Dancing penises and vaginas reduce teen pregnancy? Who knew? We are so screwed up in this country when it comes to sex – especially the far-right zealots. Their political representatives think girls should make themselves look less distracting but send sex texts to their interns. They vote for teaching abstinence, but the U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy compared to other developed nations.
We have a whopping 52.8 pregnancies and 33.8 births for every 1,000 15- to 19-year-old girls. Both sexes have the highest rate of STD infections in the industrialized world. A new study shows how well this nutty abstinence-only education, which we force upon one in four of our students, is not working. Get this – no one bothered to teach this quarter of kids anything about birth-control; and as a result, these under-educated teens have the highest rates of teen pregnancy of all.
Obviously our sex ed is not effective, but sex education in six other countries show just how ridiculously bad we are doing in the intimacy department. Maybe we should look to the countries where their education is working. They not only teach the physical side of sex, they teach what a healthy relationship is all about. Some of these industrialized countries teach exploring your sexual orientation and how to practice safe sex as early as kindergarten.
Their sex-ed videos are hilarious, moving, and plain awesome.
1. Norway
This Scandinavian country teaches kids aged 8 to 12 about French kissing, masturbating, and hickies using tomatoes and vacuum cleaners. Sex education is comprehensive and mandatory. Norway’s birth rate: 9.5 babies per 1000 teens. Check out their video:
https://youtu.be/2PeQG61W4i0
2. Canada
According to Canada’s newspaper, “The Star,” our neighbors to the north teach “masturbation, sexting, bullying, gender expression, consent, and LGBTQ relationships.” Their birth rate is 16 babies per 1000 teens. Watch this public TV segment aimed at their 3- to 6-year olds:
3. Sweden
Are you ready for the dancing penises and vaginas cartoon for 3- to 6-year-olds? The Swedes have had compulsory sex ed since 1956. Only 22 of our states have mandatory sex ed. But get this, “only 13 of those require it to be medically accurate – unbelievable. Sweden’s birth rate is only 2.7 babies per 1000 teens. Look at this Swedish video:
4. Germany
The Germans are generally very specific, and this applies to mandatory education about “LGBT relationships, contraception, and occasionally even the path to orgasm — for students as young as 5.” They also teach public nudity or Free Body Culture. Germany’s birth rate is 8.2 babies per 1000 teens. See what I mean about their education here:
https://youtu.be/7tRh3GYpW2g
5. Denmark
This small country had the same teen birth rate as we have – 60 years ago! Then Denmark became the first country to consider sex ed and contraception a right – no matter how old the individual. Still, Denmark’s teens wait until 17 to have sex, and “80% of them use contraception during their first sexual encounter” recent studies have found. Denmark’s birth rate is 4.5 babies per 1000 teens. Check this video out: https://youtu.be/U8FQIywca2c
6. The Netherlands
Then there is the land of tulips and legal prostitution. Its sex education for 4-year-olds includes respect, intimacy, and safety. They teach 8-year-olds self-image and gender stereotypes. Their 11-year-olds learn sexual orientation and birth control. The Dutch’s ”Long Live Love” program’s ad goes into more detail. Yet, the Netherland’s birth rate is 9.3 babies for every 1000 teens. Watch this video:
