Great article, Karyn! I do some educating of my own with a youth-oriented LGBTQ advice column, and I’d like to add one bit of perspective to your observations.
Not only are LGBTQ youth NOT getting good, positive sex ed in school, they’re often getting BAD sex ed on-line. Sex and porn are omnipresent on the Internet, of course, and quite easily accessed by queer youth.
Teens are learning all sorts of unrealistic and unhealthy lessons about sex on PornHub and other venues. While the knee-jerk reaction to that problem (as the UK recently demonstrated) is to restrict teen access to on-line porn, that’s probably never going to be practical.
We really, really need excellent sex ed for queer teens that can help douse a lot of the terrible sex ed they get from porn. Parents should understand that unless they take the lead in helping their kids get good information, they may not find it at all.
Jim
