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Florida’s new sexual education standards are so committed to promoting abstinence that they omit crucial information about contraception, consent and domestic violence.
The Orlando Sentinel reports on these outrageous standards:
Florida has told school districts around the state that they may not teach teenagers about contraception, show them pictures depicting human reproductive anatomy or discuss topics such as sexual consent and domestic violence, according to district officials and an advocate for comprehensive sexual health education.
According to the report, state officials called Broward County Public Schools instructors to warn that according to state law, “Contraceptives are not part of any health or science standard” at “any grade level.” Officials warned that contraceptives can only be mentioned as a “health resource” and that the state bars the use of pictures or demonstrations showing how they’re used. The instructors were also warned that “pictures of external sexual/reproductive anatomy” and references to “different types of sex (i.e., anal, oral, and vaginal)” can’t be included in lessons at any grade level.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education department defended its approach in a quote to The Associated Press:
Florida law requires schools to emphasize the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy,” department communications director Sydney Booker said. “A state government should not be emphasizing or encouraging sexual activity among children or minors and is therefore right to emphasize abstinence.”
Broward County Public Schools said they'll comply with the order to "emphasize abstinence." But this kind of approach has routinely failed to deter young people from having sex, doesn't deter teenage pregnancy rates and leaves young people ignorant about crucial sexual health information, as my colleague Hayes Brown explained back in 2022.
The Sentinel also quotes Elissa Barr, a public health professor and part of an advocacy group for sexual education known as the Florida Healthy Youth Alliance. Barr said a list of words health educators told her they’ve been forced to remove from lesson plans includes “abuse,” “consent” and “domestic violence” — none of which have to do with abstinence.
Those are some pretty odd guidelines coming from a conservative movement that perpetually claims to be concerned about “groomers” (despite having some in their ranks).
The restrictions are particularly disturbing in a state like Florida, which has had one of the highest rates of sexual violence in recent years, according to an analysis of FBI data by Charlie Health. And because incidents of sexual violence tend to be underreported, the crisis in Florida could be even worse than the numbers show.
But this is the Florida of DeSantis and the state GOP’s creation: a state where young people are being denied a proper education on everything from Black history to sexual health and consent.