Does sex education promote promiscuity?
Some people believe that talking to young people about sex encourages early sexual activity, but in fact good sex education is vital so young people can make informed choices. In Britain most teenage pregnancies occur in young people who have had a relatively poor education – including sex education. All west European countries have lower teen conception rates than the UK, probably because they have far better sex education than Britain does. In Holland young people are carefully warned about both the attractions and dangers of sex. As a result, the rate of teen births is one sixth what it is in Britain. The only western country that has a worse teenage pregnancy rate is the USA – where education about sex is patchy or non-existent, and can simply rely on promises of chastity. We saw for ourselves the effect of sex education during research for one of our books. We interviewed a group of children in the West Country aged 12 to 13 who were all mums, and a group of children in Hertfordsh
