Wake Up and Smell the Condoms: An Analysis of Sex Education Programs in the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, France, and Germany
Sexual health clinics follow specific guidelines to assure that they are accessible to youth.
Wake Up and Smell the Condoms: An Analysis of Sex Education Programs in the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, France, and Germany
Sexual health clinics follow specific guidelines to assure that they are accessible to youth. These guidelines require that clinics accept teen sexuality and sexual behavior, guarantee anonymity, waive Pap smear and pelvic exams for initial contraceptives, provide nonjudgmental service, and require minimal paperwork and no parental consent (Lottes, 2002).
Youth in Sweden also fair significantly better on many measures of sexual health than youth in the United States. Sweden has a teen birth rate of 7 per 1000, which is lower than the US, France, Canada, and Great Britain (Darroch, Singh, & Frost, 2001). The rate teens who neglected to use contraception at most recent intercourse was only 7% in Sweden, compared to 20% in the US (Darroch et al., 2001). Sweden also has a lower teenage abortion rate than the US: 17.2 per 1000 in Sweden versus 29.2 per 1000 in the US (Singh & Darroch, 1999).
Sex education has been mandatory for all students in Sweden since 1955 (Lottes, 2002). Sex education in preschool years has been mandatory since 1956 (McConaghy, 1979). All teachers are trained in sex education as part of their teacher training (McConaghy, 1979). Swedish sex education focuses on providing ho