Recently, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released their 2016 Sex Ed State Legislative Year-End Report. An annual publication, it contains information on sex ed legislation across the country, and provides analysis that allows readers to more fully understand the impact of these new laws, and how they either advance or restrict sex ed curricula, and their implementation.
According to this year’s report, changes in sex ed legislation this past year were heavily influence by both societal and cultural shifts and by the political climate. Conversations about LGBTQ-friendly curricula, gender stereotypes, and sexual violence abounded. In fact, sexual violence prevention instruction was one of the most common provisions in state legislation related to sexuality education.
Tomorrow, we’ll continue the conversation about the state of sex ed at our annual National Sex Ed Conference. In fact, by the time you read this, the conference may already be in full swing. While there, we’ll address—among other things—new sexuality research, sex ed among marginalized populations, new educational issues around HIV and AIDS, the connection between sex ed and human rights, sex education and hot it relates to rape prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, teaching across party lines, and empowering teens to take the lead in their own education.
We hope to see you there, where we’ll all have the opportunity to learn from each other’s experience and knowledge, where we’ll be able to strengthen our professional skills, and where we’ll get the chance to put some faces to the brilliant work we’ve been following.
And if you’re not there, we hope you’ll continue to visit with us here and engage in the ever-evolving conversation about sexuality education.
Either way, you learn more about SIECUS’s year-end report right here.
