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Pitt State student Ashley Riggs created a petition calling for parents to teach proper sex education to their homeschooled children.
“I decided to do my project on homeschooled kids and sex education because I have a friend who herself had not received a proper sex education as a homeschooled child and I thought that was absurd,” Riggs said. “I began thinking about… (this project) after we discussed how when she had her first period, she was terrified because no one explained to her what was going on,” Riggs said. “…After asking her mom about it and… (asking) her mom what was wrong, her mom’s only response to her lack of knowledge was, ‘Well, didn’t you see it somewhere in one of your books or something?” Riggs said.
Inadequate sex education, or none at all, can lead to pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), sexual transmitted infections (STI), and other issues according to Riggs.
“…Women and men need to be informed about their bodies,” Riggs said. “They need to know how to prevent pregnancy, how to prevent STIs from happening, and most of all how to look for warning signs and ways to protect oneself against unwanted sex. Knowledge is power and the more we allow people to go through one of the most major life-changing events such as potential childbirth, possibilities of getting STI’s in one’s body, or being in a relationship with the potential of being abused sexually or etc., blindly the more we perpetuate rape culture, spreading of deadly sexually transmitted infections, and early childbirth which can happen as early as when a child hits puberty which is getting younger and younger.”
Riggs petition can be found at http://chng.it/nHqQhsqN.
“If people could sign this link and share it with all of their friends and family, we can get more signatures which will help build support for this cause,” Riggs said. “There is also a way to donate to the petition on its website to guarantee that more and more people will be exposed to this petition.”
Riggs believes that everyone should have a proper education.
“I am hoping to stop perpetuating… (the) horrific aftermaths of these effects of children not being educated enough,” Riggs said. “I want my friend to have a fair shot at life, and I feel that part of that has been robbed of her because not only did she not learn about sex (but) she had to learn what a period was the hard way, and every man and woman should have the right to know about his or her bodies.”