“Adolescence,” the wildly popular British Netflix series that has garnered more than 124 million views since its March premiere, sheds light on some dark and disturbing aspects of the online world that many adolescents are accessing: pornography, misogynistic influencers, bullying, and gender-based violence.
Some political leaders are urging high schools to show it to students as a “teachable moment.” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer endorsed Netflix’s initiative to stream the show for free to all secondary schools across the country, noting that it “will help students better understand the impact of misogyny, dangers of online radicalization and the importance of healthy relationships.” That’s possible—especially when paired with open, guided discussions led by educators trained in navigating sensitive content.
Conversations like these, which feature concepts like respect and boundaries, lie at the heart of comprehensive sex education. This approach is rooted in medically accurate, age-appropriate information about sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, and includes life skills such as navigating relationships, understanding consent and bodily autonomy. Experts say such instruction can start as early as elementary school if approached in an age-appropriate manner.
Yet, in much of the United States, this form of education is now either underfunded, optional, or outright banned.
“When it comes to sex education, there’s a broad misunderstanding of what it is we’re talking about,” said Eva S. Goldfarb, a professor of Public Health at Montclair State University in New Jersey and an internationally recognized expert in comprehensive sexuality education. “We tend to look at sex education in this country as pregnancy and [sexually transmitted infection] prevention. … But for many of us, myself included, sex education is much broader; it’s largely about relationships.”
We tend to look at sex education in this country as pregnancy and [sexually transmitted infection] prevention. … But for many of us, myself included, sex education is much broader; it’s largely about relationships.
Eva S. Goldfarb, a professor of public health at Montclair State University in New Jersey and an internationally recognized expert in sex education
A glance at school-based sex education: Incomplete, biased, or nonexistent
Only about half of the nation’s states require sex education in schools. And where it is taught, it often focuses narrowly on avoiding pregnancy, STIs, or both, as Goldfarb noted. Many states promote “abstinence only,” which emphasizes abstaining from sex until marriage—a strategy that research consistently shows is ineffective at reducing teen birth rates.
When students do receive information about healthy relationships within the context of sex education, it usually references only those that take place between heterosexual couples. Some states explicitly prohibit classroom discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation, or require instruction that stigmatizes LGBTQ+ identities and relationships, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that advocates for sexual and reproductive health.
A sampling of current U.S. public school sex education policies:
- 27 states plus the District of Columbia mandate some form of sex education.
- 29 states stress abstinence as a primary method of contraception.
- 11 states require sexual education inclusive of a range of sexualities and gender identities.
- 6 states require instruction that portrays sexualities other than heterosexuality and gender identities other than cisgender as “shameful, unacceptable, or illegal.”
- 7 states prohibit discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity or restrict it to certain age-groups (known as “Don’t Say Gay” policies).
The disconnect between what teens learn in class and online
While schools limit what’s taught about sex and relationships, teens are accessing information about sex online. And the internet paints a very different picture.
A 2022 report from Common Sense Media, based on a nationally representative survey of over 1,300 teens ages 13 to 17, found the vast majority of teens had watched pornography online, with the average first exposure occurring at the age of 12. Forty four percent of teens surveyed said they watch online pornography intentionally, and, among those who do, 59% said they watch it once or more a week. Forty five percent of teens who have viewed online pornography agreed that it provided them with “helpful information” about sex.
Extensive research suggests that this online content does far more harm than good. A 2024 systematic review of studies on the impact of internet pornography on children and adolescents found serious consequences—especially for boys—including: unrealistic and harmful attitudes, beliefs, or values about sexuality and sexual intercourse; earlier sexual experimentation; higher levels of sexual risk activities; female sexual objectification; and sexual aggression.
Threats to further limit sex education in public school classrooms
Despite these risks, federal and state actions are threatening to restrict, or even eliminate, comprehensive sex education in U.S. schools.
“In just over 100 days, the Trump administration has already taken sweeping steps to undermine sexual and reproductive health both at home and globally, closely mirroring the extreme agenda laid out in Project 2025, which explicitly calls for redefining basic sexual health education as “pornography” and replacing it with abstinence-only programs,” said Managi Lord-Biggers, policy associate, federal issues at the Guttmacher Institute.
On April 14, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested that states using the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) program submit their curricula for review to ensure “medical accuracy and age appropriateness.”
“I will ensure the curriculum students are taught is age-appropriate and medically accurate,” Andrew Gradison, acting assistant secretary for ACF, stated in a press release announcing the decision. Gradison, who holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, is neither a medical professional nor an educator.
There is evidence that the PREP program works. A 2021 study of more than 1,000 at-risk Missouri youth in PREP found that 63 percent of participants reported that they planned to abstain from intercourse within the next six months, and 91 percent said they planned to use protection if they did have sex.
Despite such evidence, some states are adopting new laws that emphasize abstinence and fetal development over comprehensive sex education. In April 2024, Tennessee signed into law the Baby Olivia Act, which requires schools to show a computer-generated video of early fetal development, created by Live Action, an anti-abortion group.
Tennessee’s Family Life instruction “emphatically promotes only sexual risk avoidance through abstinence,” according to its website. But the state has no state-approved sex ed curriculum, as that is a local decision, said Brian Blackley, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Education.
Even in places where comprehensive curricula exist, a lack of training for educators remains a critical barrier.
“There are so many opportunities throughout the school day to address students’ questions. But there’s generally zero training for teachers on how to handle normal, sexual, and health-related curiosities and questions that come up in the classroom, so they’re afraid to teach it, even though it’s there all the time,” said public health expert Goldfarb. “So they ignore it.”
