At face value, the rise of bold, feminist-motivated TikTok videos in the age of #MeToo could signal the end of the State’s reliance on simplistic, awkward demonstrations of the condom-on-a-banana variety to teach children and adolescents about sex. The transnational nature of these videos means that the kind of sex education many wished they had received when they were young is now more easily available. ‘Consent is sexy’, ‘no means no’ – the basic principles of pleasure and reciprocity are free-flowing online.
However, such a notion is somewhat utopian, according to journalist Sophie Smith Galer who has researched sex education in the 21st century. She found that even in the UK – a country decently scored by UNESCO for its sex ed provision – 18-23-year-olds flock to online chat rooms to ask the most rudimentary questions: Should my genitals look like that? Can I get pregnant from masturbation? How do I insert a tampon? Such questions cropping up so late are alarm bells, pointing to deep gaps in our collective knowledge of the basics of sex, never mind addressing issues such as coercion and the nitty gritty of STIs.
