Body Basics
Noelle Smith
As a teenager, I lived in a town where the local high school’s pregnancy rate rose to 13%, 64 out of 490 female students. Teen pregnancy is a huge issue across America and the problem clearly stems from a lack of education. Studies show schools that teach abstinence-only sexual education have the highest teen pregnancy rates while those exposed to comprehensive sexual education programs have the lowest rates of pregnancy as well as STD’s. A comprehensive sex ed curriculum is not just about sex. It is implemented from kindergarten to 12th grade, and covers a wide range of age appropriate topics that allow children to live healthy lives mentally, physically, and socially. As the situation currently stands, far too many school districts are not permitted to implement comprehensive sex ed because of laws largely put in place by conservative representatives. My video series, Body Basics, presents a solution to this problem by providing comprehensive sex ed, available free to the public, so that all children have the opportunity to receive a proper sexual education, even if their schools do not provide it. Body Basics is a friendly, approachable version of sex ed that matures along with the children. Parents who want their kids to be educated on the subject can introduce them to Body Basics when they’re young or children seeking out answers can discover them on their own.