Sexually active girls are like dirty pieces of chocolate? That’s the message high school students are reportedly receiving in Oxford, Miss., after the school district adopted a sex ed curriculum that “called on students to unwrap a piece of chocolate, pass it around class and observe how dirty it became,” according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s right, teachers in this district are teaching young women that having sex makes you germy, unappetizing and imminently disposable.

In light of Mississippi’s abominable sexual health indicators — it has the second highest rate of teen pregnancies, the second highest rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections, and the seventh highest rate of HIV infections — the state recently implemented legislation requiring sexual education classes.

As the Oxford example of food analogies illustrates, however, this doesn’t mean schools are teaching comprehensive, medically accurate sex ed. Instead, state districts must choose between abstinence-only programs and “abstinence-plus” programs that urge abstinence but also teach about contraception. And whichever version districts choose, teachers must teach that homosexual activity is technically illegal in Mississippi.

Unfortunately, the Magnolia state isn’t alone in its abstinence-preferred, sex-shaming “educational” approach. For years, the federal government has poured millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars into abstinence-only programs that not only spread inaccurate messages (like sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful social, psychological and physical effects), but are also ineffective.

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