Over 75 percent of students will engage in at least one instance of sexual intercourse before graduating from university, with roughly half of this percentage losing their virginity before the end of freshman year. The global average age for both men and women to lose their virginity is just above 17 years old, placing countries with the youngest average age to engage in consensual sex just under age 16, and the country with the oldest average above 22 years old. Despite these small variances between virginity loss amongst nations, students’ undergraduate college years are an important period where young men and women are almost certain to encounter a situation where the possibility of having sex arises. However, even though sex (or the choice to not engage in sex) is a prominent component of most students’ collegiate experiences, the topic of sexual intercourse remains a taboo subject in many facets of culture across the world. Chinese sophomore Katrina Xu explains from her experience, “We had a class on sex in junior high school, but it was very general information from our textbook and had no details. My mom talks to me sometimes about sex but not my dad.” Almost 5,000 miles away in Poland, students “do have sex ed, but it’s basically learning the names of the parts of the organs,” according to sophomore Aleksandra Lekowska. She continues, “You get a grade for the class, so it can be very academic. There’s no ‘human’ approach and nothing about having sex either. It was very much taboo because of the religion they also teach you at school, but I think it’s slowly getting more open.” When asked about his high school sexual education courses, Honduran Fernando Medina explained, “We did have sex ed, but it was part of a “character education” class. The sexual education class mostly explained the biological components of sex because there is a strong religious presence in the country and school. Most of the course antagonized anything that was not heteronormative, and they separated boys and girls for the talks.” American sophomore Danielle Sanger comments on her sexual education experience, “When I was maybe six or seven my mom talked to my about what sex was and how it worked, and then in middle school we were separated by sex and we learned basic information about sex. When I was in eighth grade, we had boys and girls together, and we learned about sex and different diseases you can get. They didn’t really explain how sex happens other than saying to use a condom. But they didn’t teach us about any other forms of birth control or how to even use a condom. They just had an assumption that people shouldn’t have sex until they are married.” Richard Awuku-Aboagye of Ghana commented, “Sex education in Ghana exists but in a very limited fashion. I obtained most of my sex education in my biology classroom and an hour and a half session organized in my high school on the topic. Talking about sex is also an awkward experience that most parents don’t have with their kids. However, the government does have a lot of promotional advertisements to advocate for the use of condoms or abstinence in general. Professor of NYU’s Silver School of Social Work, Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, is currently establishing a program in the Bronx where fathers of teenage sons learn about effective ways to talk to their children about sexual health. The program seeks to integrate both the educational system and parental responsibility in teaching young men and women about proper sexual relations. But with such a diverse student body selected from a variety of nations, which may lack an equivalent to such a program, NYU Shanghai is often placed in a delicate position when providing resources for students, and addressing sexual education is no exception. However, despite differences in sexual education styles across different cultures, most students engage in sexual relations at some point during college. Proper education regarding birth control, STD’s, and healthy relationships is crucial at all universities, and I believe that NYU Shanghai has a responsibility to examine the most appropriate methods to spread an understanding of safe sex across as many different cultural backgrounds as possible. While some students may be comfortable with learning about sex in a classroom setting, others may be more accustomed to private discussions on sexual health. Some students feel more comfortable learning from professionals while others from parents or trained student leaders. Providing a safe environment for students to learn about healthy sexual relations is a responsibility of all universities, and NYU Shanghai should cater its programs to suit the needs of a diverse student body. This article was written by Lizzy Leclaire. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: On Century Avenue.