This last post for my blog has less to do with the scanning process and more on how I am applying everything I have learned into the real world. I created a survey that asks ten questions, all of which are fairly simple and easy to expand on. They are meant to get people to think about their own sexual education and how it shapes the way they view their sexual health. When you put out a survey for people to participate in, you open yourself up to a bunch of different variables.
Because my survey is anonymous, it allows people to be more “honest” about their opinions on the topics of women’s sexual health. I’ve gotten mixed result, most of which from people living in Ohio but I have also gotten results from California and Connecticut. Sometimes anonymity allows people to express their true feelings, one that goes along with what Hillary Clinton believes, that they are just too afraid to express. Whether it be from family pressure, peer pressure, or religious pressure, it can be difficult to express one’s true political opinion if doing so will create a hostile environment. The other outcome is that people don’t hold back and blindly attack things that they most likely are not even educated on. When prompted about Planned Parenthood (no mention of abortion), one person responded “Hell no!! Baby killers”. It is because of candidates like Donald Trump that uses fear-mongering tactics to gain votes that allow for opinions such as these.
Mostly, I am getting people from seemingly different backgrounds talking about how they wish for a more comprehensive sex education program. A lot of the issues related to women’s sexual health can all be traced back to the issues in our sex education programs. The point of my survey is to see how people, both men and women, feel about their sexual health and how secure they are with it. I have found that most of the people responding so far didn’t feel comfortable with their sexual health as young adults. Going to the gynecologist was a scary thing to them and to some, it still is. I’ve had a few people respond that they refuse to go back to the doctors because of a previous experience. This survey has already done exactly what I had hoped it would, it is highlighting the problem that is at the root of sexual health. When a society fails to fully educate an individual on their sexual health and sexual identities, we are setting up citizens who are ignorant and afraid of their own sexual parts and health. It causes them to turn their backs on organizations like Planned Parenthood and blind them to the fact that an organization like this helps so many people reach affordable reproductive healthcare. I will be interested to see the rest of the results from my survey and to see the different results I get.