September 16, 2015
It turns out that New Jersey tops its neighbors when it comes to safe sex practices. The Garden State landed at number 5 nationwide, according to Safer Sex Index, which ranks states according to rates of STD infection and sex education practices.
In comparison, Pennsylvania and Delaware were squat in the middle of the pack, being respectively ranked at number 26 and number 25. New York was a distant number 35.
Sponsored by Trojan Condoms, the Safer Sex Index ranks states lower if they have high rates of gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV infection, high teenage pregnancy rates, or a large percentage of adults who have received an HIV test.
But states get a boost if they're not afraid to get into the down-and-dirty details in their sex-ed classes. Mandating schools to teach about contraception or having a high percent of high schools that demonstrate proper condom use help a state move up in the rankings.
Liberal states won the rankings, with Vermont on top followed by Maine, New Hampshire and Hawaii. Meanwhile, things went south for the South: Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia and finally Louisiana came in last place.
Just keep that in mind if you ever get up to some Mardi Gras shenanigans in New Orleans.
