On January 13th 2021, Zoe Sugg uploaded a piece of content titled “The best sex toys to spice up your life in 2021.” This content then lead the the AQA head of curriculum for the arts (Sandra Allan) to drop Zoella from the GCSE media studies syllabus, quoted saying “Some of Zoella's recent content is aimed specifically at an adult audience and isn’t suitable for GCSE students.”
The recent breaking news about Zoella launched me into research mode about sex education in schools and why they’re so insistent on avoiding discussing sexual pleasure or the realities of being sexually active with their older students. This begs the question ‘Are we really taught sex education in school, or are we simply taught reproductive education that touches on some aspects of safe sex?’
As a young woman who has experienced her fair share of sexual mishaps, from correct vaginal hygiene to understanding pleasure. It leads me to wonder, could all of this have been avoided if I had been exposed to genuine and realistic lessons and expectations as a teenager?
Is Zoella in the wrong for posting, what's deemed ‘adult content’ on her platform? Should artists, such as Ariana or Miley have to censor their content, despite their age, because at one point they had a teen/tween audience? Or should we, as a society be inspired by these creators and look into expanding the curriculums ‘sex education’ to cover a wider variety of topics, including but not limited to: Sexual pleasure, Sexual identities, Sex toys, LBGTQ sex and pleasure, sexual hygiene, abuse and the aftermath, proper use of porn and reality behind the scenes, and the mental health surrounding sex?
As adults it’s easy to dismiss such an education with “well they’ll learn with experience just like we had to.” But if it were possible to better prepare the next generation for what they can expect, the good and the bad, isn’t it our duty to do so? Sure we had to suffer through the shame behind female masturbation, owning sex toys, and even the shame behind periods (running to the toilets with the tampon up your sleeve, or slipping your bff a pad like it’s a drug deal ring a bell?) but now we have the opportunity to properly educate our young adults, teens and tweens, yet still the education system shies away from such topics, considering it too taboo to be taught in schools, leaving another generation to learn the hard way about their bodies and sexual identity.
“But there are websites where they can learn these things if they need to.” Sure there are plenty of blogs, vlogs, and websites where such knowledge is available, a lot of them contradictory and confusing, and to simply put it, just medical word vomit that a lot of young adults/teens just won’t understand. If society has no problem knowing that our youth are researching this in private, why’s it deemed such a shocking affair for it to be taught in a classroom? They, just like we did, will attain this knowledge one way or another, isn’t it better this be done in a secure environment, with professional speakers and medical experts?
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I know personally that I would have chosen this education having had the opportunity. And maybe that’s the key? Giving students, teens and young adults A choice that we’ve been deprived of throughout our history of education.
What's your opinion?