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Sexual health matters. Sexual wellbeing has an impact on personal happiness, physical and emotional health, fertility, unplanned pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, and control over relationships. Sexual health promotion has grown in the last two decades with the intention of improving sexual health outcomes. We know that reliable sex education material is widely available, however, we also know that young people do not always put this knowledge into practice.

The aim of this study was to explore young people’s perceptions about how sexual health promotion has influenced their current sexual behaviour. Using a qualitative method from a perspective of hermeneutic phenomenology, informed by feminist principles, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight young adults (aged 19–22; six female and two male) in Central Victoria, to explore their recollections of sexual health promotion, including, but not limited to, school sex education, media campaigns and references from popular culture. From these recollections participants were asked how they applied their knowledge of sexual safety to their sexual behaviour. The lived experience of the participants around sexuality education, as described in interviews, and how it applied to their practices of sexual safety was explored. Findings and discussion explored both individual experiences and thematic aspects, including the themes of parents as sexuality educators, school sexuality education and the influence of friends’ experiences.