Sex Ed in the News

Sex Education Faces Serious Setbacks, Continuing a Downward Trend Bill To Kick Planned Parenthood Out of Schools Defeated… and Then Revived The past few weeks, we have been following the progress of a bill that would ban Planned Parenthood from involvement in school sexuality education offerings. Senate bill 89, sponsored by Sen. Mike Dunleavy (R-Wasilla), failed to… Read more »

A Spotlight on the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act

Earlier this week, we mentioned that there was a bill pending in the Senate that could lead to additional funding for teacher training of sexuality educators, and for grants that could lead to more comprehensive education programs. But let’s dig deeper. What could the implications be if the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act (REHYA) were passed?… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, and More Are the Dutch Doing It Right? Over on PBS, Dutch sexuality education is spotlighted, showing the stark contrast between sex ed there and in the U.S. Those behind the curricula make a strong case for starting sexuality education as early as 4 years old in order… Read more »

What We Can Learn from National Minority Health Month

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) was created in 1986. Its formation was a response to a report released by the United States Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) the previous year on black and minority health. Today, it is their mission to develop programs and support policies that will eliminate health disparities. OMH does… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

How Technology Is Changing the Way We Learn About Sex New Mobile App Provides the Answers That Teens Are Looking For Later this week, Juicebox—a mobile app created by Brianna Radar—will become available for download. Juicebox is Radar’s solution to what she sees as a lack of solid sex education in high school, which in turn… Read more »

A Reading List on Birth Control Activist Margaret Sanger

Just last week, Terrible Virtue, a fictional portrait of birth control activist Margaret Sanger by Ellen Feldman, was published by Harper. Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, devoted her life to legalizing birth control, and improving its availability to all women. Who Was Margaret Sanger? Born in 1879, Sanger first became interested in the idea of legalizing and improving… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Sexuality Education Policies Continue To Fluctuate Across the U.S. New Sex Ed Bill on the Table in Ohio Ohio has a new bill pending—Senate Bill 101—that would ensure that contraceptive methods be taught in school. If this bill were passed, mandatory HIV/AIDS prevention education would also be accurately provided. The bill also includes an optional comprehensive sexual health education… Read more »

Do We Need To Strengthen Continuing Education for Medical Professionals?

Just this past December, the D.C. Council Committee on Health and Human Services voted unanimously to approve the LGBTQ Cultural Competency Continuing Education Amendment Act of 2015 (B21-168). This new bill, if passed, would require health care professionals to receive continuing education on how best to treat LGBTQ populations. More specifically, this bill would require medical… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Students Beg for More and Better Sex Ed… and Some of Them Get It! Students Want More from Their Sex Ed Deakin University and the University of South Australia conducted a survey showing that school-based education programs are students’ primary source of information about sexuality and relationships. But at the same time, students find this… Read more »

UNESCO Releases a Global Review on Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Last week, we blogged about the evolution—and bifurcated state of—sexuality education in the United States, especially in light of President Barack Obama’s proposed budget cuts to abstinence-only education programs. In the coming months, it will be interesting to see how his proposal shapes sex education curricula going forward. But what about sex ed around the… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

The People Push Back Against Restrictive Sex Education Laws Alaskans Unhappy with Two New Bills That Would Restrict Sex Ed Options Last week, we mentioned that the Alaska Senate had approved a bill that would prohibit school districts from contracting with abortion care providers for their sex education course materials. In addition to this bill, there is… Read more »

The Ever-Evolving State of Sexuality Education

In our most recent Sex Ed in the News roundup, we mentioned that, in his proposed budget for 2017, President Barack Obama suggested eliminating a $10 million-a-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services that funds abstinence-only education programs. If this proposed budget were to pass as-is, it would mark an amazing shift… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Sex Education Opportunities for All Ages Alaska Republicans Try to Block Abortion Care Providers from Involvement with Sex Ed The Alaska Senate recently approved a bill that would prohibit school districts from contracting with abortion care providers, such as Planned Parenthood, for their sex education course materials. The bill is apparently Senator Mike Dunleavy’s second attempt to prohibit abortion… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

New Means of Disseminating Sexuality Information, Plus Other News…  Obama Cuts Abstinence-Only Sex Ed; School Districts Push Back In his proposed budget for 2017, President Barack Obama eliminated a $10 million-a-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services that funds abstinence-only education programs. Meanwhile, there are some states that are voting to keep abstinence-based education in… Read more »

#BlackSexEdHistory Spotlight: Dr. Joycelyn Elders

Joycelyn Elders, the first person in the state of Arkansas to become board certified in pediatric endocrinology, was the sixteenth Surgeon General of the United States, the first African American and only the second woman to head the U.S. Public Health Service. Long an outspoken advocate of public health, Elders was appointed Surgeon General by… Read more »

#BlackSexEdHistory Spotlight: Tanya Bass

Tanya Bass, MS, CHES has 20 years of experience and is viewed as a subject matter expert in the field of health education, minority health, pregnancy prevention, HIV/STDs, reproductive health and sexual health. She is the lead instructor of Human Sexuality at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC.  Tanya is committed to reducing health disparities and… Read more »

#BlackSexEdHistory Spotlight: James Wadley

James C. Wadley, Ph.D., L.P.C. (PA & NJ), ACS  (Founder/Editor)                                                        Dr. James Wadley is Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Human Services program at The Lincoln University. As a scholar-practitioner, he is a licensed professional counselor and maintains a private practice in the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is the founding editor… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

The blues-iest news around! Want to know how sex ed fails in the United States? This link provides a series of maps incorporating information like which states educate on condoms, abstinence, etc, followed by maps about which states have the lowest contraception and highest pregnancy rates. Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but wouldn’t there be some sort… Read more »

Welcome back!

My friends, the 2015 National Sex Ed Conference has been over for a month, and I’m finally back at my desk writing. Why has it taken me a month to get back into the grove of things, you may rightfully ask me? Between conference wrap-up, back-logged emails, and the holidays, well, things just got a… Read more »

Sex Ed in the News

Today is World AIDS Day Welcome to the World AIDS Day edition of Sex Ed in the News. What is now known as HIV has maintained a top and center place in the world sexual health field since the early-80’s. With millions currently infected, millions dead, and the situation in sub-Saharan Africa continuing to wreck… Read more »