Ten of 17 interviewees described difficulty, and researchers say curricula and clinicians should do more
Young LGBTQIA+ People Struggle to Find Consent Information Online, Interviews Show
Ten of 17 interviewees described difficulty, and researchers say curricula and clinicians should do more
The Interviews
A project published on MediaCommons, Online Consent Education and LGBTQIA+ Youth, reports interviews with 17 LGBTQIA+ young people aged 15 to 25 about how they search for sexual health information online. The interviews took place in 2020. The page does not name the author, who writes in the first person as the curator of the interviews.
The central finding is that ten of the 17 interviewees, about 59 percent, described difficulty finding relevant consent information. With so small a group, the figure is best treated as a signal and not as a population estimate. It still illustrates a gap that educators and health professionals have described elsewhere.
What Participants Wanted
Participants said they wanted consent information that speaks to LGBTQIA+ relationships. The author reports that standard sex education does not adequately cover consent, or many other topics relevant to LGBTQIA+ youth, so young people turn to Google, social media and other online resources.
That route has risks. Search results vary in quality and accuracy, and social media content may be shaped by algorithms and commercial incentives. Young people who search because school has not given them what they need are left to judge reliability on their own.
A Resource That Worked
The author highlights Scarleteen’s “Quickies: Sexual Consent Basics” as a model. It avoids gendered language and presents consent as an ongoing process in any relationship. Its format presents the basics, adapts an existing consent tool and links to further resources.
Scarleteen is an independent sexuality education site for teens and young adults. The curator singles out its inclusive language and its treatment of consent as continuing, as opposed to a single moment of agreement. Those features are what the interviewees said they lacked elsewhere.
What the Research on Programs Says
The question of what good sex education looks like has a longer research history. Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education, by Eva S. Goldfarb and Lisa D. Lieberman, found evidence for the effectiveness of approaches that address a broad definition of sexual health. The summary hosted by the Future of Sex Education Initiative says effective programs take a positive, affirming and inclusive view of human sexuality, and that sex education is linked to benefits beyond pregnancy and disease prevention, including physical and mental health.
The same page refers to a separate analysis from February 2026, titled Promising Approaches to Comprehensive Sex Education, which identifies early, inclusive, curriculum-integrated sex education taught by well-prepared educators as especially effective. The summary gives no numerical results, so the strength of those effects cannot be stated here.
The two sources address different things: one is a small set of interviews about experiences, the other a review of program evaluations. Together they make the case that the content of sex education, and who it is written for, matters.
Why Inclusive Language Matters
Consent education that assumes a particular kind of couple, usually a man and a woman, leaves out many young people. Guidance that talks about who should ask and who should answer on the basis of gender does not fit relationships in which those roles are not assigned in advance. Interviewees said they wanted information that speaks to their own relationships, and the resource the curator praised does so by using plain, gender-neutral wording.
Inclusive wording is not a matter of style alone. When young people see themselves in a text, they are more likely to read it, trust it and apply it. When they do not, they look elsewhere, and what they find may be less accurate or less safe.
Recommendations
The MediaCommons author recommends three steps. Sex education curricula should include consent education for all students. Healthcare providers should routinely discuss consent with patients. And until those changes happen, educators and others should reach young people outside these institutions, for example through online resources like Scarleteen.
The recommendations are modest and practical. They do not require new research before action, though they would benefit from evaluation once adopted.
The Role of Schools and Clinicians
The recommendation for health professionals deserves attention. A routine conversation about consent in a clinic normalises the topic, gives a young person a safe adult to ask, and lets the clinician correct misunderstandings. It also reaches young people who do not use the sites that curators recommend.
Schools face a different challenge: curricula are set by states, districts or ministries, and what can be taught varies widely. The review of three decades of research argues for early, inclusive, curriculum-integrated approaches taught by well-prepared educators, which implies investment in teacher training as well as in content.
Limits and Cautions
Seventeen interviewees cannot represent all LGBTQIA+ young people. The sample was recruited for a qualitative project, and the page does not describe how participants were chosen or where they lived. Their experiences are real and informative, and they cannot be extrapolated into rates.
Readers should also remember that online resources are no substitute for support from trusted adults, teachers and clinicians. Young people with questions about consent, safety or sexual health can speak to a school nurse, a doctor or a local sexual health service. Anyone who has experienced coercion or assault should contact a qualified support service.
Humour as a Mirror
Markets that worry are easy to laugh at, and the Cebu condominium story has drawn plenty of that: empty showrooms in Manila News, paperwork for British pensioners in the London Prat (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and long showings in Bohiney. See also prat.uk and bohiney.com.
For the lighter side of the news, there is always NewsThump.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/