Sex-Ed in The Netherlands,: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Sex Education, as my classmates and I have learned from discussing our personal experiences, is a very loose term in the United States. Some people watched a movie in P.E. class, some were told by their parents that sex would leave them alone or dead, some were told that sex is only between a man and a woman, and some seemed to come out of sex-ed with pretty useful knowledge. No matter the case, sexual education in the United States is extremely different from that in The Netherlands, and we received a crash course over the past two class sessions!

As described by our guest speaker, Yuri, on Monday, Dutch students receive a comprehensive sexual education. In this case, comprehensive means that the material being taught is age and culturally appropriate, are based on human rights and science, and is respectful of young people and their needs. Comprehensive sex-ed in The Netherlands begins in primary school with conversations regarding relationships and physical touch (who is and is not allowed to touch). As students age, they begin to talk more and more about sex in a non-judgmental environment resulting in open and honest conversations between students, teachers, parents, and peers. Long Live Love, a material made available to teach sex-ed in schools, has chapters on relationships, boundaries, safe sex, and more. The information presented in these booklets attempts to educate students and foster discussions regarding sex in an honest manner. 

English | Lang Leve De Liefde

Compared to Americans, Dutch teens have sex at a later age, have less partners, use more contraceptives, and have less unwanted teen pregnancies (Brugman et al., 2010). Dutch parents view their children as more independent and capable decision makers, and with this have open conversations about sex, and trust their kids to have sex safely and responsibly (Brugman et al., 2010). 

However, there are some limitations to sex education in The Netherlands. Dr. Willemijn Krebbekx has completed field work research in schools regarding comprehensive sex-ed and has uncovered some of these limitations. Namely, the focus is on reducing unwanted pregnancies rather than reducing STIs (Krebbekx, 2020). Since being safe indicates both reducing infection and pregnancy, condom use could be emphasized more. In addition, there is some backlash to comprehensive sexual education. Homophobic remarks are still made in the classroom even though diversity is one of the key pieces of comprehensive sex-ed (Krebbekx, 2020). Further, since the curriculum is not mandated by policy, schools have freedom in how they administer sex-ed resulting in a variety of content and experiences. In sum, Krebbekx argues that there are still improvements to be made in comprehensive sexual education in The Netherlands. 

All in all, while The Netherlands efforts are not perfect, they are still miles further in regard to discussing and managing sex than the United States and the country is benefited socially and economically because of it (Alford & Hauser, 2011). 


I have acted with honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not. /s/ Davis Warms (477 words) 


References

Alford, S., & Hauser, D. (2011). Adolescent sexual health in Europe and the US. https://advocatesforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/storage//advfy/documents/adolescent-sexual-behavior-demographics.pdf


Brugman, N., Caron, S., & Rademakers, J. (2010). Emerging adolescent sexuality: A comparison of American and Dutch college women's experiences. International Journal of Sexual Health, 22, 32-46.


Krebbekx, W. (2020). What else can sex education do? Logic and effects in classroom practices. Sexualities, 22(7-8), 1325-1341.

                      https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363460718779967


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