What is Comprehensive Sexuality Education?

Sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values. It includes sexual development, reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles. Sexuality education begins at home. Parents and caregivers are—and ought to be— the primary sexuality educators of their children.

School-based comprehensive sexuality education, however, can add to the education young people receive from their families. Such programs respect the diversity of values and beliefs represented in the community and help young people mature into sexually healthy adults.

The Goals

Comprehensive sexuality education helps young people gain a positive view of sexuality, provides them with sexual health information and skills, and encourages them to make sound decisions now and in the future.

Comprehensive sexuality education has four main goals:

• To provide accurate information about human sexuality.
• To provide an opportunity for young people to develop and understand their values, attitudes, and beliefs about sexuality.
• To help young people develop relationship and interpersonal skills.
• To help young people exercise responsibility regarding sexual relationships, including addressing abstinence, pressures to become prematurely involved in sexual intercourse, and the use of contraception and other sexual health measures.

The Content

In 1991, SIECUS convened the National Guidelines Task Force, composed of professionals in the fields of medicine, sexuality, and youth services from such organizations as the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes, the National Education Association, the American Social Health Association, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Task Force identified six key concept areas that should be part of any comprehensive sexuality education program:

The Guidelines

The Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education; Kindergarten-12th Grade were designed as a framework to assist communities and schools in developing new curricula or assessing existing programs. The Guidelines include information and messages for teaching 38 sexuality-related topics in an age-appropriate manner. The newly revised Third Edition of the Guidelines is available from SIECUS and can be downloaded free of charge from our website at: http://www.siecus.org/pubs/guidelines/guidelines.pdf

An adaptation of the Guidelines for Hispanic/Latino communities in the U.S. is also available in both English and Spanish and can be downloaded free of charge from our website at http://www.siecus.org/pubs/Hispanic-Latino_Guidelines.pdf and http://www.siecus.org/pubs/Hispanic-Latino_Guidelines_spanish.pdf.