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“I Wish I Had Been Told the Truth Sooner”: The Sexuality Education College Women Wish They Had

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A Correction to this article was published on 22 November 2023

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Abstract

Introduction

There has been a long-standing debate on what topics should be included in school-based sexuality education in the USA. The purpose of this research was to identify what college women feel they should have been taught in their school-based sexuality education.

Method

Between 2016 and 2017, we collected qualitative survey responses from 90 college women who had completed a human sexuality course at a midwestern US university.

Results

Participants reported they wish they had learned more about (a) sexual empowerment, (b) what sex entails, (c) anatomy and physiology, (d) sexual health, and (e) college culture.

Policy Implications

School-based sexuality education should provide more women-focused topics. Comprehensive sexuality education should be provided to ensure that women are not missing out on topics that are important to them in later life.

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Correspondence to Sarah Kuborn.

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Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

This study was approved by the Kansas State Institutional Review Board (No. 8235).

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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The original online version of this article was revised: the copyright line has been corrected.

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Kuborn, S., Markham, M. & Astle, S. “I Wish I Had Been Told the Truth Sooner”: The Sexuality Education College Women Wish They Had. Sex Res Soc Policy (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00887-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00887-z

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