Sex education in Utah: What students did — and didn't — learn in the classroom

Salt Lake Community College offers more comprehensive training.(Alexie Zollinger | Amplify Utah) The Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center and the Center for Health and Counseling offer informational materials regarding sex education to Salt Lake Community College students.  | Dec. 11, 2021, 1:00 p.m.This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune, in collaboration with Salt Lake Community College, to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism.Sex education is required curriculum in Utah high schools, but students say the classroom isn’t where they are learning the most.The Utah Board of Education requires eighth through 12th grade health programs to “present a strong abstinence message.” That leaves a lot of questions about how sex works, said Salt Lake Community College student Lauren Hamilton, prompting teens and young adults to do their own research on websites like Instagram and Tumblr, Reddit or from secondhand experiences from friends and peers.Hamilton, a sociology major who also works in the Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center, said she first learned about sex from friends and her first boyfriend.That “isn’t the way you want to learn about sex,” Hamilton said. “It opened the doors for a lot of unhealthy relationship…
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