Young people 'need better sexual health education'

Young people should be given education on sexual health before they begin having sex, the Sex Education Forum has claimed.

According to the national authority on sex and relationships education, this would enable young people to make a "positive, informed choice" before entering into a sexual relationship for the first time.

Spokeswoman Gill Mullinar said that young people are not given access to information on sexual health early enough and that they "need to learn about these things before they're thinking about having sexual intercourse".

"That way, they can make a positive, informed choice rather than simply having sex because they feel pressured into it, the opportunity is there, or they've drunk too much to know what's going on," she claimed.

Ms Mullinar insisted that there is "absolutely no evidence" that sex education encourages underage sex, and added that timely education should be "part of their preparation for adult life".

She also said that lessons are currently "too biological", and that there is no point in children knowing how to use contraception if they're "not capable of talking to someone in order to negotiate that use, or of communicating with them about what [they] want or don't want in a relationship".
  
© Adfero Ltd