Slightly more than half of Americans wants preschoolers to start learning about sex education, specifically around consent. Sex Education has proven to be beneficial to health and wellbeing, but there has been clear division on who should teach children and when. However, the topic of consent is important for all to learn, and it may mean a lot more than just consenting to intimate acts. Consent is a lot broader than that, and it goes for just about every decision that a person makes about who they are. It decides who is allowed to hug them, kiss them, and even tickle them.
According to Study Finds, a need for education around consent became clear when a survey showed that only 55% of participants could identify clear consent, and these were adults. 45% could not clearly and correctly identify the exact definition of consent, and this was found to be alarming.
The survey found that 21% of participants thought that consent was only any kind of verbal response. This brought up the question of when we should be teaching our children about consent, and what it actually means to receive consent and give consent. The survey was conducted by OnePoll, on behalf of dating app HUD, and it revealed the large knowledge gap when it comes to sexual education and consent.
This has caused some to call for reform when it comes to teaching our children about Sex-Ed.
•68% of the participants said that sex education classes should be standardized around the country so that every single student learns the same things at the same time.
•65% of participants thought that they believe that the Sex-Ed curriculum in the US is lacking, and that it should start earlier, with 53% saying that it should be starting in preschool.
That it is crucial for young children to learn at a young age what it means to respect other’s boundaries and bodily autonomy.
According to The Atlantic, there are some who have concerns about waiting until a student is in middle or high school to teach about consent. They have found that it does not reduce dating violence in that age group, and this is why there may be a push to start the education earlier than that.
It seems that this needs to be an ongoing conversation with parents as well, because parents were a part of the survey and 44% of them felt that they were not able to teach their children about these topics, because they did not have the proper resources to have educational and impactful conversations.
Sources: Study Finds, The Atlantic