Young people have more questions about sex that need to be addressed.
By Anna Marks Editorial Assistant, Opinion |
I will never forget the central concern of my university's sex education program: enthusiastic consent. This was, of course, by design. In an attempt to reduce instances of sexual assault, affirmative, consent-focused sex education has in recent years become the norm on campus. |
It is perhaps for this reason that I was so interested in Emma Camp's provocative essay about sex education at colleges and universities, in which she argues that universities' justifiable but overwhelming focus on affirmative consent leaves young people unmoored when confronted with the reality of sex with another person. |
Young people, she writes, are left with "a woefully limited, legal understanding of what sex is and ought to be" and without "the broader ability to articulate our sexual desires in emotionally messy situations." |
Instead, she says, "many of us have absorbed the message that sex is a straightforward transaction with little room for complicated feelings," and consequently, "we're confused when we experience the inevitable complications that sexual intimacy brings." |
Now, she says, to talk about sex in many settings, even with friends, is to talk primarily about consent. This state of affairs inevitably leaves many questions without clear answers. What other sorts of responsibilities do we have to our sexual partners? To what extent should sex be more special than casual? And perhaps most pressingly, Camp asks, "if you consent, you shouldn't feel terrible after, right?" |
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