The Internet as a Sexual Educator

For my paper, I wrote about using entertainment media as a form of sex education for adolescents and young teens. I was particularly interested in taking a look at the Internet, but unfortunately there isn't that much research published on its role in sex ed. Luckily, this seemed like a great topic for a blog post.

The Internet provides a huge resource for young people trying to learn more about sexual health and sexual development. As mentioned in the Brown article, 44% of adolescents reported using the Internet to find this kind of information in 2003. The Internet is a great resource in its anonymity, vast database of knowledge, and ability to connect individuals to other people going through similar developmental stages. Brown points out two main problems with teens using the Internet as a sexual health resource in 1. the potential of website to convey inaccurate information, and 2. the potential that teens will use the Internet to replace their parents or other people in their lives as sources of information.

I definitely agree that there's always the potential that the Internet will provide false information, but I personally believe that most teens/young adults (an age group that at this point in their lives has basically grown up with the Internet) are more than capable of evaluating the quality of what they're reading online. The second problem also seems like an unlikely side effect, as parents can still communicate what they need to about sex education to their kids regardless of the Internet as a resource. In fact, the Internet could be a great resource for parents to use when talking to their kids about sex. 

Let's face it, traditional sex education is simply not useful for most people. A lot of the research I found for my paper suggests that this kind of education is ineffective for two main reasons. First, adolescents simply don't find factual information about STIs and scientific terms describing body parts to be relevant to their lives. Second, schools and teachers often talk about sex in extremely negative ways, emphasizing the risk factors and negative consequences. This goes completely against how most young people experience sex, which for most people is a relatively positive thing. 

In addition, sex ed isn't even being held to a high standard in the US. I found these fascinating charts on the state of sex education, and it's kind of disturbing.

Abstinence only education has not been proved to reduce rates of teen pregnancy or STIs at all, and it's preposterous that certain states aren't required to provide medically accurate information to their students. Here's where the Internet could play a really key role in the sexual development of young people. 

First, the Internet is a resource that doesn't come from the school or the government (at least, not overtly). This could make students more favorable towards the information they're getting, especially if it seems like it's written by people who really get what they're going through. Second, the Internet can tell young people what they actually want to know about sex and relationships, rather than forcing them to sit through classes filled with irrelevant scientific information. Finally, many of these sites allow users to communicate with other people going through similar problems, allowing young people to understand their development is entirely normal.

When we took a look at sex education websites in class earlier this semester, my partner and I analyzed MTV's "It's Your Sex Life" (itsyoursexlife.com). This is a great resource for adolescents because of its focus on sexual health information such as STI testing and pregnancy as well as relationships, intimacy, and lgbt knowledge. It's an attractive, well-designed site that uses Internet appropriate language to relate to its audience and provides lists of phone numbers/hotlines, FAQs, and interviews with relevant resources. It also has pages addressing "am I ready to have sex?", "dating", and "hooking up", which are huge components of a young person's sexual development but are rarely addressed by formal sex education. This is a good example of new media that has so many benefits for its users, and we as a society really start to take advantage of resources like this.

I believe there's extremely great potential for the Internet to become an essential tool for providing relevant and accurate information to adolescents. The Internet wouldn't take over the role of an educator or a parent, but it provides non-judgmental knowledge about things that are useful and relevant. It could easily be used in conjunction with school sex ed and can be a great conversation opener for parents to talk to their kids about healthy sexual behavior and facilitate healthy sexual development.

Reading:

Brown, J.D., Keller, S., & Stern, S. (2009). Sex, sexuality, sexting, and sexed: Adolescents and the media. The Prevention Researcher, 16(4), 12-16.