Liberal Feminist Approach --> Sex Ed = Sex Negative

According to Balanko (2002), our experiences and understandings of sexuality have been shaped by sex education. Since the 1960’s, sex education programs in Canada have been promoting sexuality as fear-based. Sex education is taught in a sex-neutral or sex-negative manner, by solely focusing on the consequences and prevention of STI’s as well as unwanted pregnancies. It is extremely crucial to emphasize these notions, because it has a major impact on a student’s health, and well-being. However, liberal feminism, the perspective from which my blog is written, holds that current sex education programs focus too heavily on fear and do not give an in depth understanding of all aspects surrounding sexuality. They believe that sex education curricula taught within the Canadian education system has failed to address a woman’s right to sexual desire and the pleasurable aspects related to sexuality, or various behaviours, attitudes or identities associated with thus (Fine, 1988).
The recent development of the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) is just another example supporting this fear-based sex education. Were you aware about HPV prior to Gardasil’s release in 2006? The only reason I have any knowledge concerning HPV, is because I participated in a Human Sexuality course during my undergraduate career, and it was an elective. I was never forced to learn about HPV. When I was growing up, AIDS was the ONLY STI my sex-ed teachers had taught me about, besides the male and female anatomy. From my understanding, sex education programs continue to instil fear in its students, by educating them about the consequences of having sexual intercourse (STI’s and unwanted pregnancies) and new to the curriculum, offer an injection to prevent cervical cancer and some (NOT all) strands of HPV. A prevention for cervical cancer sounds like a miracle, doesn’t it?
On February 25th 2008, Karen Springen wrote an article, “Why are HPV vaccine rates so low?” One would think that with the “gift” of cervical cancer prevention, women would be rushing to their nearest family doctors, right? However, the high cost, and parents’ discomfort immunizing their children against a disease which is contracted through sexual activity are major reasons as to why women are not being vaccinated immediately. What I find interesting, is that many women lack knowledge and awareness about HPV. A study in 2007 found that only 40% of women in the United States heard of the HPV virus, and only half of them understood that HPV was the main cause of cervical cancer. More that a quarter of American women between the ages of 14-59 are estimated to have HPV, proving that women are not being properly educated. Assuming HPV is such a dangerous STI, most of the US population should understand its consequences, and should be encouraged to receive yearly pap tests at their family doctors. Sex education classes continue to educate women to fear sex, without the appropriate knowledge required for women to make an informed decision about what to put inside or outside of their bodies. The HPV vaccine is just another example of fear based policy around human sexuality within sex education.
Women have the right to make their own choices. Whether a woman wants to insert a penis, ingest a birth control pill or inject an HPV vaccination, it is her choice and her choice only. However, as a liberal feminist I believe that women have the right to a fully informed choice in order to aid their decision making.