BEYOND SEX ED

A forthright and instructive guide to a number of sexual intimacy–related health risks.

Brief chapters, short paragraphs with clear headings, and frequent text boxes offering supplemental information help make the information presented here accessible. The authors, one a nonfiction writer for teens and the other a medical student, assume no prior knowledge and explain the reproductive organs and how they work, content supplemented by detailed, labeled anatomical illustrations. Seven different sexually transmitted infections—chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, HIV, human papillomavirus, and hepatitis—each get a chapter that describes their transmission, diagnosis and tests, symptoms, and treatment. Sometimes the material is somewhat scientifically dense, as in the explanation of antibiotic resistance. The final chapters discuss why STIs have not been eradicated, how to reduce your risk of acquiring an STI (including both through abstinence and safer sex); and living with a chronic STI. Religious and cultural taboos are acknowledged, as are the influences of media and substance use. The book explains the distinction between sex and gender and uses unambiguous, neutral language that is inclusive of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. The stock photos show young people of a variety of diverse backgrounds.

Offers direct, clear, useful, and possibly lifesaving information to teens.