Report
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Comprehensive sexuality education is a curriculum-based, rights- and gender-focused approach to sexuality education that aims to equip children and young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that will enable them to develop a positive view of their sexuality in the context of their emotional and social development, and provide them with tools to help prevent child sexual abuse, infections, and early pregnancy. Outright's policy brief outlines the importance of comprehensive sexuality education and the standards for effective and inclusive education on this topic.
Key Points
- Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is crucial for the full intellectual, emotional, and social development of children and young people.
- There is strong global evidence that comprehensive sexuality education leads to positive outcomes, including delayed sexual activity, reduced unintended pregnancies and STIs, improved decision-making, decreased bullying and violence in schools, protection against child sexual abuse, and stronger interpersonal and communication skills, while abstinence-only approaches are shown to be ineffective or harmful.
- To be effective for all students, CSE should include exposure to an understanding of diverse sex characteristics, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientations, and family structures, and should affirm diverse identities and families.
- Governments everywhere should require, fund, implement, and sustain comprehensive sexuality education in schools, and ensure it is age-appropriate and that it includes information about diverse identities and relationships. Governments should stop restricting education on gender and sexuality to provide all students with accurate and inclusive information, a key aspect of human rights protection and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Explore News and Commentaries
We share news, cultural media and advocacy of partners, activists and experts through the lens of LGBTIQ people working on international human rights.
Read Our Insights