WASHINGTON — The consequences of nonconsensual sex would be included in all high school sex education classes across Virginia, under a bill approved Tuesday by the state Senate.
The bill, which passed 37 to 2, would require that any high school family life education curriculum include age-appropriate information about “the consequences of nonconsensual sexual activity, conduct, or touching.”
Current law permits local school systems to teach students about consent, but does not require it.
The bill would also give local school systems the option of including information in the curriculum about the risks of sending explicit texts or photos online.
“Information on the dangers and repercussions of sexting or posting on social media, sexually explicit materials … [and] the prevention, recognition and awareness of child abduction, child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond.
The bill now goes to the House of Delegates.
