So, I just stared reading @JoEllenNotte's Monster Under the Bed, and I've reached the part where she discusses healthcare providers' sexual health training. Spoiler: they don't get much of it &generally leave med school unprepared to cover anything related to patients' sexuality.

This is 100% why I decided to do the work I do.

I love that this section mirrors so much of the research I've done on this topic. She even uses citations that I could pull from my grad school papers. So I'd like to share some of the stats:

A 2003 survey of med school curricula looked at how many hours were dedicated to sex ed. 13.2% of schools offered 2 hours or less, 24.5% offered between 3-5 hours, 29.6% offered between 6-10 hours, 17.4% offered between 11-19 hours, and 15.3 offered 20 or more hours.

This means less than a third of med school students get 10 or more hours. I once told a doctor I worked with that the average med student received 6-10 hours if sex ed and her response was "that sounds... generous. I got nothing."

When I told this doctor that sex educators regularly tell folks to ask their doctors about sexual health issues that require medical knowledge we don't have, she said (half jokingly) "Don't do that! We don't know anything [about sex]." Anyway, back to stats:

A 2018 study quizzed 178 med students on sexual health. The average student scored 66%/ a "D". Another study of over 2000 med students found only 41% felt they received adequate training to discuss safer sex with patients.

In that same study, only 55% said that they thought counseling patients on safer sex practices was highly relevant. That leaves 45% who thought it was irrelevant. So all of this is to say that there are glaringly obvious gaps in sexuality and reproductive education for doctors.

But people often have no idea this is a problem. I'm met with shock and dismay when discussing it -- not to mention when I bring up the sexism and racism that's baked into many a medical curricula. I'm so happy to see this message being sent out to the masses through this book.

I hope it's able to spark some real change. Thanks @JoEllenNotte!