The week before Valentine’s Day, Student Life’s iconic Sex Issue, Student Love, was released, and it sent people reeling from sex horror stories and nude photos of student groups. Student Love also revealed that 75 percent of the student body has had sex. Although anyone who’s taken a statistics class may question the volunteer bias of these stats, the sex issue still brought attention to what you probably already knew — many, if not the majority of Washington University students, are having sex. But are they all doing it safely, pleasurably, and intelligently?

Sex education in high school is a crapshoot. Only 38 states and Washington D.C. require sex education and/or HIV education, including 20 that require information on contraception, while 39 require information on abstinence. When we come to college, we are all in different places when it comes to sexual health knowledge. Maybe you’re like me, for example, and went to a Catholic high school that taught you about sex from an outdated religious textbook. We had a whole unit on abstinence. Luckily, my gynecologist mom filled in all the blanks, but not everyone has someone they feel comfortable talking with about sex.

I spoke with four freshmen to gauge the levels of sex education they received prior to college, how they have navigated the sex resources on campus, and how this has affected their knowledge on the topic now. In the process, I saw significant variation in sex ed curricula and how these differences lead people to learn from unreliable sources. The impact of these knowledge deficits suggests that WashU could do more to ensure the student body has a comprehensive understanding of sexual health.

First-years David Bernal and Grace Sugrue had highly comprehensive sex education. Having gone to a private school in St. Louis and a Catholic school in Manhattan, respectively, they both learned about the central tenants of comprehensive sex education: contraception, STI and STD prevention, abortion, healthy and unhealthy relationships, sexual violence, masturbation, gender identity, sexuality, and non-heterosexual sex. First-year Mikey Lerman, from a religious Jewish school in New Jersey, had a different experience.

“We didn’t have sex ed until junior year of high school…Since the school wasn’t expecting that any of us were having sex or doing anything sexual because it was a religious school, they just kind of ignored it,” Lerman said.

First-year Parker Satenberg didn’t discuss her school’s sex ed, but rather, the lack thereof.

“I was in the [International Baccalaureate] program. The academics were so rigorous that we physically did not have enough time in the school day to complete all of the IB requirements and complete health [class] which would incorporate sex education,” Satenberg said.

Unfortunately, these variations in education leave us with disparities in sexual health knowledge. Satenberg expressed that she doesn’t know the specifics or symptoms of any STDs, and that she has also noticed knowledge gaps in her sexual partners’ knowledge. She claims to have learned about sex through the media she consumed.

“I learned from a lot of sitcoms…Parks and Rec had a few sex ed [scenes], so I learned a lot from there,” Parker said.

Other students I talked to agreed with this sentiment, citing movies, TikToks, Instagram infographics, and pornography as various sources for their sexual knowledge. 

This difference in sexual health proficiency has sweeping impacts on college students. In a survey of 2,000 current and former undergraduate students, 15 percent said they never use condoms. STD infection rates are also highest among 15 to 24-year-olds, accounting for almost half of all new infections in 2018. 

To combat this, WashU has many comprehensive sexual health resources accessible online and on campus. However, considering the stigma that still pervades conversations around sex, especially non-heterosexual sex, not all students may seek out these resources on their own. When asked if she thinks all people would be comfortable accessing sexual health resources, Sugrue, who received insufficient sex ed in middle school, felt that the culture around sex one grows up in influences how one interacts with resources.

“If someone had attended a school that was like my middle school up until half a year ago, I can’t imagine how comfortable they would be talking about sex or finding out what resources were available to them, let alone taking advantage of them and using them,” Sugrue said.

Students who never learned about contraception, STDs, and abortion or who learned misleading information from the media may also only seek sexual health resources in an urgent situation rather than proactively. This could mean the difference between contracting a lifelong illness and seeking treatment or taking consistent preventative measures and remaining healthy. 

Sexual violence is additionally a large issue on college campuses, and WashU provides crucial resources, mandatory lessons, and programming about sexual violence throughout students’ four years. These lessons make WashU a safer and more informed community, especially due to the considerable lack of consent and sexual violence education in many high schools. However, these lessons do not address other important sexual health information. In Bear Beginnings, first-years learn how to navigate their way through college and receive information on academics, extracurriculars, and health resources, as well as sexual violence prevention through The Date. Sophomores learn from “Beyond Sex Ed,” when RAs and student volunteers trained by the RSVP Center teach students about sexual violence prevention, sexual projects, consent, and sexual citizenship. However, according to Kirk Dougher, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Support and Wellness, Student Affairs is not currently considering a mandatory sexual education program or lessons beyond their existing resources to include information on STDs, abortion, and contraception. 

Whether it be an additional sex education crash course during Bear Beginnings or in another type of program during freshman year, a mandatory sex education program covering crucial topics that are currently absent from WashU programming would be valuable. Even if only for a minority of students, this could make a significant difference in sexual health and well-being. Moreover, a sex-ed program is most important for freshmen in order to level the differences in knowledge that students have when entering college.

Some students, perhaps because they received proficient sex education in high school or because they don’t like sitting in an auditorium talking about sex, could be skeptical of the idea of a sex education orientation course. In the words of Satenberg: “I lowkey would think it [is] stupid.” She elaborated, saying, “Morally, I believe in it, but I don’t want to go through sex education.”

Other students, however, expressed different feelings. 

“It’s a good way to level the playing field and make sure everyone is able to make informed decisions. Especially entering an environment where you have a lot more freedom than you had in high school, being able to make decisions for yourself and others and being considerate and safe is incredibly important…It could make a huge difference in someone’s life,” Sugrue said.

From a comprehensive, non-heteronormative curriculum to none at all, people’s sex ed experiences in high school are wide-ranging. While WashU offers many sexual health resources for students, the prevailing stigma around sex means that some will not seek out this information. Sex education is crucial to people’s well-being and overall health, and a lack of understanding of things like STDs and contraception can cause detrimental impacts. These impacts, however, are preventable, and a mandatory sex education program could make a significant difference.