What you need to know about Jessica Biel’s sex ed class
Feeling out of touch with your own body? Jessica Biel was when she decided to get pregnant with hubby Justin Timberlake, she told Glamour. So she’s launching an online sex ed class.
Let’s back up: Biel found herself asking some hard questions when she went off birth control for the first time, like when to have sex if you want to conceive and how hard it would be to get pregnant after being on the Pill for a long period of time. “Suddenly I realized I really didn’t know what’s going on inside my own body. It was shocking,” Biel said.
Biel isn’t alone in her confusion —many young women (33 percent) in America haven’t received a formal sex education, and one in four female teens “received abstinence education without receiving any instruction about birth control in 2006–2008,” according to Guttmacher Institute. Furthermore, it’s been proven that the more young men and women understand about sex (instead of being exposed to solely abstinence-only programs), the least likely they will face unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
And teens aren’t the only ones who could benefit from understand their bodies a little bit more. Adult women also have questions about sex, birth control, and getting pregnant. Biel, who is working with Saundra Pelletier (founder of the nonprofit health care organization WomanCare Global), plans on changing this.
When she met with Pelletier, Biel talked about all the questions swimming around in her head and it started a dialog that has ultimately lead to the two teaming up on an online video series aimed at educating women on their own bodies, from puberty to contraception. Pelletier usually works with women in developing nations, and this is the first time she’ll focus on educating women in the U.S. “More than half of our nation’s pregnancies are unplanned, and just 22 states require public schools to teach sex education. Jessica and I realized we can help change this,” Pelletier said.
The videos are available to watch at womancareglobal.org and they’re just the first step in this effort for the ladies. “There is power and dignity in understanding your body,” Pelletier said. Amen sister.
(Image via iStock)
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel just welcomed their son into the world!
