Many have had to go through the painful experience of watching some poor physical education or science teacher stumble awkwardly through a lecture based on the “dangers” and “consequences” of premarital sex or sex in general. However, the most painful aspect of these lessons is not how uncomfortable everyone feels in the situation, but how little these lessons contribute to the safety and well-being of the students forced to endure them. It is a sad truth that most public schools in the United States have a sex education program based on falsehoods and scare tactics or no program at all, leaving many students helpless or ignorant. Implementing a comprehensive sex education program that emphasizes scientific facts and an open-minded attitude toward sex would be beneficial to both students' physical and mental health. One of the biggest debates in sex education is the idea of ​​abstinence-only versus complete, but few know what that really means. Abstinence-only is somewhat self-explanatory, as the curriculum only allows educators to advocate abstinence-only as a form of “protection” from sex. Comprehensive sex education requires that educators teach other forms of birth control in combination with abstinence and may also teach about certain transmitted diseases, whereas an abstinence-only program would most likely ignore these topics altogether. According to the Guttmacher Institute, as of October 1, 2018, only 24 states and the District of Columbia mandate some form of sex education. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Now, that doesn't mean that only 24 states have schools with a sex education curriculum, it just means that there are 24 states where all public schools (of a given grade) have a sex education curriculum. However, among all states, both those that require sex education and those that do not, only 13 require the education to be medically accurate, and 3 states even require only negative information about outside sexual orientations. of heterosexuality. There are many other troubling issues, such as the fact that 18 states require that an emphasis be placed only on sexual activity within marriage, but other issues such as the fact that 28 states and the District of Columbia require that information be provided on skills for healthy sexuality (including avoiding forced sex), healthy decision making and healthy family communication when sexuality education is taught can be seen as uplifting. These various aspects show the chaotic and mildly troubling state of sex education in America. This chaotic nature has led sex education in American public schools to take numerous forms, many of which rely on misinformation, scare tactics, and gender double standards. However, although only a select number of studies have been conducted (due to the relatively recent establishment of any sex education in the United States), many studies show that there are numerous health benefits attributed to fact-based sex education scientific and on an open-minded theory, attitude and environment. Many of these studies focus on the physical health benefits that a quality sexuality education program would reward students. For example, good sex education would convey the science behind some sexually transmitted diseases and the body's physiological changes during the stagesof adolescent development. It would then share the scientific differences between the body of a healthy student and the body of a student with unhealthy symptoms. This knowledge would give students the confidence to evaluate their bodies and know when to seek medical care for certain illnesses and potential hormonal discrepancies. Another topic that would be covered more thoroughly would be the various ways to protect students from potential harm during sexual encounters, such as precautions needed to take to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and precautions to take in case of potential sexual misconduct. This education would also foster an environment that is based on honesty and work to improve attitudes towards sex by openly debunking any popular myths or misconceptions. In this way, any sense of “embarrassment” would be greatly alleviated and students would be encouraged to ask questions and respond more shamelessly. Indeed, a study conducted based on sexual education recall in relation to students' sexual behavior and attitudes found the following: "... our examination of those who reported consistently using condoms suggested that norms stricter attitudes toward safe sex, more positive attitudes about and intentions to try to practice safe sex, and greater expectations of practicing safe sex are associated with reports of safe sex behavior. This implies that simply providing information about sexually transmitted diseases and choices safer sex is not enough; professionals who deliver safer sex messages must also combat negative attitudes... and low expectations or self-efficacy for safe sexual behaviors..." (Walcott, 2011). This information is usually avoided because many believe it would "encourage" students to become sexually active, but in reality, this information, when presented through science and not myth, helps students make more informed judgments about their actions and prevents them from finding themselves in dangerous circumstances. A study conducted by Douglas B. Kirby found that, "...about two-thirds of comprehensive programs have clearly demonstrated that they positively influence young people's sexual behavior by delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse and increasing the use of condoms and contraceptives among important groups of young people.” (Kirby, 2008) This study shows that students who receive comprehensive sex education based on scientific facts and an open attitude towards sex are more likely to delay sexual encounters and be actively safer when they finally choose to engage in sexual behavior. Other studies focus on different health benefits, such as that of students' mental health and overall attitudes toward sex. As stated previously, due to numerous misunderstandings about sex, many stigmas are attached to those who choose to engage in sexual activities, and due to gender double standards, these stigmas are placed more regularly on women than on men. Unfortunately, because of this, many victims of sexual violence face the consequences of these stigmas and are often dehumanized as a result. Because of this dehumanization, rape victims are three times more likely than non-crime victims to have a major depressive episode (30% vs. 10%) and are 3.5 times more likely to be currently experiencing a major depressive episode (21). % versus 6%). (National Research Center on the Prevention of Violence Against Women, 2000) Implementation.