Eros Impacts Of Lack Of Sexual Education Or Retention On Adults

0:00All right, so let's talk about what impacts do traditional and comprehensive sexual education

0:09and the lack of retention as well as the lack of content or material necessary for adults.

0:16What impacts does that have?

0:21What impact does that have on adults, particularly middle-aged and for this course, middle-aged

0:29men?

0:32The biggest impact that those education courses have is misinformation leading to misattribution

0:45or lack of information leading to misattribution.

0:50So it really creates a cascading impact on how we believe our body and the bodies of

1:00others should function, the purpose of sex or intimacy.

1:07And what I mean by that is when we're not getting the information that we want in school

1:16or at home, oftentimes we will seek it out or adolescents will seek out this information

1:22in other ways.

1:24So as I'm sure you're already thinking about, and maybe put this in the comments in the

1:31chat, where did you receive a lot of the sexual information that you actually wanted to know,

1:39that you actually wanted to know?

1:44Did you get it off of Google?

1:46Did you get it out of peer interactions?

1:52Did you overhear a big brother or big sister talking about something?

1:57Perhaps we viewed pornography or got a certain kind of magazine to get more information.

2:07The problem with a lot of those is that it creates misinformation or it promotes misinformation.

2:14What we know about most types of, let's say, pornography is that it's not realistic.

2:20Those are not the sounds people usually make.

2:23That's not the time it normally takes.

2:25And this is also promoted if that doesn't apply to you or your practice.

2:31This also happens in other types of settings like rom-coms, and while it might make sense

2:37in terms of how much time they have to film things, it also promotes misinformation.

2:43So if we're getting inundated with all of this inaccurate information, it creates something

2:51that we refer to as misattribution.

2:55Misattribution occurs when this incorrect or maybe exaggerated information is obtained,

3:04and it creates an unrealistic expectation of yourself, of other people, and of the body

3:12or sexual experiences in general.

3:14So what does that mean?

3:18Misattribution actually can promote shame, and this is where we start to talk about the

3:22interaction between sexual health and functioning and mental health.

3:27So it promotes a lot of shame.

3:30People that are experiencing a lot of shame typically don't seek out health as much.

3:35We think that something is wrong with us, or we start to have these internal negative

3:40narratives that start to happen as a result.

3:43What we also know is that they are interdependent, meaning that our mental health also influences

3:49our sexual health and well-being, and so it makes it more likely that things will lead

3:54to some sort of dysfunction.

3:58It creates a cascade effect.

4:00So it promotes shame.

4:03It promotes this idea that our body isn't doing what it's, quote, supposed to do, and

4:11that can lead to a lot of anxiety around sexual performance.

4:20The other important thing that it has an impact on or has historically had an impact on, like

4:27we talked about earlier, is this idea of sexual assault and what happens when a male is or

4:38has experienced that.

4:42And so what we know, you know, we've already gone over the WHO definition or the World

4:46Health Organization definition of what sexual assault is, and that it wasn't until 1994

4:53that that definition was really expanded essentially to include men or the fact that women could

4:58be perpetrators, and that's important.

5:02That's really recent, and it promoted stigma from within the mental health community itself.

5:11What we know now is by the expansion of that definition that 36 to 46% of males between

5:18the ages of 16 and 30, so we're talking in that adolescent headed toward middle age but

5:27not quite there yet, that 36 to 46% of males in this age have actually reported sexual

5:34assault with this expanded definition.

5:38Think about how many people or how many men and adolescents actually probably have experienced

5:46that before that did not get included in that definition.

5:53Think about how that promotes shame from within the community.

5:56If you're being told that the same thing that maybe happened to you happened to a female

6:01friend, but yours doesn't count, and if you do tell people, their response or the legal

6:07system's response to that was typically not as serious of an offense or a consequence

6:13as what it would have been in the reverse if the male was a perpetrator.

6:17So those things are really important to recognize, especially because the largest sexual assault

6:27that occurred within this percentage of males was pressured or feeling pressured to have

6:34sex.

6:35That's really important.

6:38That's really important to teach our youth.

6:40That's really important to know as somebody in college.

6:43Those are things and those are the types of statistics that need to be included.

6:49There is also a change or a shift in that one in five males reported sexual assault

6:55in their lifetime.

6:57So what we know has predominantly been from the Department of Veteran Affairs and other

7:02types of female-geared sexual assault helplines and that kind of thing where we're talking

7:08about one in three, one in four, a really high percentage of women who have fallen into

7:16this category.

7:18What we didn't typically include was that with the expansion of the World Health Organization's

7:25definition, one in five or up to one in five men have actually experienced some sort of

7:30sexual assault during their lifetime.

7:33Now, they found that the highest risk group was actually 16 to 30.

7:40So while that may not fall into the middle-age category, it does provide a catch-all in middle-age

7:47for people who may have already experienced this and are dealing with the mental health

7:52fallout or the sexual performance fallout of that experience.

7:59What it also can help us do is by targeting the largest percentage of reproductive age

8:07males is that they can then take that information and use it in their own family to prepare,

8:17to discuss, to make it a more open forum with their own children prior to this.

8:24So again, we can use that cascading effect that we know typically happens, but we can

8:30shift it toward a more positive cascade effect.

8:35The other unfortunate part when we talk about sexual assault in the male population is that

8:4059% of males in prison report childhood sexual assault.

8:47That's an important statistic.

8:49That is something that's not talked about enough in sexual education courses in how

8:56not only to consent, but what is the expansion of consent?

9:02Feeling pressured to have sex may fall in a very gray area for some people, but it is

9:07still pressure.

9:08It still falls under that definition.

9:11And so when we're looking at the statistics of how that may impact male behavior later

9:17on or how that may correlate, this gives us a really good idea into what we know as

9:22externalized behavior and how mental health symptoms or how some of these symptoms of

9:28sexual assault may present later that are different in males than females.

9:32It's important that we start to research this and pay attention to it more so that we can

9:38actually provide adequate services and adequate help, but also that so that we can provide

9:44adequate diagnoses.

9:48And those things are crucial in improving mental health relationship or relational health

9:56in sexual health and performance over time.

10:00If we're moving out of the realm of sexual assault

10:03into the fact that there's just limited studies

10:06on middle-aged men, we went over this a bit

10:08in the very beginning introductory section

10:11of the EROS course.

10:14So if you have questions about that,

10:15refer back to that, the first 15 minutes or so.

10:21But there's not a lot of research.

10:23There's not a lot of information

10:25that we can actually derive from this population

10:28to be able to adequately treat, diagnose,

10:31help this specific population.

10:35And so there are obvious gaps,

10:37not only in the research being done, but in providers.

10:42So this would be people like primary care providers,

10:45maybe there are clinicians, and educators.

10:49So teacher, we talked about that earlier

10:51in the gaps in traditional and comprehensive

10:55sexual education.

10:56There are gaps, people are not trained.

10:59And even if you get additional medical training

11:02as let's say a primary care provider,

11:04or additional mental health information

11:07as a therapist or clinical provider,

11:10you're still not getting anything

11:13but kind of the wave tops or the highlight reel

11:16of sex is a part of relationships,

11:18or here's a little bit more about anatomy.

11:20But they're not really teaching even providers

11:24and clinical care staff how to actually apply that

11:27to their practice, or the fact that it warrants the question

11:31in those types of appointments

11:33to be able to adequately treat or provide referrals

11:36to some of the experts in that field.

11:41This is seen a lot with let's say the prescriptions

11:46and the rate of prescriptions given to males

11:50whose primary or chief complaint

11:52is some sort of erectile dysfunction.

11:55What we know is that a lot of people are prescribed

11:59things like Viagra, the blue pill, Sidenafil,

12:03whatever you want to call it.

12:05But not a lot of men are refilling that prescription.

12:08And what we know is that if something works

12:11and it works well, and it's changing the functioning,

12:15you're more than likely going to refill that prescription.

12:18And so what that tells us is that

12:20not only is that kind of the main way

12:23that any kind of dysfunction

12:25or lack of satisfaction is treated,

12:29but that it really doesn't translate in refills

12:31to the fact that it's actually successful,

12:33or that it's been addressing the problem.

12:36And those same individuals are not necessarily being referred

12:41to anybody else or seeking any other type of treatment.

12:44So sexual satisfaction may be experienced

12:49as something aversive.

12:51If you get this prescription, you try it, it doesn't work.

12:55Then the problem is not necessarily

12:59something that that treats.

13:01The problem might be psychological.

13:03The problem might be something else

13:05that is not being treated, not being addressed,

13:09because it's kind of this blanket approach.

13:12The other reason why it would be important

13:15is to have better sex, to have better chemistry,

13:19to have better connection, whether that's with yourself

13:22or with a partner or partners.

13:25To improve that will translate,

13:28just like that cascade effect, to our mental health,

13:31our physical health, our sexual functioning,

13:34and our relationship satisfaction overall.

13:37So who doesn't want to have better chemistry,

13:40better intimacy, not only with themselves, but with others?

13:44So besides the lack of retention,

13:47why would you want to continue to complete this course?

13:52You want to increase your knowledge,

13:54whether it's you are a male who falls into this category

13:57and it sounds intriguing,

13:58or you are some sort of provider

14:01or somebody new to the field who wants to know more

14:05about this demographic and the issues that they may face.

14:10We've already talked about brain development

14:11not being completed until your 30s.

14:14Adult males are not adolescents,

14:16so the information needed changes over time.

14:21And we want to give you information,

14:24not only to be able to advocate for yourself,

14:28but also to be able to advocate for your children.

14:33If you are, let's say, a middle-aged male who is a teacher,

14:36to be able to have a little bit more information

14:39to bring to the classroom.

14:41And these are things that are, within reason, studied.

14:46They've asked adolescents.

14:48They have asked, research has focused predominantly

14:53on adolescents and men in older adulthood.

14:57We would consider 65 plus.

15:01But their questions oftentimes are the same,

15:03meaning that that's not getting answered in middle age.

15:07So stay tuned for the what to expect.

15:12And we will go over each module,

15:14what we will be talking about,

15:16what some of the learning objectives are

15:17so that you feel adequately prepared,

15:20or so that you could potentially skip to that module

15:22if that's something that you're in need of specifically.