Why Are the U.S. and Great Britain So Squeamish About Sex Education?

Most debates over sex education revolve around the choice between promoting strictly abstinence versus teaching students about safe sex. But a region in Spain is breaking open a new can of worms in its decision to launch a campaign on masturbation. Why do nations with strong Roman Catholic underpinnings, like Spain, take more liberal approaches to sex education than many of their Anglo counterparts?

The Spanish region of Extremadura, via funding from its youth and women’s affairs department, has begun a campaign with a slogan of, “Pleasure is in your own hands,” which is aimed at 14 to 17 year-olds and includes brochures and workshops on self-pleasuring techniques and self-esteem.

There are, of course, conservative adversaries to the program who say that Extremadura will become the “laughing stock of Spain.” But other regions in the nation are considering adopting the program, and the campaign falls in step with the generally liberal stance most Western European nations of Catholic origin have taken toward sex education. Take Scotland, for instance, which recently introduced a program that would educate children as young as four on anatomy, sexually transmitted infections and the HIV virus.

It’s countries like the United States, Britain and Wales – Western nations with far weaker ties to Catholicism – who shy away from the advocacy of sexual activity, often neglecting the discussion of contraception and masturbation in sexual education programs.

A 2006 article from the Washington Post discussed the differences in views on sex education between many Western European nations and the U.S., highlighting an interview with leading researcher in European teen sexuality Pierre Andre-Michaud. He explained that the fundamental views toward sex between the regions are different, alongside the somewhat counterintuitive notion that the Catholic Church takes a hands-off approach to sexuality.

“Religion tends to insert itself less in government policy on sex education, contraception and abortion in Western Europe than in the United States,” the article reads.

"All in all, the church has been very tolerant and does not really get involved in sexual matters,” Michaud explained.