Learning more than just the birds and bees

Young adults can enrich their knowledge about sex outside the classroom

 By EMMA SHULAR

Sex educators say young adults are learning more about sex on their own than they are during high school sex education courses.

Dee Stacey, a certified sexual health educator, has taught young adults in Vancouver since 2018. She said young adults’ sex education has many gaps because teachers are uncomfortable with talking about sex.

“If you can get somebody in there that is comfortable talking about bodies and body fluids and what sex actually is . . . then hopefully that can have a lasting impact on just somebody's general ability to become a young adult and explore the world in the way that they want to, ” Stacey said.

In B.C. high schools, sex educa- tion is mandatory up until Grade 10, but focuses more on sexually transmitted infections and abstinence than consent and pleasure. A 2019 study done by the non-profit organization Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights says the amount and quality of sex education students receive differs from school to school based on where students live, the local school board and the amount of community health support. The study says that provincial governments aren’t giving young adults adequate access to “the sexual health information and skills-building opportunities they are entitled to.”

Dr. Lori Brotto, a licensed psychologist and UBC professor who specializes in women’s sexual health, says that she often sees clients who have gotten a majority of their information from unreliable sources.

“We really don't have adequate,