RH Reality Check is sponsoring Fresh Focus: a sex ed digital education contest. Entrants can make videos either 1) describing their sex education experiences or 2) describing how they would redesign sex ed curricula for the future. Prizes for winners include a $3,500 scholarship, $1,000 cash and a Nintendo Wii or other gadgets. The contest deadline is Dec. 31, 2007.

Next week, I’ll post an entry about how people interested in sex education communicate with others with similar interests, as well as how they get information about breaking news in sex education. I think this contest is an interesting way to try to engage people who are interested in this topic. The call-for-entries poses this question: “Why is Sex So Interesting and Sex Ed So Boring?” I think this also raises the issue of why sex education might not always get the visibility it deserves and how to better engage people in this topic. I think RH Reality Check is hoping this is one way to raise awareness and visibility for this topic. What do you think? What other tactics would you try to get people involved in this issue?

The D.C. public school system is overhauling its sex education curriculum, but not everyone is happy, according to the Washington Times. Opponents to the proposed guidelines say the curriculum is biased against abstinence-only education, promotes homosexuality as innate and is not age-appropriate.

The proposed guidelines state the following:

• Ninth-graders should be taught to “analyze trends in … contraceptive practices, and the availability of abortion.”
• Eighth-grade students should be taught the definition of sexual orientation “using correct terminology” and learn that some people “may begin to feel romantically and/or sexually attracted to people of a different gender and/or to people of the same gender.”
• Sixth-grade students should be taught that “people, regardless of biological sex, gender, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity and culture, have sexual feelings and the need for love, affection and physical intimacy.”

Sex education’s role in D.C. may be under particularly scrutiny right now. According to the article, a recent report released by city officials says the number of AIDS cases per 100,000 residents in the District is much higher than the national average and that HIV cases in recent years have increasingly resulted from heterosexual contact.

The proposed guidelines still need to be given final approval by the school board before the standards are used to develop a health curriculum for public school students.

A New York Times blog post draws a comparison between the seemingly unrelated driving exam in South Africa and abstinence-only sex education in the U.S.

An article in The Evening Observer discusses the evolution in Jamestown’s sex education programs after the national spotlight on Nushawn Williams, who infected more than a dozen girls with HIV in the area in 1997, knowing he was HIV positive. The youngest girl was 13, the oldest in her mid-20s.

When DiMaio [a former health educator] first started teaching in the early 1970s, he said sex was something which couldn’t be discussed in health class. But then Nushawn appeared, and things changed pretty quickly.

‘‘Jamestown went from being very, very, very conservative on sexual education,’’ he said, ‘‘and then we went to being very progressive about it. I think what happens is some of these (organizations) had to rush into it real quick because they didn’t have anything.’’

After news of the HIV outbreak, there was a study in six county schools at the request of the Chautauqua County Health Department to provide insight into adolescents’ thinking, and their behaviors and attitudes.

The study found almost all high school students answered questions about HIV correctly, while two-thirds of younger students did as well. Ninety-five percent of the respondents indicated they learned about AIDS in school, with more than half indicating they had received flyers and pamphlets on the subject.

The researchers also found almost a third of the students had kissed by seventh grade, more than one-third of the eighth-graders had been touched on the breast or genitals. And of the 2,503 who answered the question, ‘‘Have you ever had intercourse,’’ 704 indicated ‘‘yes.’’ Many reported being sexually active between the ages of 13 and 16, with 47 percent of respondents indicating they did not or had never used a condom.

After the results of the report were published, Ms. Metzger said there was an increase in sexual education programming in area districts and communities. However, she and other county officials have noticed a drop in the number of programs offered as the years went by after the incident.

This article is an interesting look at one town’s increased scrutiny of its sex ed programs following a major event. It also raises the issue of how administrators and communities can continue to promote sex education over time, rather than having the programs languish as they did in Jamestown’s case.

The stereotype of “cheesy,” outdated sex education videos with actors from the 1980s apparently has some truth. The Charlotte Observer reports that the Union County school district in North Carolina is modernizing its sex education program by investing in DVDs showing kids using current technologies such as iPods and the Internet, which may make it easier for them to relate to kids in the videos.

The materials teachers have used for years have copyright dates of 1989 and 1990, and kids often roll their eyes at the dated lessons, said Secondary Education Director Nancy Addison.

“One video had Kirk Cameron (from the 1980s sitcom “Growing Pains”), and the kids were like, `Who is he?’ ” Addison said.

The district spent more than $12,000 on new materials, which teachers can’t use until parents have had a chance to review them and the school board votes to approve them.

It’s interesting that even seemingly secondary issues, such as how teens are depicted in sex education programs, can influence their effectiveness and that this needs to be considered against today’s backdrop. Do you think this will help the curricula resonate better with today’s students or make some difference? It also raises the question of how often these DVDs need to be updated, considering today’s fast pace of technological changes.

Here are some truly vintage sex education videos for your viewing pleasure:

Your Body During Adolescence (1955):

ALSO: Watch Molly Grows Up (1953)