I can't recall the specifics of my middle school and high school Sex Ed classes. A variety of gym teachers led it, and the instructional materials seemed to consist of dated videos—footage that resembled something from the 90s—along with a few handouts from older textbooks.
What I do remember is that it was bad. And I knew it was bad because I compared it to how my mom, with her minor in human sexuality, talked about sex.
Growing up, my mom always said we could ask her anything we were curious about, whether we heard it in school or felt it in our bodies. One by one, she would answer our questions patiently and intentionally.
As I got older and started taking those gym-teacher-led "Human Development" classes—with not so much as a cucumber and condom in the room—it became clear that my mom was perhaps the only adult who was consistently comfortable talking about these topics. My teachers weren’t, and neither were my friends' parents.
My cofounder and lifelong friend, Morgan, had an even more repressive experience. Growing up with first-generation immigrant parents, sex education—or any topics related to intimacy—were completely avoided.
So, my friends and I, including Morgan, would gather at my house. We’d pull my mom into the room, and my friends would shoot off their questions. One by one, my mom would answer them patiently and intentionally, just like she always did.
No one, except for my mom, would talk to us about sex, relationships, or our bodies, even though that’s all we wanted to talk about. This need to understand what was okay and what wasn’t haunted us as adolescents. And this refusal from our schools to talk about sex created a culture of slut-shaming, homophobia, and multiple instances of teen pregnancy. It was exhausting, and the frustration stuck with me.
So, I decided to do something about it.
I met with my AP Government teacher and our student council supervisor to build a formal proposal to revamp our school’s sexual education. To this day, I am grateful for his complete and utter support of the mission I was on.
But, like my mom, he was the exception—not the rule.
I was stood up twice by the head of Human Development and eventually turned down completely because it was an evangelical school. Our board would never approve the proposal—it was “inappropriate.”
So, that was that. Bad sex ed, with no interest in even improving it.
What happened next? We spread mono among each other. Toxic relationships bloomed. People stayed in the closet well into college.
My experience with sex education isn’t unique.
Only about half of states require sex education to be taught, and only a quarter require medically accurate information. As of 2020, fewer than half of high schools and only 20% of middle schools teach all 20 essential sex education topics recommended by the CDC, such as contraception, consent, and healthy relationships.
And we pay the price for it.
The United States has higher rates of teenage pregnancies and STIs compared to other developed countries that implement comprehensive sex education.
Here’s the catch—the reason why so many people resist improving sex education: they don’t understand one fundamental thing.
Sex Ed isn’t just about sex.
It’s about relationships and communication. It’s about the spectrum of people that exist. It’s about our relationships with ourselves and with each other. It’s about consent, understanding our bodies, and knowing our boundaries.
A lack of sex education manifests into a misunderstanding of ourselves and one another, and that confusion seeps into our culture and laws. The adults who should be educating us never got the right sex ed themselves. It’s an endless cycle.
So, Roe v. Wade was overturned. People refuse to sell cakes to gay couples. Schools burn books about love because they mention "inappropriate" topics, yet they don’t hold men accountable for consent violations.
I don’t want to replace schools, educators, or parents. I don’t want to sell a product directly to your kid.
What I want is to give YOU the tools to ensure your kids get the education and resources they need to thrive. I want to give YOU control over determining which curriculum will be most important and effective.
Together, we can create a healthier world for children to grow up in.
Jenna Scherma
Founder of Mobo
