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  • Basic male and female anatomy--both males and females need to learn the anatomy for both.
  • Basic health and how to tell if something's not quite right--including things like UTIs
  • More serious health conditions
  • How to to self-exams
  • STIs/STDs, the most common ones and how you can contract them and what health complications they cause as well as symptoms so you know when to go to a doctor
  • The less common STIs/STDs
  • Prevention of STIs/STDs
  • What kinds of treatments different STIs/STDs require and if they're curable or not--as well as what sort of life-long effects to expect from incurable stuff
  • The different types of birth control, how they work, what their fail-rates are, and uses besides avoiding pregnancy (like those who are on the pill for medical reasons)
  • Include that abstinence is a choice that will help you avoid pregnancy, but depending on how you define it (since some people think it "doesn't count" if you have anal or oral sex and thus are still "abstaining" from it) it may not protect you from STIs/STDs
  • That before you have sex, you and your partner(s) need to be checked for anything that could be passed along through sex and if a partner refuses then you need to not let them convince you to have sex
  • Why you should use multiple forms of birth control, tied in with the failure rates
  • What pregnancy is, how it happens, and what to expect
  • The health complications that can occur with pregnancy--including the effects of STIs/STDs on pregnancy and birth
  • Birth--what happens, how it happens, what to expect for both the father and the mother
  • The amount of work and money required to raise a child, make them do a child-raising exercise
  • Abortion--how it works, the different types, and the health complications that can occur
  • Adoption--how the system works, what problems it has (since it wouldn't be fair to not mentions problems here if you're covering the problems that arise with abortion and keeping the child), how hard it can be for a mother to give up the child
  • Different forms of sexual contact--oral, anal, vaginal, using your hands on your partner/yourself
  • Covering the topic of sex between men and women, men and men, and women and women, and masturbation
  • Basic safety and things that you should NOT do during sex/masturbation to avoid hurting yourself/your partner(s)

 

I'm sure I could think of more, but that's what I got so far.

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^ Great list. Off the top of my head, I would also add:

  • How different forms of birth control works. (How does bc function, why you shouldn't use two condoms at once, etc.)
  • Not to have sex until you and your partner are both ready. Don't let anybody force you to do anything you aren't ready for.
  • Rape/sexual harassment - what is rape, how to get help if you are raped, stuff like that.
Edited by SockPuppet Strangler

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Those are all really good things to be covered. But, of course, there are so many people that would froth at the mouth if the schools dared to mention even half of those in the classroom.

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Sadly, a lot of it reflects the culture of shame and silence that is fostered around reproductive issues. As we say on the internets, silence is assent. But the question is, assent to what? A whole lot of ignorance, sadly.

 

I did see where teen pregnancy is down to its lowest level this past year. People seem to be theorizing it's thanks to more birth control being available and shows like that MTV one that highlights kids with kids. Kinda funny to think MTV (devil's music!) would be instrumental in helping kids realize that maybe getting pregnant is not all glamour and fluff.

 

Sadly, Wisconsin's Planned Parenthood just cut out doing any abortions by pill (which means early ones) and now only do surgical. So I guess they are trying to limit them by forcing them to be legal in a short window of about 9 weeks.

Citation

 

And Texas, they are fighting to get to keep their funding.

Citation

 

One other thing that I only saw intermittently last week, a large group of Catholic nuns got censored by the Vatican for not being anti-abortion/anti-gay enough and supporting the health care reforms.

Citation

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^ Great list. Off the top of my head, I would also add:
  • How different forms of birth control works. (How does bc function, why you shouldn't use two condoms at once, etc.)
  • Not to have sex until you and your partner are both ready. Don't let anybody force you to do anything you aren't ready for.
  • Rape/sexual harassment - what is rape, how to get help if you are raped, stuff like that.

And I would add relationship education - respect for others and the basic thing that so few don't get - that others DON'T have to want what you want... The WISHES of others and that, I guess.

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Basic male and female anatomy--both males and females need to learn the anatomy for both.

Basic health and how to tell if something's not quite right--including things like UTIs

More serious health conditions

How to to self-exams

STIs/STDs, the most common ones and how you can contract them and what health complications they cause as well as symptoms so you know when to go to a doctor

Prevention of STIs/STDs

What kinds of treatments different STIs/STDs require and if they're curable or not--as well as what sort of life-long effects to expect from incurable stuff

The different types of birth control, how they work, what their fail-rates are, and uses besides avoiding pregnancy (like those who are on the pill for medical reasons)

Include that abstinence is a choice that will help you avoid pregnancy,

That before you have sex, you and your partner(s) need to be checked for anything that could be passed along through sex and if a partner refuses then you need to not let them convince you to have sex

Why you should use multiple forms of birth control, tied in with the failure rates

What pregnancy is, how it happens, and what to expect

The health complications that can occur with pregnancy--including the effects of STIs/STDs on pregnancy and birth

Birth--what happens, how it happens, what to expect for both the father and the mother

The amount of work and money required to raise a child, make them do a child-raising exercise

How different forms of birth control works. (How does bc function, why you shouldn't use two condoms at once, etc.)

Rape/sexual harassment - what is rape, how to get help if you are raped, stuff like that.

 

All of this is what I did learn in school, some 25 years ago. Seems things have changed, but I'd be surprised if they changed everywhere.

 

As we say on the internets, silence is assent.

 

Quite obviously that needs to stop being said, since it's the most outrageous lie I've ever heard.

Edited by Princess Artemis

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All of this is what I did learn in school, some 25 years ago. Seems things have changed, but I'd be surprised if they changed everywhere.

Then you're lucky. Wish I had that!

 

We covered basics of STIs/STDs, some basic anatomy and pregnancy stuff, but we didn't really learn much of that--probably because our "sex ed" was little more than one unit out of a more general health class that covered nutrition, exercise, drugs, and alcohol as well. IIRC, it was a one-semester class. We really only learned about m/f sex, too, and that was very basic. More like "this is the absolute most basic bit of information on how arousal works in males and females, and this is the most basic bit of information on how sex between a man and a woman works" without much detail... It did cover menstruation, though. That was in... Jr. high I want to say? Wait, or maybe it was high school...? Can't remember which.

 

I had another class jr. high, where we did have a unit on babies where they made us take care of a robo-baby for a while, but that was basically it. Had some little video about puberty in 5th grade that was little more than the basics of the changes your body goes through without the why or details.

 

It was... Far from comprehensive... And spread out over quite a few years.

 

Most of what I know about how sex works and stuff I've learned from the Internet, honestly--so I had to self-educate on most of it. sleep.gif'

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Yeah, I believe my health class (which included sex ed) was overload on generic information about STIs/STDs, some contraceptives (but not how to use contraceptives to protect yourself from STDs or how to use contraceptives - just what they were), and some anatomy (the skeleton and the fact that you have muscle and skin over your skeleton), along with some other diseases such as diabetes.

 

The most memorable things I got from the class or did in the class were:

-having to shout words like penis and vagina to make sure we were comfortable with saying them

-my teacher's husband had "fast, little swimmers" since she got pregnant after he got a vasectomy or she got her tubes tied, whichever one

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Not to have sex until you and your partner are both ready. Don't let anybody force you to do anything you aren't ready for.

 

And I would add relationship education - respect for others and the basic thing that so few don't get - that others DON'T have to want what you want... The WISHES of others and that, I guess.

 

Right. This ^ is what I feel was missing from my school's sex ed program. I was taught all the same things as Princess Artemis quoted in her post, when I was in high school -- and middle school, too, I think. They must have covered at least some of it in 7th and/or 8th grade, and then again in 10th. (Plus, our health classes always taught the reproductive system, even if it wasn't sex-ed specific -- we still learned every year about how babies are made.) I just wish that they'd taken the time to really emphasize that you shouldn't have sex until you truly know you want to; and that it's a choice for *you,* that you should never feel forced to accommodate the other person, that the best idea is to go at the pace of the 'slower' person in the relationship so that no one ends up hurt; that it's your decision and no one else's what you do with your body, when, and with whom. (That all seems so self-evident now, but man, when you're in high school and people are pushing for sex all over the place, and peer pressure is high, and you really want approval...? Yeah. It would have been really nice to just hear a few adults say that sure, one day sooner or later you'll want sex, and you'll *know* that you really want to have it, and to share it with a certain person; but until that time comes, you just plain don't have to, and no one should expect you to, as if it's owed to them under certain situations. Period.)

 

  Abortion--how it works, the different types, and the health complications that can occur

    Adoption--how the system works, what problems it has (since it wouldn't be fair to not mentions problems here if you're covering the problems that arise with abortion and keeping the child), how hard it can be for a mother to give up the child

    Different forms of sexual contact--oral, anal, vaginal, using your hands on your partner/yourself

    Covering the topic of sex between men and women, men and men, and women and women, and masturbation

    Basic safety and things that you should NOT do during sex/masturbation to avoid hurting yourself/your partner(s)

 

Those things, our sex ed course didn't cover, but I do think I understand why not. Going into abortion in depth wouldn't necessarily be sex ed any more... and it's so controversial, and people's views so polarized, that I can imagine it being a scene of much classroom drama; there are people who know about it, but may feel strongly upset by talking about it or having to see pictures or hear others discuss it, either because they oppose it or because they've had one themselves, plus others might be very judgmental about it in the classroom (also hard for anyone who's actually had one). Adoption, I think gets covered more in home ec/family and consumer sciences, the usual venue for the child care/responsibility lessons, as well.

 

As for forms of sexual contact, I don't think a course should go into too much depth, but I *do* think it would be sensible to note that there are more erogenous zones of the body than just the genitals! That's yet another subject where, if you don't quite understand what sex is, yet, you can end up doing things you don't actually want to do, because you didn't realize just how sexual they would feel; and conversely, you might end up having full sexual intercourse when you *would* have been content to try and experience those sensations some other way, without the whole naked-genital-penetration thing. Explaining clinically what masturbation is, and what orgasms are, would also be good. I recall being taught about ejaculation, but not orgasm specifically.

 

Basic safety just sounds sensible, doesn't it!?

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My class was in high school, and it was called 'health', semester long, though there were scattered bits of education before that. The puberty stuff came too late to be of any use to me. The class covered other things, but it was mostly reproductive health. The teacher was really thorough; I'm sure that made a difference. We had the carrying flour babies around thing too. I'm sure I supplemented some of this with my own learning along the way; for instance, it only takes a curious 5-year-old a couple of baths to figure out some stuff on her own.

 

There isn't anything wrong with self-education, you know. You know where I learned about black holes, space-time, DNA, Penrose tiles, quasicrystals? Books and magazines in elementary school. School ought to inform about basic stuff and people ought to take some initiative to educate themselves. We're humans, not sheep.

 

As for forms of sexual contact, I don't think a course should go into too much depth, but I *do* think it would be sensible to note that there are more erogenous zones of the body than just the genitals! That's yet another subject where, if you don't quite understand what sex is, yet, you can end up doing things you don't actually want to do, because you didn't realize just how sexual they would feel; and conversely, you might end up having full sexual intercourse when you *would* have been content to try and experience those sensations some other way, without the whole naked-genital-penetration thing. Explaining clinically what masturbation is, and what orgasms are, would also be good. I recall being taught about ejaculation, but not orgasm specifically.

 

More info on this would very likely have been very useful in high school for a lot of people for just that reason.

Edited by Princess Artemis

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-having to shout words like penis and vagina to make sure we were comfortable with saying them

Oh yeah, we did that, too. We'd actually play the penis game in class. >_>

 

Also, we had things like "Menstrual Monday" to get us accustomed to it.

 

Those things, our sex ed course didn't cover, but I do think I understand why not.  Going into abortion in depth wouldn't necessarily be sex ed any more... and it's so controversial, and people's views so polarized, that I can imagine it being a scene of much classroom drama; there are people who know about it, but may feel strongly upset by talking about it or having to see pictures or hear others discuss it, either because they oppose it or because they've had one themselves, plus others might be very judgmental about it in the classroom (also hard for anyone who's actually had one).  Adoption, I think gets covered more in home ec/family and consumer sciences, the usual venue for the child care/responsibility lessons, as well. 

 

As for forms of sexual contact, I don't think a course should go into too much depth, but I *do* think it would be sensible to note that there are more erogenous zones of the body than just the genitals!  That's yet another subject where, if you don't quite understand what sex is, yet, you can end up doing things you don't actually want to do, because you didn't realize just how sexual they would feel; and conversely, you might end up having full sexual intercourse when you *would* have been content to try and experience those sensations some other way, without the whole naked-genital-penetration thing.  Explaining clinically what masturbation is, and what orgasms are, would also be good.  I recall being taught about ejaculation, but not orgasm specifically. 

 

Basic safety just sounds sensible, doesn't it!?

It doesn't need to be in-depth, but at least it should be given some coverage--with the option to leave the room if you don't think it's a subject you can rationally handle. I'm in a human development class right now (which is useless for me, though some of the others have such wildly inaccurate ideas about sex and relationships it's good that it's pretty basic...), and the teacher flat-out said "If something makes you too uncomfortable, just let me know and leave the room", though she encourages us to remain in the room to learn things we don't know even if we don't like them--but she won't force a student to sit through a lesson that makes them very uncomfortable.

 

So, if you don't like abortion, for example, you could opt out of that part, maybe get an alternate assignment or something.

 

We never really covered adoption in our home ec classes around here--it'd be nice if we did!

 

 

And yeah, I get that it shouldn't be in-depth exactly, but like my teacher now is like "So, the most commonly thought of form of sex is penile-vaginal. However, there is also penile-anal, and oral-genital sex, more commonly known as anal and oral sex respectively." We didn't get graphic, like "how to give good oral sex" or "best position for anal sex" or something like that, but they were mentioned and the teacher enforced that they are acceptable forms of sexual contact providing that both partners are alright with such sexual contact. We've also covered that breasts (especially for females) can be used in sexual contact for increased pleasure, and that individuals may have certain parts of their body they enjoy being touched in different ways in a sexual setting. Nothing too detailed, but at least it was addressed and not just "THERE IS NO SEX BESIDES A MAN AND A WOMAN AND HE PUTS HIS PENIS IN HER VAGINA."

 

There isn't anything wrong with self-education, you know.  You know where I learned about black holes, space-time, DNA, Penrose tiles, quasicrystals?  Books and magazines in elementary school.  School ought to inform about basic stuff and people ought to take some initiative to educate themselves.  We're humans, not sheep.

Oh, I know there's nothing wrong with it. But there's a difference between presenting a wide range of basic information that gives enough to be useful and educational to be the starting point from which they go and find more information and presenting a narrow range of basic information that really doesn't do anything to properly inform people of the risks associated with certain behaviors and then sending them out to learn everything else on their own.

Edited by KageSora

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And yeah, I get that it shouldn't be in-depth exactly, but like my teacher now is like "So, the most commonly thought of form of sex is penile-vaginal. However, there is also penile-anal, and oral-genital sex, more commonly known as anal and oral sex respectively." We didn't get graphic, like "how to give good oral sex" or "best position for anal sex" or something like that, but they were mentioned and the teacher enforced that they are acceptable forms of sexual contact providing that both partners are alright with such sexual contact. We've also covered that breasts (especially for females) can be used in sexual contact for increased pleasure, and that individuals may have certain parts of their body they enjoy being touched in different ways in a sexual setting. Nothing too detailed, but at least it was addressed and not just "THERE IS NO SEX BESIDES A MAN AND A WOMAN AND HE PUTS HIS PENIS IN HER VAGINA."

Yes! Exactly! I mean, my school's class wasn't like "there is no sex only this one kind and never do it ever," obviously. It tried to be very informative. But I really, really wish it had covered exactly what it sounds like your teacher did, here. It's not anything that people won't gather somewhat from movies/magazines/TV/conversations/etc., but I'd rather they get it straight, and in a way that they can piece it all together, without it feeling covert or shameful or like you don't quite know what it all means. It took me a few *years* to put together that 'blow job' and 'oral sex' meant the same thing (for a guy, anyways); I was very confused as to whether there was a lot of actual blowing involved.

 

I think it's very sensible, also, to stress that it's okay to like what you like, and dislike what you dislike; that just like in all areas of life, and physical sensation, every individual will have their own preferences. I think it's a real eye-opener for a lot of gay youth, for example, to realize that not all gay couples even have anal sex; that two people in a relationship can find whatever works best for them, and that's okay, whatever that is.

 

I agree, too -- if students are permitted to leave the room if they're uncomfortable or upset, then I think a basic covering of abortion would be good. What each type is, what literally happens, what stages of development the fetus is at, how different women have reacted afterwards; maybe being able to read first-person accounts that cover a range of reactions, to get a better picture of how it *might* affect someone. How to make sure you get the proper care you need, if you have one.

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I think, rather than teaching students that it's OK to like what they like and not what they don't, they should spend a bit less time convincing students to swallow everything adults say. Teaching students to think will let them figure stuff like that out for themselves if their parents haven't passed that nugget of wisdom on, and equips them to be much better functional adults.

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One other thing that occurs to me.

 

"If you loved me, you would" is the best reason NOT to have sex with whoever comes out with that line. mad.gif.

 

I am actually not too happy about people being able to opt out of sex ed. Self education can lead to some shocking misconceptions. (You can't get pregnant during your period. That one shows up on a few sites that are otherwise reliable... You can't get pregnant if you do it standing up. Douching with coke will prevent pregnancy (actually douching will help the sperm get up there, I think...) You can't get pregnant the first time. A boy's balls will explode if he doesn't have sex.. (I like that one... biggrin.gif)

 

Abortion is a tricky one; they NEED to know it IS an option, even if they aren't happy with it - and that it will NOT stunt your for life, make you insane or leave you sterile.... smile.gif Because however they feel NOW, some day that may be the ONE piece of info they REALLY need to remember.

 

They MUST get ALL the info. It may be literally life saving later.

Edited by fuzzbucket

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I think, rather than teaching students that it's OK to like what they like and not what they don't, they should spend a bit less time convincing students to swallow everything adults say.  Teaching students to think will let them figure stuff like that out for themselves if their parents haven't passed that nugget of wisdom on, and equips them to be much better functional adults.

That's pretty much what I mean, though. Tell them that they ought to listen to and trust *themselves* -- not what they see or read or what random adults or their peers or even their significant others tell them.

 

I guess I was operating under the assumption that most teens already know that abortion exists and is an option, but I should not assume. ETA: I don't think they should be able to opt out of the class. I think they should be able to step out of the room if one or two classes are too upsetting for them, environment-wise. They should still have to read and be tested on the same course material.

 

And fuzzbucket, those 'urban legends'... wow. Just... WOW. >_<

Edited by Kelkelen

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I think, rather than teaching students that it's OK to like what they like and not what they don't, they should spend a bit less time convincing students to swallow everything adults say. Teaching students to think will let them figure stuff like that out for themselves if their parents haven't passed that nugget of wisdom on, and equips them to be much better functional adults.

I think teaching keeds to figure stuff out on their own has little to do with a sex ed class and a lot to do with possibly a general 'ethics' or 'critical thinking' course that is lacking in plenty highschools.

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I think teaching keeds to figure stuff out on their own has little to do with a sex ed class and a lot to do with possibly a general 'ethics' or 'critical thinking' course that is lacking in plenty highschools.

Have to start earlier than high school--by then it's too late : (

 

Or rather, I should say, by then, it's too well-entrenched by schools for one class to fix. People can still learn to think for themselves.

Edited by Princess Artemis

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And fuzzbucket, those 'urban legends'... wow. Just... WOW. >_<

I have FAR worse, believe me. Those are ones on relatively OK sites and given as info.

 

When I was a kid, a lot of people KNEW you could get pregnant by sitting on a chair a boy had just vacated... biggrin.gif

 

You can reuse a condom if you wash it.

You can't get pregnant in a hot tub.

You can't get pregnant if you do jumping jacks after sex.

You can't get pregnant if you push really hard on your belly button after sex.

A girl can't get pregnant if she doesn't have an orgasm.

Drinking Mountain Dew will prevent pregnancy.

Only dirty people can get STIs.

Putting a watch around your penis before sex means the radioactivity of the dial kills off sperm.

If you stand on a phone book you won't get pregnant (WTF ????)

If you stand on your head for two hours after sex, you won't get pregnant... ( blink.gif

If you drink a lot of alcohol you won't get a girl pregnant.

You can't get pregnant unless you have sex every night.

Keeping your eyes closed stops you getting pregnant.

A boy is only fertile if his testicles feel cold.

 

I have more biggrin.gif (I used to work with a Teen Pregnancy worker...)

 

It needs to be in GRADE school. High school is WAY too late. And also - in grade school kids are not at all embarrassed by it, nor is it something that relates to them in a let's give it a shot way. They take in the info and so on and it gels in them BEFORE they need it. That's how it should be.)

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Abortion is a tricky one; they NEED to know it IS an option, even if they aren't happy with it - and that it will NOT stunt your for life, make you insane or leave you sterile.... smile.gif Because however they feel NOW, some day that may be the ONE piece of info they REALLY need to remember.

 

They MUST get ALL the info. It may be literally life saving later.

I went to a religious school where their "sex ed" was simply, "don't have sex"... which was followed up by a talk by some woman about all the horrible things having an abortion could do to your body and all the horrible ways the "doctors" could suck the baby out in pieces with a vacuum if you had an abortion. Nothing about condoms, just how it was a sin to have sex before marriage.

 

That worked out real well for them. Final year of school two girls were heavily pregnant (it was a very small school) and neither of them had been using condoms -.-

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I have FAR worse, believe me. Those are ones on relatively OK sites and given as info.

 

When I was a kid, a lot of people KNEW you could get pregnant by sitting on a chair a boy had just vacated... biggrin.gif

 

You can reuse a condom if you wash it.

You can't get pregnant in a hot tub.

You can't get pregnant if you do jumping jacks after sex.

You can't get pregnant if you push really hard on your belly button after sex.

A girl can't get pregnant if she doesn't have an orgasm.

Drinking Mountain Dew will prevent pregnancy.

Only dirty people can get STIs.

Putting a watch around your penis before sex means the radioactivity of the dial kills off sperm.

If you stand on a phone book you won't get pregnant (WTF ????)

If you stand on your head for two hours after sex, you won't get pregnant... ( blink.gif

If you drink a lot of alcohol you won't get a girl pregnant.

You can't get pregnant unless you have sex every night.

Keeping your eyes closed stops you getting pregnant.

A boy is only fertile if his testicles feel cold.

 

I have more biggrin.gif (I used to work with a Teen Pregnancy worker...)

 

It needs to be in GRADE school. High school is WAY too late. And also - in grade school kids are not at all embarrassed by it, nor is it something that relates to them in a let's give it a shot way. They take in the info and so on and it gels in them BEFORE they need it. That's how it should be.)

I... just... um... holy shmeeholy. o.O

 

And YES to learning in grade school. You can definitely learn a lot at that age, quite comfortably, and then later years build on it and review or add to what you know. While I hadn't totally put together the concept of sex, I know that when I was 8, I definitely understood sex (again, in an elementary way) as some sort of man/woman/naked body parts between the legs/often in a bed thing, and I knew how mammals reproduced, though I hadn't 100% put it together with humans; when I was 10, I knew about parts of my body, boys' bodies, sperm and eggs and sex and erections and menstruation and the uterine cycle, pregnancy and birth. Only a year or two after that, I'm pretty sure I learned about doing self-breast-examinations, and our first sex-ed must have been when I was 13 or so. I know that the 10th-grade class covered contraception, failure rates, STIs, pregnancy, etc., but I'm pretty sure we must have covered those to some extent already in 7th-grade, because I don't recall any of it being news to me.

 

...huh. My mom did a *great* job of educating me, really, considering that when she was a girl, she didn't even know about menstruation until the day she got her first period, and the only thing her mother ever said to *her* about sex was "I hear there are some girls who like that kind of thing."

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Man, I was like 12/13 before I figured out how erections worked. I saw something or other on TV I think.

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Man, I was like 12/13 before I figured out how erections worked. I saw something or other on TV I think.

Yes - it was some years after I was told the basic essentials (I was 7 or 8 for that) that it occurred to me that there would be a small problem putting the bits together.... I think I decided you just had to work at it, like putting a pillow into a pillowcase....

 

When I did read up, I was puzzled. xd.png

 

My most fun sex ed day of all time was the day my copy of The Joy of Sex disappeared (the girls were maybe 10 and 12 at the time). I waited for the questions (I HAD sometimes been faced with some corkers from them).

 

It reappeared two weeks later and no-one ever said a word. Sometimes I wonder whether they would remember now, if I asked them... I'd love to know...

 

ETA - oh PERIODS. Yeah. I knew far too many people who thought they were dying, that day. I can remember actually meeting one weeping in the school washrooms, YEARS ago. (She wasn't THAT much happier when I told her it was normal and to go see the nurse, in fact...)

 

Also I read about one furious girl who had been taught about them - fine - but who must have missed something. On her Special Day (MAN I hate that crap...) her mother produced the necessary, and said she'd need to keep a supply in her room now. The horrified girl stopped dead in her tracks.

 

"What ?? EVERY month ? I thought I'd done that, now..."

Edited by fuzzbucket

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Also I read about one furious girl who had been taught about them - fine - but who must have missed something. On her Special Day (MAN I hate that crap...) her mother produced the necessary, and said she'd need to keep a supply in her room now. The horrified girl stopped dead in her tracks.

 

"What ?? EVERY month ? I thought I'd done that, now..."

Before anyone gets too judgmental about the education level of such a girl, consider for a moment that for some girls, they are rejecting the concept of their bodies changing because change terrifies them.

 

I know of some young children who have plucked out their pubic hair as it grows in because its presence rocks the whole foundation of their identities. Maybe y'all have forgotten what it's like to be 9, 10, 11, and to have your body change without so much as a by-your-leave.

 

Myself? I dreaded it. I knew what was what, but I dreaded it. I can't even put into words how helpless, infuriated, and trapped I felt.

 

So I am not surprised that there would be another angry girl out there who refused to understand she had to deal with that every month for what felt like eternity for her.

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those first period stories remind me of when i was 9 with my fist one i had just gotten a two turtles as responsibility test pets and a few weeks after my granny was having health problems. that's not the funny part.

 

the funny part is that i knew my mom and granny were talking about how, i think my granny's kidneys were messing up, was peeing nothing but blood up. ok after a week or so absorbing what was happening to my granny i was thinking it fatal and i had just started my first period. i was wiping and seen the red clots after i peed and remember shouting to my mother that i thought my kidneys were not working like granny's and it took me a wile to calm down enough to be told what it was. no one had ever bothered to exp. what monthly were and why they happened because my family thought i was too young to have one. talk about tragic but funny, i had to go look back at my journals and piece together what the words were in order to remember it.

 

i think that sex-ed classes 'need' to cover more than don't have sex as most of the ones that i had when i was still in school, a year or two ago, had. they mainly taught over and over male and female growing pains, periods, and birth. what i wish they would have taught was abortion, adoption, problems common with preg., who much it takes to keep a child healthy money wise, what babies actually are like and how easy they can get sick and die if your not careful. my class many was about if you get preg. 9 month later, no mention of health problems or anything preg. can have, you get a happy bouncing baby. once you get that bouncing baby you have to feed it, give it milk, and play with it and then it grows up within 20 years. BAMB your done, you now have a perfectly healthy teen child or adult child without harming your future.

 

funny thing is when these classes were going on i remember seeing at least 4 preg. teen girls, they had hoped to get benefits for there teen moms for college and thought that they would give birth and breeze by and go to college with no problems. i asked one why they did it and who are they going to take care of it. they were all teens and i think the youngest was like 16 or so and most did not have jobs, they came up with it after figuring if they give birth to a child that young they could go to college, draw food stamps, and get checks to help raise the child and support themselves.

 

the fact that they said those things made me start to wander if it was that easy and i looked up health care and who those programs work. i was not happy because they were miss using those things just like how your taught not to stick your lips on the water fountains water ejector or spit you gum in it, very gross and even if your very thirsty you would not want to drink out of it not that i would want to drink out of it just because of the odd smelling yellow brown water that came out of half of them.

 

just because its a iffy subject does not mean that it should not be taught and that sometimes is the best reason they should be talked about defiantly if you ever get preg. and have no idea of the choices if you can't handle a child. i think some form of abortion and adoption both at the same time on two or one day should be covered together as choices for teen preg. it enforces the don't have a baby till you can support it and yourself. those sensitive subjects should in the first place be introduced by the parent within the child teen years the school classes should be a summary and up to date on things the parents might have forgotten to cover. a parent can't complain about a preg. teen of theirs if they try to prevent these kinds of classes that cover the embarrassing stuff for them so that their children don't have to worry about the hard decisions, granted if its not rape or anything like that.

 

i had figured out what sex was on my own but that is after i had played with a doll for a wile i was wanting a real baby to play with and i wanted my own. i'm not shore if it was instinct or the chemicals in my body telling me what those suggestions were how you got a baby though i did not learn about what the word sex was till i started hearing others at school talk about it and i was not feeling those things about it anymore and wondered why i seemed to be the only kid not thinking about it. i should have been able to piece it together but by that time i was not having urges any longer and my emotions were declining about the opposite sex.

 

but my point like most of yours are that you need to know at lest something about abortions and adoption as choices because i figure that at lest 8 out of 10 women threw out there lives will have to worry about birthing unless they have their womb removed but i doubt their are doc. that will remove it if you ask. i had not found one yet that will preform tieing the tubs at the most.

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Before anyone gets too judgmental about the education level of such a girl, consider for a moment that for some girls, they are rejecting the concept of their bodies changing because change terrifies them.

 

I know of some young children who have plucked out their pubic hair as it grows in because its presence rocks the whole foundation of their identities.  Maybe y'all have forgotten what it's like to be 9, 10, 11, and to have your body change without so much as a by-your-leave.

 

Myself?  I dreaded it.  I knew what was what, but I dreaded it.  I can't even put into words how helpless, infuriated, and trapped I felt.

 

So I am not surprised that there would be another angry girl out there who refused to understand she had to deal with that every month for what felt like eternity for her.

No - I think it was just that the every month bit had by chance not been mentioned ! Like that person I heard of who thought about what she had just been told, and said "So Mommy and Daddy did it twice ? and the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh did it FOUR TIMES !"

 

Just - one never thinks of EVERYTHING !

 

Um - my younger daughter was given a wooden tricycle when her sister was born - "a gift from the new baby".

 

It wasn't until about 4 years later I realised she thought I had given birth to that as well as her sister. Like OUCH.... One always forgets something....

Edited by fuzzbucket

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