Recommendations

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From invisible to indispensable:

Recommendations

Our findings clearly and consistently point to recommendations that are relevant for a broad array of audiences–including youth educators and advocates, community groups, schools and education systems, curricula designers, policymakers, funders and governments.

1.

Develop inclusive CSE curricula.

2.

Evaluate CSE curricula for effectiveness within bi and pan communities.

3.

Ensure CSE covers interpersonal communication skills for youth of all identities.

4.

Help students understand intersectionality, oppression, and how they’re impacted

5.

Support youth-led advocacy and initiatives, without expecting young people to do it all themselves.

6.

Fund organizations doing bi- and pan-inclusive CSE–and trust them to know what students need.

1. Develop inclusive CSE curricula.

We must work to ensure CSE content includes accurate information, is inclusive of bisexual and pansexual experiences, and incorporates visibility and acceptance of these sexual orientations. CSE programs must address the unique health experiences and disparities of bisexual and pansexual youth without contributing to stigma or harmful narratives.

“All young people deserve to see themselves represented in their curriculum, especially in their sex ed curriculum … every kid comes with a different set of questions and deserves to be able to have an answer. Our opposition seems to think that if they erase certain topics from the curriculum, they can erase the kids who need that information, but that approach is hurting all students.”

— Jewish, cisgender woman, age 50, United States (advocate/educator)

“[What we need is] just clear, cohesive, and active inclusion of [sexual orientation and gender identity], including bisexuality and pansexuality, in the right scenarios that we’re using [in education materials] that clearly label these identities.”

—Latina cisgender woman, age 25, United States

“One of the more important things [in my CSE experience] would have been incorporating bi and pan narratives into the beginning of sex ed, rather than just being like: ‘And, by the way, you could be gay,’ you know, in like the sixth chapter of whatever. Just having that be intentional from the beginning would be a nice way to frame things. Just to get people to be paying attention to that if they’re listening or engaging.”

— White transgender nonbinary person, age 20, United States

Recommendation 1: Develop inclusive CSE curricula.

Evidence supports inclusive CSE

An expansive research project in the United States called the Growing Up Today Study included 27,000 participants. The study concludes that it’s critical that sex education programs become inclusive of sexual minorities. The authors also stress that health-care providers should not make harmful heteronormative assumptions about pregnant patients.

“When we focus on harm reduction, we are stigmatizing teens who do get pregnant and kids who do have STIs. Right? We’re absolutely stigmatizing, and we’re also reducing public perception of agency…I’m really always very cautious about coming out with the message of like, ‘We have to do this to protect this vulnerable class’ because I think that, while it can work in the short term, it does sometimes work in the short term, it can have real negative consequences in the big picture. Like, I don’t want to further stigmatize bi and pan kids in the process of trying to help them.”

— White, Jewish, cisgender female, age 50, United States (advocate/educator)

2. Evaluate CSE curricula for effectiveness within bi and pan communities.

Any CSE curriculum that claims it’s effective and inclusive must take into account the distinct needs of bisexual and pansexual youth and be evaluated on its effectiveness with these groups.

“Statistically, there are a lot of evidence-based programs that are out there that, if we haven’t checked to see if it’s working for bi and pan youth, they can still get that scientific stamp of approval. So, I think we need to set as a goal that programs need to be LGBTQ-inclusive and that we specifically evaluate for inclusion of gay and lesbian youth, inclusion of bisexual and pansexual youth, and inclusion of transgender and non-binary youth, distinctly, even if they’re a small proportion of the study group. That needs to be focused on in order for any program to get that liftoff as an effective comprehensive sexual health education program.”

— White, Phantom (a gender identity chosen by this participant), age 35, United States (advocate/educator)

3. Ensure CSE covers interpersonal communication skills for youth of all identities.

Study participants repeatedly called for CSE to incorporate learning modules on interpersonal communication and relationship building skills, including boundary-setting, consent, and navigating relationships with different partners. (See Resources for advocates and educators for examples of inclusive CSE curricula.)

“I’m involved in pushing towards a skills-based approach, which I think in a lot of ways pushes against abstinence models, thinking developmentally about building skills rather than telling people what to do or not to do; it definitely relates to consent…comprehensive sexual health education should be about helping people be happy. One of my mentors used to say that high-quality sex education can bring about world peace. I think that sex education can really be that personally and politically transformative space.”

— White, Phantom (a gender identity chosen by this participant), age 35, United States (advocate/educator)

4. Help students understand intersectionality, oppression, and how they’re impacted.

Instruction (or even just space for discussion and reflection) on intersectionality–how systems of oppression converge and compound across sexuality, gender, race, ability, class and more–would help bisexual and pansexual youth understand the discrimination they face and how to be more effective advocates for their own health and rights.

“So, where I am in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, I could be teaching in Palo Alto, which is an incredibly wealthy neighborhood, and then go to, like, East Side San Jose, which has a lot less resources, and their ability to talk about these issues lacks greatly. And I think it also has to do with access, because if you have more access [to education, financial resources, etc.], you have a greater ability to engage in discussions, whereas if you don’t, you are probably more worried about what you’re going to eat when you get home. You know, you’re stressing out because you have to babysit your sibling because your parents are working a night shift. Right?”

— Latina cisgender woman, age 25, United States (advocate/educator)

“Comprehensive sex education information has to go through and include a decolonial and indigenizing undertaking because one then gets at the larger, more expansive approaches to sexuality and gender, and therefore comes from a grounded, culturally responsive, culturally relevant place. And I think that’s also important because of the numbers of bi/pan folks who are also BIPOC, the significant number of them… [We also need] intergenerational conversations; so you’re bringing elders and youth and folks who are in between together.”

— Black Bodeme* of African descent, age 50, United States *Bodeme is a sexual orientation and gender identity of the West African Dagara people.

Recommendation 4: 4. Help students understand intersectionality, oppression, and how they’re impacted

5. Support youth-led advocacy and initiatives, without expecting young people to do it all themselves.

Young people should be at the front and center of all efforts to make CSE more inclusive. However, young people should not have to “save us all” and schools, community-based organizations and more should offer support accordingly.

From invisible to indispensable: Recommendation 5

“There’s not one right thing that stays the right thing. And there needs to be that assumption built into curricula, that there’s dynamic, cultural processes. I think that there are lots of brilliant, queer youth who can help inform. However, as a youth development person, I’m also very clear that it’s not about looking to youth as experts to solve their own problems. We need to bring our expertise and strength and be listening and getting input from queer youth. We cannot just say: ‘Oh, this senior group of 17-year-old bisexual and pansexual students should just be the only educators and not have teachers involved,’ because that will not be effective either and that’s not fair…And we don’t want to [tokenize individuals].. What one queer youth says may or may not be the most helpful truth or analysis to bring to the table. So, I think there needs to be that communication and collaboration with a sense of building programs with integrity.”

— White, Phantom (a gender identity chosen by this participant), age 35, United States (advocate/educator)

“Honestly, high school students are pretty bad ass.”

— White transgender nonbinary person, age 20, United States

A new advocacy approach

Advocates may want to leverage an approach called deep canvassing to engage in empathetic conversations and build meaningful connections with stakeholders who aren’t yet supportive of CSE. Read more about the Race Class (Gender) narrative and how long-form conversations can help change hearts and minds on progressive issues, including sex education.

“The conversations can take 15 minutes, a half an hour; they’re deep conversations. And it’s incredibly effective. … It’s genuinely about human people being curious about each other and connecting. And so, we’re launching this deep canvassing project to figure out what the script should be for persuading people on sex education. No one has done it before.”

— White, Jewish, cisgender female, age 50, United States (advocate/educator)

6. Fund organizations doing bi- and pan-inclusive CSE–and trust them to know what students need.

There are already groups doing this important work. They are experts at what works and are building evidence all the time that can be leveraged across all CSE curricula. These groups need financial support to continue and expand their impact.

“I feel like we need to have flexible funding, especially to queer-led organizations or to organizations that are working with the LGBTQIA+community. They need flexible funding, because having a rigid donor or a fund [that] does not take into account the cultural implications of our community, the community dynamics [is challenging]. So, having a flexible donor or a flexible grant would make it easier for us to realize the rights of bi, and queer, and pansexual young people.”

— Luhya, cisgender woman, age 26, Kenya (advocate/educator)

From invisible to indispensable: Recommendation 6

Illustrations by Anusha Raichur

Resources for advocates and educators

click here

Suggested Citation: Ipas & Political Research Associates. (2023). From invisible to indispensable: New research shows why bisexual and pansexual youth need comprehensive sexuality education that meets their needs. Ipas. https://www.ipas.org/our-work/sexuality-education-that-includes-abortion/from-invisible-to-indispensable/

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Recommendations

From invisible to indispensable:

Recommendations

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.

Develop inclusive CSE curricula.

Evidence supports inclusive CSE

2.

Evaluate CSE curricula for effectiveness within bi and pan communities.

3.

Ensure CSE covers interpersonal communication skills for youth of all identities.

4.

Help students understand intersectionality, oppression, and how they’re impacted.

5.

Support youth-led advocacy and initiatives, without expecting young people to do it all themselves.

A new advocacy approach

6.

Fund organizations doing bi- and pan-inclusive CSE–and trust them to know what students need.

Resources for advocates and educators