Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Suite , Los Angeles, CA , kkubicek chla. A growing body of research is investigating the effectiveness of abstinence only sexual education. There remains a dearth of research on the relevant sexual health information available to young men who have sex with men YMSM.
Kirby et al. According to Strouse and Fabes , the purpose of sexual education has been to promote healthy sexual relationships, encourage responsible decision-making, and reduce the incidence of unintended teenage pregnancies and STIs. This paper explores the formal sexual education experiences of a sample of YMSM and the more informal sexual education sources they used to fill in their gaps in knowledge. Also described are the early sexual experiences of these young men, which oftentimes included risk behaviors due to their lack of knowledge on sexual risk.
Homosexuality and safe sex are integral topics for the healthy sexual development of YMSM. Of the teachers who address homosexuality as part of their sexual education curricula, the topics most commonly addressed are defining homosexuality, tolerance and prejudice, health issues and myths about homosexuality Telljohann et al.
A Massachusetts study found that LGB youth were less likely than heterosexual youth to report having received information about HIV or instruction related to condom use Blake et al. However, in the same study, LGB youth who received gay-sensitive HIV curricula and materials were less likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors. In addition to schools, another common source of sexual education is parents and other family members. Alternative sources of sexual education have become increasingly important for young people in general.
The lack of gay-related topics in sexual curricula at schools and at home may lead some YMSM to seek out relevant sexual education from these sources. There is limited research on the sources that YMSM are most likely to access for sexual education, but studies suggest that YMSM rely on alternative sources for sexual education, such as pornography, the Internet, and early sexual experiences Kubicek et al. The Internet provides accessible information for many youth.
