At schools that offer comprehensive sex education, students tend to get the biology and the basics — they'll learn about sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, how to put a condom on a banana and the like.
But some public health researchers and educators are saying that's not enough. They're making the case that sex ed should include discussion about relationships, gender and power dynamics.
"The idea here is that sex is a relationship issue — you don't get HIV by just sitting there by yourself, nor do you get chlamydia or gonorrhea, nor do you get pregnant," says Ralph DiClemente, a professor of public health at Emory University.
Knowing how to communicate and negotiate with sexual partners, and knowing how to distinguish between healthy and abusive sexual relationships, is as important as knowing how to put on a condom, DiClemente says.
[For more of this story, written by Maanvi Singh, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/he...wer-in-relationships]
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