QUIROZ: There's currently no national mandate for sex education in the U.S. And it, you know, creates really unsafe environments for young people. Which, as you can imagine, is incredibly devastating for a young person who is queer. QUIROZ: That's Chris Harley, president and CEO of SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change. As of April 1, 2021, states like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas not only leave LGBTQ+ students out of the conversation, but go as far as stigmatizing their identities through what is often called no promo homo laws.ĬHRIS HARLEY: This is basically legislation that prohibits, and in some cases penalizes, educators if they speak affirmatively about homosexuality. It's a hotly debated topic being taken up by state legislatures right now. Queer people are intentionally left out of the sex ed conversation in the U.S. So our first takeaway is facing the facts. We weren't prepared to succeed in this area.
So in an effort to save you from that panic, I present this crash course on how to have better and safer sex regardless of who you're into.īefore we jump into things, I want to say, don't feel bad about wanting to know more about sex. But I'm also a nervous wreck because I have no clue what to do. I'm thinking about having sex for the first time with someone who has a vulva, and I'm excited. Growing up, sex was talked about as something that exclusively happened between a CIS man and a CIS woman. But even if you do, did you come out feeling like you'd learned much? I went to school in Texas, where the approach to this day requires educators to emphasize abstinence until marriage, and that's even if the school chooses to teach about sex. But there I was, wondering, where was this information when I needed it? It's possible you took sex ed years ago, so you may not remember it well. I'm not sure what the algorithm was getting at when one day it started showing me TikToks of queer people giving tips on how to have sex with someone with a vulva. My for you page landed me on alt TikTok, where I found a fun LGBTQ+ community, something that I really miss from not being able to see friends or go to gay bars. I didn't know what I'd find, but I didn't want to end up being a millennial fumbling my way through Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" remix or BENEE's "Supalonely" dance. Like you, I spent a lot more time last year holed up inside my house. A heads up - this episode is about sex and may not be for everyone.