bad sex education has negavitely impacted us as individuals and as a culture, goes on. 

So, how do we unlearn these awful messages? Well, you can start by checking out all the amazing content on O.school. But it’s even more important we face the core of this problem head-on a country. We need to fight for policy changes that ensure medically-accurate, positive sex education is accessible to all.