Georgia College & State University

Core Concepts of Sexual Health and Sex Education

Hannah Turner

KINS 6543 Human Sexuality

Dr. Scott Butler

02 February 2020

Introduction
 When it comes to health and wellness, many may think of an overall state of absence of

illness and being happy. But in actuality, sexual health and wellbeing are a core concept of

health and wellness. People tend to think of “sex” as sexual relations, but generally speaking,

when discussing sex, the proper definition is referring to biological characteristics which define a

male or female. This definition is not mutually exclusive because their can be incidence in which

people are born with both. When speaking on sexuality, this aspect relates more towards sexual

relations and intimacy. It is a central aspect of being human throughout the lifespan which

everyone goes to. Sexuality includes sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation,

eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. All of these are not always experienced or

expressed, but it can include all aspects. Sexuality is continued for life with different experiences

shown in different ways. Through out different relationships, thoughts, fantasies, roles, and

practices, a persons sexuality may vary slightly, especially from person to person. The definition

for overall health and sexual health encompass the same background. Health is not merely the

absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete mental, physical, and social wellbeing. It

is a resource for everyday living that has many different dimensions, including, physical, social,

mental, and spiritual.

Wellness

Wellness encompasses health and also the included dimensions, by having a state of optimal

health and vitality. There are seven interrelated dimensions of health, including:

1) Physical Dimension

This dimension includes the bodies overall functional operation. Healthy behaviors are

the main foundation for the physical dimension of wellness. That being activities like

getting an adequate amount of exercise, eating healthy, making sure the body is

properly rested, avoiding drugs and limiting usage of alcohol. With the lifestyle of

todays humans, it is harder for the physical dimension to be met. People are working
 longer hours to pay bills, not getting enough sleep, and also not meeting dietary

needs. When the physical dimension is met, the overall life span will be

increased,

along with a more pleasurable life.

2) Occupational Dimension

This dimension is vocation and career based. It includes having job satisfaction in

your field of work. Many people are in careers that may not being ideal to what they

had planned to do, but finding happiness in that field or switching jobs, is a key in

wellness. Expansion along with financial achievement, meaning that there is growth in

both of the areas is important. This is basically stating that one person is not stuck in

the same position for the rest of their life. Growth is fundamental for a person to feel

accomplished in their field and show full potential.

3) Intellectual / Mental Dimension

These two dimensions go hand in hand, with both dealing with the mind. The

intellectual area discusses having an active, curious, and open mind. Meaning that a

person has the ability to think in different realms about questions and issues. Also,

that the mind is not limited to one side of thought, showing that biases are limited.

Within the mental dimension, being able to think ethically about issues, pose

questions, and identify problems and solutions are key. Basically stating that thinking

about of the box and not limiting the mental education to just the small things, looking

at both sides of the problems and be willing to learn.

4) Social Dimension

This dimension speaks on a persons ability to get along with others. But also, being

able to accept differences in people. Meaning that one person has trusting

relationships, regardless of a persons different thoughts or views. Also, close ties with

family are important and having trusting relationships. Many people now a days tend
 to have many friends, but the important ideal about the social dimension is not about

the amount of people in your social sphere, but the amount of the relationships that

are put beyond just social outings.

5) Spiritual Dimension

The spiritual dimension does not always have to be synonymous with religion. It can

include religion, but not everyone would consider themselves religious. The dimension

deals more with a development of the inner self and ones soul. Meaning that a person

has found something in themselves that could be considered spiritual. People have to

have a personal meaning of who they are in order to achieve this dimension.

6) Emotional Dimension

This sector is dealing with a positive self concept and also the ability to deal

constructively with feelings. There are three main concepts to this dimension.

Awareness, which is recognizing ones feelings along with others. Acceptance

discusses understand the normality of human emotion. Lastly, management, is the

ability to control person feelings and knowing when and how to seek support. Many

people tend to hide their emotion which is why rates of depression are so high. When

realizing that different emotions are normal, but the ability to differentiate when they

are not, is extremely important in this dimension.

7) Environmental Dimension

This dimension deals with the ability to understand the importance that the physical

environment plays on ones health. Meaning to conserve different earthly resources

but to also eliminate things that are negative on ones own environment. This could

mean more recycling to make the earth a better place, or decluttering the home to

make a personal environment more enjoyable.

Relation to Sexual Health

always ways to work towards the different realms in order to better ones life. Sexual health

relates to majority of the dimensions of wellness, with the definition being: A state of physical,

emotional, mental, and social well being related to sexuality; not merely the absence of disease,

dysfunction, or infirmity. So when relating to the wellness model, physical, emotional, mental,

and social are all aspects in both. Sexual health would encompass the ideals in the wellness

model like, taking care of ones body, having a positive self concept with recognizing others

feelings, the ability to identify problems and pose solutions, and the ability to get along with

others while recognizing differences. If these aspects are placed into sexual health related

ideals, like relationships, healthy and safe sexual choices, and also a feeling of self worth and

fulfillment in the sexual sphere, the overall experience of sexuality will be increased.

Sex Education

Abstinence only sexual education is the teaching that restraining from sexual activities

until marriage is the best way to go. It tells people that abstaining from sex until marriage is the

only way to avoid sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. While this is the

only way to 100% guarantee that these things will not happen, other ways like condoms and

birth control are preventive methods. These are typically not taught in abstinence only education

courses which will lead many teens at the sexually exploring age and not knowing how to

protect themselves. Within the comprehensive sexual education realm, it teaches that

abstinence is the best way to prevent things like STIs and unwanted pregnancies, but also

teaches about different birth control and condom usage. Also, it goes through different bodily

changes that one will experience along with the basic human anatomy. The other important

aspect of comprehensive education is that it teaches adolescents and young adults about

different social encounters and interpersonal skills. This is important for young people to be

taught because they will face different situations in life that call for important decision making

and assertiveness. Whether that be per pressure to have sex or try drugs, or even as basic as
deciding to go to college or not. Many teens now a days are very “yes decision prone” even if

they do not want to do something. It seems to be a fear for a social image, that if they do not do

something or are lacking behind peers in social development that they will not be liked.

Sex Education in the United States

Today in the United States, there have been many wide debates on which type of sexual

education is best suited for American classrooms. Abstinence only education is still widely

approved in the south, even though only 15% of Americans want abstinence only sex education

taught. Comprehensive sexual education needs to be the norm in classrooms to prevent the rise

seen in sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies among young people. Some

believe that if you teach an adolescent (aged 13-18) about sex, that the “mind running wild”

syndrome will occur. Meaning that teaching someone about sex will make them want to go out

and have sex. This idea has been studied and is shown to not be true, with it being more likely

for someone who took an abstinence only pledge to break it. Sexual health is as much

education as other courses that are taught and will play an important part in people for the rest

of their lives. It comes down to the fact that it still is an uncomfortable conversation to talk about,

especially when the P.E. teacher is probably the one teaching it. It would be more beneficial to

have a health educator who specializes in sexual education to be the one teaching the class.

Whether that be a school wide assembly for high schoolers where they know how to properly

relate to the audience and have scientific backed answers to questions. In order to reach the

audience, it is important to think about the changes that are happening at the age and figure out

how many in the age group are having sex. That way it is easier to talk about things like puberty

and condom/birth control methods. Changes do need to be made when it comes to sexual

education, because when looking at statistics, abstinence only education is not working. Nine

million teens and young adults will contract an STI each year, along with more than 750,000

women younger than 20 becoming pregnant. This all reflects back to what was taught in school
and if people knew how to properly protect themselves and make smarter decisions sexually,

there would be a drop in these rates.

Social Issues and Epidemiology in Relation to Sex Education

When looking into sex education, it is realized that it is not only an epidemiological issue,

but also a social issue. There are many people growing up and having skewed views of sex and

how to protect themselves. In return, it is seen that more students are learning about sex from

their peers or from the internet. This type of knowledge will not only teach people wrongly, but

will also miss out on education about contraceptive methods and awareness on STIs.

Pornography seems to be a big way that people are learning about sex. There are some twisted

things on the internet that people may find and think are acceptable. This in turn could lead to

domestic violence or even rape. In relation to social issues, we are also seeing more parents

wanting sex education in schools, but do not voice complaint when it is not taught. Even though

93% of parents claim that their child has benefited from a sexual education, along with 94%

saying that sex education should cover contraceptives. When looking into the epidemiological

realm, STIs are at an all time high in the United States. Younger aged people are contracting

STIs are alarming rates and these have life lasting complications if not treated. It seems to be

an ideal of “that couldn’t happen to me” which makes people more trusting in not using

condoms. But, people do not think about sexually transmitted infections like herpes or HIV that

are not curable. The treatment of STIs and unwanted pregnancies are costing the healthcare

industry billions a year, where also some of that money is coming out of tax payers wallets. A

change does need to be made in relation to sex education, especially if so many people are for

it. Teaching kids at an early age to protect themselves and to make smart decisions about sex

when they are ready will drastically benefit them in the long run.