The Imperative of Inclusive Sex Education for LGBTQ+ Youth
Developing healthy sexuality is a core developmental milestone for children and adolescents and imperative to their overall health and well-being. This is why comprehensive, inclusive sex education is critical for youth. “All young people deserve comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate and age and developmentally appropriate,” says Dr. Mandy Sanchez, Culture Reframed’s Director of Programming. “This type of education provides young people a positive, inclusive, and affirming approach to understand their bodies and sexualities and to build, maintain, and practice healthy and safe relationships with themselves and others.”
“All young people deserve comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate and age and developmentally appropriate.”
For youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+), the need for inclusive sex education is even more profound. Nearly 10% of American youth ages 13-17 identify as LGBTQ+, but only 10 states in the U.S. have policies that include affirming sexual orientation instruction on LGBTQ identities or discussion of sexual health for LGBTQ youth. The GLSEN Research Institute’s National School Climate Survey of LGBTQ+ middle and high school students found that more than 24% of LGBTQ+ students had never had any school-based sex education. Of students who had received sex education in school, only 8% reported that it was inclusive of LGBTQ+ topics.
According to the Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a sex education curriculum that presents traditional gendered identities and heterosexual relationships as normative, along with an absence of LGBTQ+ inclusivity, can promote stigma and harmful stereotypes. “This places LGBTQ+ youth at a greater risk of violence and creates sexual and reproductive health disparities, especially for LGBTQ+ youth of color,” Sanchez says. “Denying inclusive, comprehensive sex education for 10% of the youth population represents a public health harm that continues to intensify these risks faced by LGBTQ+ youth.”
In this interview, Dr. Sanchez elaborates on the critical need for inclusive sex education, addressing the challenges LGBTQ+ youth face — including the role pornography plays — and the work Culture Reframed is doing to support them.
What are some of the unique challenges LGBTQ+ youth face when it comes to accessing accurate and inclusive sex education?
Mandy Sanchez: Only 10 states in the U.S. have policies that include affirming sexual orientation instruction on LGBTQ+ identities or discussion of sexual health for LGBTQ youth, while eight states explicitly restrict the teaching of LGBTQ+-related content or mandate negative portrayals of LGBTQ+ folks in schools!
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and the University of Connecticut found that LGBTQ+ youth of color, transgender youth, and bisexual, pansexual, queer, and sexually fluid (bi+) youth rarely receive sex education in school relevant to their identities. Further, LGBTQ+ students are 50% more likely than their non-LGBTQ+ peers to report that their sex education in school was not useful.
Lack of access to accurate and inclusive sex education and resources, combined with the limited number of trusted adults and supportive school staff, pushes LGBTQ+ youth to seek out this information online. This exposes LGBTQ+ youth to information that is neither medically accurate nor age or developmentally appropriate, increasing the likelihood of being misinformed and more at-risk.
What role does pornography play in this? How does pornography exacerbate the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ youth?
MS: Pornography is the de facto sex education for our youth around the world, as many kids turn to the internet in search of answers to questions about sex and their bodies when they aren’t receiving the information elsewhere.
In fact, one in three kids report seeing explicit, hardcore porn by age 12. Much of the content in porn is misleading, degrading, and objectifying, especially in its representation of LGBTQ+ folks. The porn industry misrepresents, exploits, and fetishizes LGBTQ+ people and relationships through its use of derogatory and dehumanizing language and stereotyping, racist tropes, harmful plotlines, and humiliation, degradation, and abuse (especially of trans folks). Pornography not only perpetuates harmful misconceptions and stereotypes of LGBTQ+ folks but glamorizes and normalizes these misconceptions and the violence done to marginalized communities, which serves to justify and legitimize this abuse in real life.
“Pornography is the de facto sex education for our youth around the world, as many kids turn to the internet in search of answers to questions about sex and their bodies when they aren’t receiving the information elsewhere.”
In what ways can comprehensive sex education promote healthier relationships and attitudes for all students, especially among LGBTQ+ youth?
MS: Three decades of research have shown the benefits of comprehensive sex education, including better overall mental and physical well-being, safety, and academic success. When students feel safe and supported in their learning environments, they are more likely to develop social and emotional skills that build empathy and respect for themselves and others. They are also more likely to cultivate better communication skills, healthier relationships that protect against abuse and dating violence, and a better understanding of gender, gender norms, gender equity, and appreciation of sexual diversity.
LGBTQ+ youth already experience violence and bullying in schools related to their gender identity or sexual expression, and they are three times more likely to be absent from school as a result. LGBTQ+ youth of color experience stigma and discrimination that increases their risk for over-policing and criminalization in school and beyond. Comprehensive sex education programs that destigmatize LGBTQ+ folks can cultivate safer school environments for all students and contribute to higher levels of attendance and academic success, self-esteem, and lower levels of depression among LGBTQ+ students. These programs can also significantly impact LGBTQ+ youth in the reduction of risks for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, teen pregnancy, and sexual assault.
How can educators, parents, and caregivers work together to create supportive environments that provide LGBTQ+-inclusive sex education and mitigate the negative effects of pornography?
MS: It is important to note that LGBTQ+ youth and allies are leading the way in organizing and advocating for safer, more inclusive educational spaces by encouraging their school health advisory committees (SHACs), school boards, school administrators, and teachers to support sex education programs that meet their needs.
Educators can support, promote, and implement LGBTQ+-inclusive sex education curricula and professional development, beginning with Culture Reframed’s porn-critical sex education curriculum. They can individually promote inclusivity by discussing the positive contributions of LGBTQ+ folks in history and utilizing inclusive terminology and language that acknowledges LGBTQ+ identities and lived experiences.
Parents have a very important role in advocating for supportive environments for their children. They should ask educators what is being taught in schools and work with school officials about the need for LGBTQ+-inclusive comprehensive sex education programs. Additionally, having conversations with their kids will help them become more resilient to the negative impacts of porn. Our free, comprehensive online courses for parents and caregivers are an excellent resource to help parents ensure their children develop healthy, respectful, and egalitarian views of sex and intimacy throughout their lives.
How does Culture Reframed’s work support LGBTQ+ youth?
MS: Through robust courses and other resources for parents and educators, Culture Reframed’s public health approach to the harms of pornography on youth helps to ensure kids develop healthy, respectful, and egalitarian views of sex and intimacy throughout their lives. To deny LGBTQ+ inclusive education affects not only the 5 million LGBTQ+ youth in the public school population but all students in public schools in the U.S.
Our porn-critical sex education curriculum, developed with an anti-exploitation framework and digital media literacy focus, assists educators in creating safe and inclusive spaces that foster acceptance, reduce bullying and violence, and improve youth mental health for all students, especially our already at-risk LGBTQ+ students. Our courses offer support for children and adolescents of all sexual orientations and genders, and most of our course modules and materials do not assume heteronormativity. In any module that does feature heteronormative examples, we note that this is the problematic dominant standard in our society.
Culture Reframed holds human rights in the highest regard, with a continual focus on justice, equality, and respect for all young people. We will continue to seek out ways to improve our courses and resources to ensure positive, inclusive, and affirming approaches to building safe and healthy relationships for young people.
“Culture Reframed holds human rights in the highest regard, with a continual focus on justice, equality, and respect for all young people.”
Explore Culture Reframed’s free online courses for parents, caregivers, and educators to help ensure young people develop healthy, respectful, and egalitarian views of sex and intimacy throughout their lives.
Learn more about the national medical and public health organizations that support comprehensive sex education:
