These States Are Having The Safest (and Least Safe) Sex
Democratic contender for President Sen. Bernie Sanders can now boast that not only is he quickly gaining on rival Hillary Clinton in the polls, but also that his home state of Vermont came in first place in Trojan’s first ever State by State Sexual Health Index.
Yup, The Green Mountain State was found to be the safest place to do the deed of all fifty states in the nation.
The darkest purple states have the highest levels of STDs coupled with low contraception use and low levels of sex education in schools. The lightest states were on the opposite side of the spectrum. Image: Courtesy of Trojan)
According to Trojan, states were scored on two measures of safer sex: sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and contraception. For STD rates, HIV, gonorrhea, and syphilis rates per every 100,000 citizens was examined, as well as the percentage of adults in the state who reported ever receiving an HIV test.
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In regards to contraception, the study looked at whether the state mandates that sex education in schools must cover contraception, whether the state mandates that STD / HIV education in schools must cover contraception, the percentage of high schools in which teachers taught essential condom use, and the birth rates to mothers aged 15-19. Each of these components contributed to the score each state received in the two umbrella categories, which were then combined for the state’s total score.
The other states proudly emerging in the top 5 safest states to have sex?
Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and New Jersey.
The bottom five states, alas, were all in the South, with Tennessee ranking 45th, followed by Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, and in last place, Louisiana.
What is significant, however, is Trojan’s finding that “[t]he inclusion of contraception information or STD/HIV education as part of sex education in schools is an important driver of differences in sexual health among the states.”
(So, er, maybe the school board in Fulton County, Georgia, comprising much of the state’s capital of Atlanta, might want to re-think their proposed abstinence-only sex ed curriculum.)
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