Nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States have experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives. Most female survivors experience this violence before the age of 25, 42% of whom experience violence before the age of 18. More than a quarter of male survivors experience violence at age 10 or younger. Sexual violence disproportionately impacts Black women, the LGBTQIA+ community, women of color, and disabled women. Recently, dozens of former Dorchester District 2 students have come forward with their stories of sexual assault that occurred while they were still in middle and high school--the number of stories is staggering. This issue should be addressed with urgency. Multiple women came together in conversation, realizing that the proper definition of consent and the concept of sexual violence were not adequately discussed and confronted in sex education at our South Carolina public schools. Sex education in SC schools is extraordinarily conservative, which comes at the expense of the health and safety of the community it is supposed to serve and in turn harming vulnerable communities disproportionately. There are many issues with SC sex education legislation and curriculum that have come to our attention. They are outlined below along with our demands. This can not go on any further.

South Carolina legislation has failed our community through:

• Excluding curriculum centered around instruction on teen dating violence, a reform that was attempted in 2019 House and Senate Bills  
• A curriculum that largely focuses on abstinence, shaming students for exploring their sexuality and withholding valuable information about healthy sexual and non-sexual relationships and consent.
• A curriculum that educates students on STDs but neglects to demonstrate adequate means to prevent them and proper resources to turn to.
• A curriculum that teaches contraception only in the context of family planning 
• A largely heteronormative curriculum that only discusses homosexuality within the context of STDs.
• A curriculum that does not properly inform students on abortion as a choice for women. 
• A curriculum that is not required to be comprehensive; one that has no standard regarding medical accuracy.
• Allowing schools to be out of compliance with the Comprehensive Health Education Act on issues related to reproductive health, teacher training, and administration.

In South Carolina, while schools are required to teach sex education, the curriculum is not required to be comprehensive, it must stress abstinence, it does not require instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, and it does not require instruction on the definition of consent or teen dating violence.

In South Carolina the state does not require or suggest a specific curriculum, instead, the Standards for Health and Safety Education guide curricula development (that stress abstinence and prevention of STDs). The power to create a curriculum rests in the hand of a 13-member local advisory committee consisting of two parents, three clergy members, two health professionals, two teachers, two students, and two other persons not employed by the local school district. Vacancies are filled by the county Board of Trustees. The members of this group are not made public on the district websites such as Dorchester District Two. 
 

To preserve the health of our community and to prevent further sexual violence cases, we demand that the sexual education programs in our schools:

• Mandate instruction on consent and decision-making, sexual expression, healthy sexual and nonsexual relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation and questioning, communication, and recognizing and preventing sexual violence
• Provide confidential reporting and counseling resources to student survivors that do NOT involve victim-blaming 
• Include information that is medically accurate, evidence-based, and age-appropriate
• Remove the option to opt-out, as it undermines the health and safety of not only one student, but their classmates, as they would not receive the proper education on consent and sexual violence.
• Include benefits of delaying sexual intercourse while also providing information about normal reproductive development and contraception of different forms, prevention of unintended pregnancies, as well as barrier protection to prevent STIs
• Begin in early childhood and continue throughout K-12 education 
  

We also demand that the members of the Sexuality Education Advisory Committee in each district be made public and accessible to community members that would like to offer input on how sexual education can continue to evolve to fit the needs of the students it serves.

To adequately care for South Carolina students, these changes are essential. Listening to the stories of survivors is heartbreaking. Through sex education, the root of the problem, such as misinformation about consent can and should be addressed.