Why sexual education cannot exist separately from the world young people live in

Young people are growing up in a world where sexuality is highly visible. Sexualised messages can appear in everyday culture and online spaces, often long before anyone has spoken to them directly about what they are seeing.

Much of what young people encounter is sexualised, whether that is the intention of the content or not. They are absorbing these messages while still working out what sexuality means to them.

This is part of the world young people are growing up in, and it needs to be considered when we think about sexual education.

Growing up surrounded by sexualised messages

Sexuality is frequently used to attract attention or create particular ideas about what is desirable. Online, young people can also encounter content that presents sex and relationships in ways that bear little resemblance to their own lives.

They may not have chosen to look for these messages. They can simply appear as part of the world around them.

Young people are encountering these ideas at a time when they are still forming their own understanding of sexuality, which can make it difficult to know how to interpret what they see.

Without context, it can be difficult to understand the message behind what they are seeing. An image may suggest how someone is expected to look, while online content can present particular behaviours as normal. Something shared by another person can also introduce an idea that is completely unfamiliar.

What do young people make of it?

Seeing something does not necessarily mean understanding it.

A teenager may recognise that something is sexual without having the perspective to question the message behind it. They may wonder whether what they are seeing is realistic or whether they are expected to feel the same way.

A young person may have these questions without necessarily having somewhere they feel comfortable exploring them.

This is why sexual education needs to engage with the world young people are actually growing up in. Sexuality does not suddenly enter their lives when an adult decides it is time to discuss it.

How Soma Anima approaches this

At Soma Anima, our online courses recognise that young people are already surrounded by messages about sexuality.

We provide reliable information about sexual development while encouraging young people to think about the ideas they encounter around them. The course material creates opportunities to question assumptions and consider why particular messages about sexuality are being presented.

The aim is not to tell young people what to think about everything they see. It is to give them a stronger foundation from which to interpret the world around them.

Sexual education cannot remove young people from a sexualised culture. It can help them understand the messages they are growing up with, so they are better able to decide what they accept and what they question.