College students are going to engage in sex on a regular basis, whether it be casual or within a relationship. This is simply a reality that exists on campuses all over the country.
The widespread adoption of online dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble has made it significantly easier for individuals to find and engage with a partner rapidly and regularly.
The new culture introduced by these applications allows the topic of sex among young adults to become more open and widely discused, as it should be.
Yet, despite the increased openness among sexually active groups across campus, sex education at the University of Wyoming, with limited scope, does very little to inform young adults on safe sexual practices and habits.
Many high schools across the nation also do very little to educate young adults about life in the sheets.
Coach Carr’s infamous line in “Mean Girls” “Don’t have sex or you’ll get pregnant and die,” sums up how my high school sex education went. In my experience, fear mongering over sex was the primary cirriculum.
There was little to no talk about how to properly communicate with a partner, how to engage in safe and fully consensual sex, what types of contraception exist for use by both men and women as well as how to use them, or even how to obtain basic birth control in the first place.
Unfortunately, UW does little to cover any of these important topics either. The only sex focused courses incoming students are required to take is sexual assault prevention.
While undoubtedly an invaluable course to require incoming students to take, the sexual assault prevention program falls far too short on properly and realistically educating students on sex.
UW needs to require a sex ed program that touches on deeper topics such as birth control use, bodily functions related to sex, and effective communication.
A program along these lines would allow students to make safer, more informed decisions about how to approach their sex lives.
One way the University could implement something like this could be through the Saddle Up program with a more comprehensive curriculum that looks into more than just the surface level topics of casual sex.
UW could also look into implementing a mandatory online program much like what it currently uses for the sexual assault prevention program. One which teaches and casually quizzes students at their own pace.
I’m sure many young adults feel they hold an adequate amount of knowledge about a topic which is widely experienced and even talked about on a casual level. But the reality of it is there is much to learn for nearly all adults engaging in sexual activity, most which tends to be swept under the rug and neglected by higher education institutions.
Sex does happen on college campuses regardless of how much engaging individuals know about the topic. Incoming students will have to make decisions about how to safely engage in intimate activity without adequate knowledge.
UW and other universities across the nation need to take responsibility for the lack of proper and complete sex education in order to provide young adults with the opportunity to engage in safe and informed sex.
