Today I am here with sex educator and sex therapist Tracy Dalhstead-Rienstra. She wanted me to talk about this important piece of legislation coming out on the November ballot for people who live in Washington state.

As an expert in the field of sexuality, she talks about the current standard of education that she sees in adults in her practice and what adults who didn’t get a good sex education look like in their struggles in intimate relationships.

BACKGROUND Senate Bill 5395 (SB 5395), passed by the Legislature in 2020, would require Washington’s public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education instruction that is medically and scientifically accurate, evidence-informed, age-appropriate, aligned with health and learning standards, and inclusive of all students regardless of their protected class status.

A referendum called Referendum 90 will be on the November ballot asking voters to approve or reject Senate Bill 5395.

A 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey indicates that nearly 40 percent of all high school students report they have had sex, and 9.7 percent of high school students have had sex with four or more partners during their lifetime. Among students who had sex in the three months prior to the survey, 54 percent reported condom use and 30 percent reported using birth control pills, an intrauterine device (IUD), implant, shot or ring during their last sexual encounter.

The birth rate for women aged 15-19 years was 18.8 per 1,000 women in 2017, a drop of 7 percent from 2016. According to CDC, reasons for the decline are not entirely clear, but evidence points to a higher number of teens abstaining from sexual activity and an increased use of birth control in teens who are sexually active. Though the teen birth rate has declined to its lowest levels since data collection began, the United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world.

Sex Education and States

All states are somehow involved in sex education for public schoolchildren.

As of October 1, 2020:

§ Thirty states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education, 28 of which mandate both sex education and HIV education.

§ Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia require students receive instruction about HIV.

§ Twenty-two states require that if provided, sex and/or HIV education must be medically, factually or technically accurate. State definitions of “medically accurate" vary, from requiring that the department of health review curriculum for accuracy, to mandating that curriculum be based on information from “published authorities upon which medical professionals rely.”

Research on sexual abuse shows comprehensive sexual health education is an important and effective prevention strategy. When students learn about and develop skills related to affirmative consent, they are more able to set personal boundaries and respect the boundaries of others. (Schneider, M., & Hirsch, J. S. (2018). Comprehensive sexuality education as a primary prevention strategy for sexual violence perpetration. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.)

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