Health professionals brainstorm sex education solutions for college students
Missouri’s students are not being taught comprehensive sex education before they get to college.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, comprehensive sex education takes a holistic view of the topic, from contraception to healthy relationships and consent. Studies have shown that comprehensive sex education, when taught properly, reduces the rates of risky sexual behavior and sexually transmitted infections.
Missouri law does not require schools to teach their students about contraception when teaching sex education. In 2018, Boone County had the 5th highest number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases of all Missouri counties, according to Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services.
Virginia Ramseyer-Winter, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri School of Social Work and Director of the Center for Body Image Research and Policy, says sex education is lacking in Missouri.
“A lot of students aren't getting sex ed,” said Ramseyer-Winter. “And I think the ones who are, aren't getting comprehensive sex ed in the way it is meant to be taught.”
She believes changing the law to require comprehensive sex education in schools would provide benefits to the students.
“We would see reduction in teen pregnancies and also importantly, sexually transmitted infections, which are on the rise across the state,” said Ramseyer-Winter.
Derek Landes, the director of prevention education and outreach health services at Spectrum Health Care, a private non-profit organization, says he is the only person who is funded to provide sexual health education for 37 counties. He knows it is impossible for him to service that many people.
To help reach those counties, he wrote, researched and produced a seven-part video series that aims to teach parents how to educate their kids on sexual health.
“I hope by the end of the year to be releasing that as a resource for Missouri parents, because there's no way I can travel to 37 f---ing counties,” said Landes.
He is also working on a complementary video series for high schools so they can show comprehensive sex education.
Landes believes these resources are going to help students be more informed so they can be prepared for the independence they will have in college. This new independence makes college freshman the most vulnerable population for contracting sexually transmitted infections.
“They are the least informed and the most free, and you put that together, we see a bunch of crazy s--- happen,” said Landes.
However, he understands the challenge of providing sex education to a whole class of students at a large college.
“Especially at MU, how do you educate like 10,000 students?” asks Landes. “That's a pretty tall order.”
Ramseyer-Winter would like to see sex education required as part of a college student’s course load.
“I think a lot of things could be addressed with a required health course including a solid section on sex positive sexual health,” said Ramseyer-Winter.
One of the ways she is planning to get college students involved in sexual education is by developing a virtual reality training based on activities the Sexual Health Peer Educators do. The VR course will consist of three elements: body image, consent and Sexual Health Jeopardy, where they go to classrooms and play a game of Jeopardy with categories relating to sexual health.
Mackenzie Cook is a Ph.D. student at the University of Missouri school of social work and is working on the VR project with Ramseyer-Winter. She says the VR headset will provide students with more privacy when they are talking about sexual health.
“It gives the students the freedom to maybe not have to do this in person, like practice putting on the condom in front of all their peers,” said Cook. “They can actually put on the headset and then do it in virtual reality, and then they're not having to like have the peer pressure of everybody around them.”
Ramseyer-Winter wants to see students being more engaged in the material and learning more than they would in a classroom full of their peers.
“For the Sexual Jeopardy, it's like increasing the knowledge of the resources available on campus,” said Ramseyer-Winter. “Increasing knowledge around contraception and STIs and prevention.”
Cook thinks it is important for colleges in Missouri to have programs that teach about sexual health for students whose high schools did not teach it to them.
“At that age, it's important to be exposed to it so that you're better prepared at making decisions for their own sexual health, and being able to have the language to advocate for themselves,” said Cook.
While solutions are being attempted, it is ultimately up to the state to change the law. Health professionals agree that the current holes in curriculum will only be changed when there is combined effort by parents, students, teachers and officials.