A Miseducation: Perspectives on Sexuality Education from Black Women in the US South

Rebecca Hailu Astatke, Yves-Yvette Evans, Stephanie Baker, Monica Simpson and Terri-Ann Thompson ()
Additional contact information
Rebecca Hailu Astatke: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Yves-Yvette Evans: Ibis Reproductive Health, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA
Stephanie Baker: Department of Public Health Studies, Elon University, Elon, NC 27244, USA
Monica Simpson: SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, Atlanta, GA 30377, USA
Terri-Ann Thompson: Ibis Reproductive Health, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Over the last three decades, the receipt of formal sexuality education has declined, with half of adolescents nationwide receiving the minimum Healthy People standard of sexuality education from 2015 to 2019. Further, racial and geographic inequities in sexuality education remain, with Black women and girls more likely to receive abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction. We sought to describe Black women’s sexual education in two southern states, North Carolina and Georgia. We conducted a qualitative community-based participatory research study. We held focus-group discussions with forty-nine Black women in Georgia and North Carolina between May 2019 and January 2020. The research team, the reproductive justice organization, and the Research Board reviewed, discussed, and refined themes developed using deductive thematic analysis. Most participants were employed. The median age was twenty-seven. From the participants’ accounts, we observed the inadequacy of sexuality education and the resulting process of unlearning inaccurate, negative information and learning positive and accurate information about sexuality. Participants expressed a desire for accessible, high-quality sexual education for themselves and the next generation that addresses autonomy, pleasure, and consent. Our findings highlight the need for investment in existing community efforts and in creating high-quality, culturally responsive comprehensive sexuality education nationwide to effectively address structural barriers to accessing sexuality and relationship information and skills.

Keywords: sexuality education; Black women; United States; community-engaged; qualitative; community-based participatory research; sexual and reproductive health; social barriers; racial inequity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/11/1516/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/11/1516/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:11:p:1516-:d:1521123

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().