Celebs, politicians, students and singers have all spoken out about their dire experiences getting sex education at school to highlight the crucial need for changes to the current curriculum.
Education secretary Justine Greening announced earlier today that sex and relationships education (SRE) is to become compulsory for all schoolchildren in England from 2019.
Under the new guidelines, children as young as four will learn about healthy and safe relationships, while secondary school students will be given “age-appropriate” SRE.
At LGBT student event National Student Pride this weekend, The Huffington Post UK caught up with some famous faces to find out why the move is so important to them.
Glamour model Jodie Marsh:
“I think I had sex too young. I don’t really remember getting any kind of sex education from anyone, not school but like parents, family, friends.
“I kind of felt like you were left to figure it out for yourself.”
Stella Creasy MP:
“I remember one afternoon falling asleep in class only to be woken up by someone waving a female condom in front of my face.
“I certainly haven’t looked at a plastic bag the same way since.”
Newsnight presenter Evan Davis:
“I’m trying to remember, it was a long time ago.
“It left me a little bit underprepared for some of the stuff that was going to confront me by the time that I was 16, 17, 18.”
Sarah Nimmo, from the band Nimmo:
“Our sex education was definitely very heteronormative. I bunked a lot of the lessons I think because I felt a bit excluded from the whole experience.”