Learn: Comprehensive Sex Education

What's all the hubbub about comprehensive sex education, or CSE? Follow the links to learn more.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists | 2016

Comprehensive sexuality education should be medically accurate, evidence-based, and age-appropriate, and should include the benefits of delaying sexual intercourse, while also providing information about normal reproductive development, contraception (including long-acting reversible contraception methods) to prevent unintended pregnancies, as well as barrier protection to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Comprehensive sexuality education should begin in early childhood and continue through a person’s lifespan.

Programs should not only focus on reproductive development (including abnormalities in development, such as primary ovarian insufficiency and müllerian anomalies), prevention of STIs, and unintended pregnancy, but also teach about forms of sexual expression, healthy sexual and nonsexual relationships, gender identity and sexual orientation and questioning, communication, recognizing and preventing sexual violence, consent, and decision making.

Why comprehensive sexuality education is important

UNESCO | 2018

CSE plays a crucial role in addressing the health and well-being of children and young people. Applying a learner-centered approach, CSE not only provides children and young people with age-appropriate and phased education on human rights, gender equality, relationships, reproduction, sexual behaviors risks and prevention of ill health, but also provides an opportunity to present sexuality with a positive approach, emphasizing values such as respect, inclusion, non-discrimination, equality, empathy, responsibility and reciprocity.

What does the evidence say about CSE?

There is significant evidence on the impact of sexuality education. It emphasizes that:

• Sexuality education has positive effects, including increasing young people’s knowledge and improving their attitudes related to sexual and reproductive health and behaviors.
• Sexuality education – in or out of schools – does not increase sexual activity, sexual risk-taking behavior or STI/HIV infection rates.
• Programs that promote abstinence as the only option have been found to be ineffective in delaying sexual initiation, reducing the frequency of sex or reducing the number of sexual partners. Programs that combine a focus on delaying sexual activity with other content are effective.
• ‘Gender-focused’ Programs are substantially more effective than ‘gender-blind’ programs at achieving health outcomes such as reducing rates of unintended pregnancy or STIs.
• Sexuality education has the most impact when school-based programs are complemented with the involvement of parents and teachers, training institutes and youth-friendly services.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Oxford Research Encyclopedias | Global Public Health | 2020

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is increasingly accepted as the most preferred way of structurally enhancing young peoples’ sexual and reproductive well-being. 

A historical development can be seen from “conventional,” health-based programs to empowerment-directed, rights-based approaches. Notably the latter have an enormous potential to enable young people to develop accurate and age-appropriate sexual knowledge, attitudes, skills, intentions, and behaviors that contribute to safe, healthy, positive, and gender-equitable relationships. 

There is ample evidence of program effectiveness, provided basic principles are adhered to in terms of content (e.g., adoption of a broad curriculum, including gender and rights as core elements) and delivery (e.g., learner centeredness). Additional and crucial levers of success are appropriate teacher training, the availability of sexual health services and supplies, and an altogether enabling (school, cultural, and political) context. 

CSE’s potential extends far beyond individual sexual health outcomes toward, for instance, school social climates and countries’ socioeconomic development. 

Why Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education?

Planned Parenthood | 2013

Comprehensive Sexuality Education teaches that abstinence is the best method for avoiding sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy, but also teaches about condom use and contraceptive methods to reduce the risk of STI and unintended pregnancy. 

It covers a broad range of issues relating to both the physical and biological aspects of sexuality, and the emotional and social aspects of sexuality. It can support the efforts of parents and teachers to provide honest, accurate, and affirming information to young people about sexuality, and help diminish the impact of some of the negative or inaccurate sexual messages and stereotypes often found in the media and sometimes supported by their peers. 

Furthermore, such programs empower youth to make responsible choices that protect their health, well-being and provide support for academic achievement. 

• A recent examination of the National Survey of Family Growth to determine the impact of sexuality education on sexual risk-taking for young people ages 15-19, revealed that teens who received comprehensive sexuality education were 50% less likely to report a pregnancy than those who received abstinence-only education. (Kohler, et al. Abstinence-only and Comprehensive Sex Education and the Initiation of Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42 (4): 344-351) 
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognize that “health-risk behaviors such as early sexual initiation, violence, and physical inactivity are consistently linked to poor grades and test scores and lower educational attainment”, and that “school health programs can have positive effects on educational outcomes, as well as health-risk behaviors and health outcomes.” (CDC (2010) http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/health_and_academics/index.) 
• Evaluations of comprehensive sex education programs show that these programs can help youth delay the onset of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use. (Advocates for Youth August 2010 Comprehensive Sex Education and Academic Success-Effective Programs Foster Student Achievement)