What is the future of sex education? How can we utilise advancing technologies to provide reliable sex education? How do we ensure the sex education provided online is reliable? Guest blogger Eva Baker asks all of these questions as she looks into sex in the 21st century…

The context in which sex education is taught has always extended beyond the classroom. From conversations with friends, to TV and movies, to the endless sea of information available on the internet, young people now have more avenues through which to learn about sex and relationships than ever before.

It’s no surprise that young people across the world can find state-sponsored sex education in schools a bit of a cringe-worthy ordeal. Learning about the intricacies of sexual behaviour, as well as the risks and dangers it can bring, in a stuffy classroom surrounded by your peers and under the judgemental eyes of a teacher is not an ideal scenario in which to encourage honest discussion and open debate.

In America, it seems a substantial group of young people and social workers have taken this realisation to heart, and started to explore alternative avenues for sexual enlightenment. The New York Times recently reported on a wave of technologically-savvy sex education sweeping communities across the United States.

In the US of A, organisations like ICYC (In Case You’re Curious) are offering teenagers an anonymous, instant and illuminating way of getting those burning questions about sex and relationships answered. The service provides text message answers to young people’s enquiries, which many American teenagers have found to be a far more appealing option than going though the embarrassment of quizzing a parent or teacher on issues of a sexual nature.

Whilst curriculums in schools across the world vary hugely in quality and accessibility, there seems to be a sense of agreement amongst young people that’s it’s time to bring sex education into the modern age.  The internet and modern technology have the potential to provide a wealth of information to young people who want to know the facts of all matters love and lust related, and it’s important that we learn to harness that power, and provide young people with a relevant and engaging platform that speaks to them, instead of alienating them.

The internet as a platform has always had its set-backs as well as advantages, and many concerns have been raised that alternative online sex education resources don’t have to follow the same guidelines and regulations enforced by government departments in the way that schools do. Plus, you can bet your bottom dollar that if you Google the word ’sex’ the first few hundred things that appear on the screen aren’t exactly going to have the principles of education at their heart.

Despite the unreliability of the internet as a source of public information, a brave new wave of innovative technological platforms and initiatives that aim to shed some much-needed light on those all-important sexual matters is a welcome change in the tide. If the internet can be a place where young people can connect on a global level and talk honestly and openly about the joys and pains of sexual experience, I think we should open the flood gates.

The greatest thing technology has the power to unlock, is not just information, it’s connection. If young people around the world can share their experiences and anxieties around sexual life on a digital platform that operates outside the cultural, religious and authoritarian barriers often enforced by the classroom, the world might just be a better place.

So we ask YOU: Where do/did you get most of your information around sex?

And do you agree that online and mobile resources will have a positive impact on enhancing sex education for young people?