The topic of sexual violence has always been an extremely sensitive topic in our society, and because of that it is something it tends to be avoided in conversation. In Texas, sex education is something that is not required to be taught, and according to siecus.org, 58.3% of school districts teach an abstinence-only approach to sex ed. Consent is also something that is not required to be taught in schools. In the United States, Texas is the 16th highest state with the most rapes per 100,000 people. With these alarming numbers, it's obvious that the current way we are educating our youth on the subject of healthy sex is not successful.

I am calling upon our state leaders to make a change to this by requiring schools to teach a well-rounded sex education course starting from a younger age, preferably kindergarten. There are appropriate ways to start discussing consent with someone that young, and it helps children start learning about healthy boundaries with their peers. As these children get older, it can transition into more mature topics. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 33% of sexual assault survivors were assaulted around the ages of 12-17. So many of these survivors might not even know how to report this kind of situation because they were never educated on this topic in school. 

I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read this, and I hope you will take a stand with me to encourage the lawmakers in Texas to change our sex education. This will be for the safety of our future generations so that we can hopefully work towards eradicating sexual violence.