Bad Sex Ed classes

[Something Amyss]

I just want to point out that we had a daycare at my high school so that teen moms could still finish high school, but we were against more sex ed and definitely against passing out condoms. After all, if we passed out condoms, the kids might have sex.

I actually wonder if the adults in my community understood where babies came from.

 

[Lilani]

Oh, no, yeah, no, I'm not saying it should be lauded as the only way, I'm just saying the knee jerk reaction that saying monogamy makes STI's hard to catch is a negative one. It's a side effect, not a reason. At least, that's how it should be.

It's completely dismissing all the ways you can catch them that don't involve sex, though. Dirty needles, contact with others' blood, contact with others' fluid? Also, you can account for your own monogamy, but you can't account for your partner's. There's always a risk of getting an STI, even if you personally do everything right. It is safer in theory, but there's always reason for caution.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I remember mine in the UK as being one of these shitty 'make it cool for the teenagers' type affairs, but at least the facts were sound.

Our lessons on drugs were scaremongering bullshit though.

 

[Muspelheim]

My district was pretty much the same. I remember those cartoons... The memories, the memories...

I wonder if the young'uns today still get those. But they couldn't compare to a year or two later when the biology teacher broke out the old tape projector and had us see how a birth looks like at first balcony. He rounded it off by saying "I hope you'll give old mum some appreciation when you come home".

Mine was surprisingly bad for living in a secular western European country... Not enough focus on STI prevention in my opinion.

Then again I mostly zoned out because it all concerned hetero stuff, avoiding pregnancy and such. And yes, I also remember a middle aged lady putting a condom on a pretty worn out looking dildo. I guess that's universal

We didn't have any available, but the bio teatcher fetched a courgette.

So yea. There's my shitty sex ed story.

Heaven's above. When Bill O'Rielly is quoted as an authority on the matter, you know that a warcrime against your braincells is incoming. Dear, oh, dear...

Weird sex-ed tapes? All is forgiven.

While watching that video it got to the part where she said someone said Gay people are molested or something as kids and that's why they're ga*Sudden bluescreen of death*

Normally I'd be pissed but after hearing that I just look at my tower and actually say "This time I agree with you"

"Now, look. I'm your computer, but I care for you. That's quite enough rubbish for one sitting." *Crash*

Give it a bro-fist from me.

 

[silver wolf009]

Oh, no, yeah, no, I'm not saying it should be lauded as the only way, I'm just saying the knee jerk reaction that saying monogamy makes STI's hard to catch is a negative one. It's a side effect, not a reason. At least, that's how it should be.

It's completely dismissing all the ways you can catch them that don't involve sex, though. Dirty needles, contact with others' blood, contact with others' fluid? Also, you can account for your own monogamy, but you can't account for your partner's. There's always a risk of getting an STI, even if you personally do everything right. It is safer in theory, but there's always reason for caution.

You're right, but considering this is about sexual education, I listed its impacts in preventing infections that would be transmitted through sex. If we were talking about proper use of drugs and drug paraphernalia, then I would have included a cautionary tale about reusing needles. I did not, because we are not.
I never intended to comment about lifestyle choices, I meant to lecture about sexual practices. God help you dirty needles are a part of your sex life.

 

[the doom cannon]

I don't remember anything about my sex ed classes. I remember there was a course dealing with puberty in 5th grade, and my 1st year of highschool we had a sex ed class called health and wellness. Don't remember any of it

 

[RaikuFA]

My class was really good in HS. We had a feminist teacher (an actual equal rights one) teaching the class about each form of protection, their specific use and how to use it. Then telling us all about date rape and that you should always watch your drink at parties (this was both genders). Then taught us that if your partner is intoxicated or says no and you still keep going, it can be considered rape and you should stop. We then watched an Oprah special on abusive relationships. Yet since it only covered women being abused she constantly reminded us that men can be in abusive relationships as much as women can.

Yeah I wish a lot more people took the same sex ed class I did.

 

[Lilani]

Oh, no, yeah, no, I'm not saying it should be lauded as the only way, I'm just saying the knee jerk reaction that saying monogamy makes STI's hard to catch is a negative one. It's a side effect, not a reason. At least, that's how it should be.

It's completely dismissing all the ways you can catch them that don't involve sex, though. Dirty needles, contact with others' blood, contact with others' fluid? Also, you can account for your own monogamy, but you can't account for your partner's. There's always a risk of getting an STI, even if you personally do everything right. It is safer in theory, but there's always reason for caution.

You're right, but considering this is about sexual education, I listed its impacts in preventing infections that would be transmitted through sex. If we were talking about proper use of drugs and drug paraphernalia, then I would have included a cautionary tale about reusing needles. I did not, because we are not.
I never intended to comment about lifestyle choices, I meant to lecture about sexual practices. God help you dirty needles are a part of your sex life.

What good does it do anyone to separate how STIs can be transmitted from sex Ed? The biggest thing that gets young people in trouble when it comes to sex is ignorance. If they don't get straight answers they try to get answers elsewhere, often their peers, which leads to misinformation. If they don't know what sort of sexual contact can transmit diseases and ways diseases can be spread, they might believe some rumor that's been going around about how you have to bleed during sex for something to get transmitted. So if you're going to tell the story of how STIs can spread you may as well tell them everything, just to try and quell any misinformation which might lead to other dangerous assumptions from being made. Knowledge is power when it comes to safe sex. Teen pregnancy and STIs in teens only drops as sex education becomes more comprehensive and less reliant upon keeping things a mystery for the sake of "prevention."

 

[lionsprey]

I'm Swedish. We were taught actual facts. Not all of them, but at least true ones.

Well... True. I remember the sex-ed being fine in a factual sense, but it rather left a few things to be desired. It could've been my district that dropped the ball, but I can only recall about two classes devoted to sex-ed in total. Some delightfully awkward "talk", a very rushed description of a condome and then we got to watch educational cartoons (a few battered VHS casettes) on the matter. They did at least cover the basics and some of the surrounding subjects.

Then we nipped off to the local youth health reception office, got a contraceptive crashcourse and that was it. I think both we and the teachers thought we knew more on the subject than we did. Sex and the matters thereof are complicated, and I don't think making the class watch weird sex-ed cartoons from the 80's in a cupboard is enough.

Some more talky-talk would've been nice. Other sexual orientations than hetero could've done with more than being barely admitted to exist, for one. A discussion about pornography (which both we and the teachers knew where our main source of "education") would've been nice. Particularly what it means and why you shouldn't take notes from it. It was just a bit too centered on how babbies are made, and how babbies are avoided until you're better suited to look after them. Certainly, it's the main point of sex-ed, but it influences so much else of a person's life that a wider overview would've been welcome. At least in my district.

They got the facts down, but there is a lot more to them that they never talked about, in brief.

(And I also worry that religious and cultural concerns might have undue influence over a child's right to sexual education in certain areas, but that is an entirely different discussion that I am not a bad enough dude to tangle with)

My district was pretty much the same. I remember those cartoons... The memories, the memories...

this seems to be a trend in Sweden unless the 3 of us coincidently went to the same school since i remember the same pattern .
a couple of meetings to talk about it or watch a cartoon and then finishing with a visit to the local health association for some advice, Q/A and free condoms.

 

[Something Amyss]

Also, you can account for your own monogamy, but you can't account for your partner's.

Yeah, I was in a monogamous relationship for eight years. Unfortunately, my girlfriend was not. She cheated on me several times. I'm not sure what marriage would have done about that. Except make it harder to stop dealing with her after I found out.

Heaven's above. When Bill O'Rielly is quoted as an authority on the matter, you know that a warcrime against your braincells is incoming. Dear, oh, dear...

Penis goes in, baby comes out, never a miscommunication. You can't explain that.

...I'm sorry, the joke was too good not to make. I feel horribly dirty now.

A fair bit of misinformation about HIV and AIDS, as well as plenty of strange off-hand comments about non-heterosexual sex.

See, I had it the other way. For all the faults of my sex-ed education, we knew about HIV/AIDS by fifth grade and we got some damn good information. I don't remember everything covered verbatim, but it was actual information about what could and couldn't spread it.

If our sex ed had been as thorough, half my class might not have been knocked up by 10th grade.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I didn't even have sex ed classes. What I've learned was from biology classes, porn and older friends. Most of that was completely fake except the facts from biology which was basically guy puts his pipi into a girls vaga and after the sperms leaves the girl will (probably) get pregnant. So yeah, I had it rough finding out the real deal... especially as a gay person.

 

[Plasticaprinae]

My first sex ed class was "Health" in 8th grade. I actually did not participate because I forgot my slip that my parents had to sign. So I just read from a book about sex ed, which I remember nil about. I heard from some people who were in the class that it was just fear-mongering teaching.

My second class was 10th grade, the teacher taught us the basic definitions of everything. It was awkward. He just breezed right on through.

My third class snuck up on me. It was 11th grade and i decided to take anatomy so I can cut up dead cats. The teacher was great and nice. The final part of the class was basically sex ed. She weaned us in with just straight anatomy, she even told us where the clitoris was!!! And what it does!! Then she taught us std prevention rather than abstinence. She did say that abstinence was the sure fire way (but this isnt true), but then she taught us about female condoms and dental dams. It made me sad that this class wasn't required.

 

[sumanoskae]

Thankfully, never traditionally educated, so I got the "Talk" when I was like 4. Grandma and folks just sat down and said, A does B to C, and therefore D and E, quite simple really; didn't bother me at all. And I've since confirmed it all to be fact via research of my own, which was a healthy habit which they also encouraged.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Also, reading the comments here made me realise that I've never actually seen a condom in real life. That's rather worrying actually. Do those things come with instruction manuals?

Depends on where you live I suppose, though I would think so. Just buy one and try it out.
They can be rather tricky to put on at first..They can actually hurt going over the widest point of the head.

I'm Swedish. We were taught actual facts. Not all of them, but at least true ones.

Well... True. I remember the sex-ed being fine in a factual sense, but it rather left a few things to be desired. It could've been my district that dropped the ball, but I can only recall about two classes devoted to sex-ed in total. Some delightfully awkward "talk", a very rushed description of a condome and then we got to watch educational cartoons (a few battered VHS casettes) on the matter. They did at least cover the basics and some of the surrounding subjects.

Then we nipped off to the local youth health reception office, got a contraceptive crashcourse and that was it. I think both we and the teachers thought we knew more on the subject than we did. Sex and the matters thereof are complicated, and I don't think making the class watch weird sex-ed cartoons from the 80's in a cupboard is enough.

Some more talky-talk would've been nice. Other sexual orientations than hetero could've done with more than being barely admitted to exist, for one. A discussion about pornography (which both we and the teachers knew where our main source of "education") would've been nice. Particularly what it means and why you shouldn't take notes from it. It was just a bit too centered on how babbies are made, and how babbies are avoided until you're better suited to look after them. Certainly, it's the main point of sex-ed, but it influences so much else of a person's life that a wider overview would've been welcome. At least in my district.

They got the facts down, but there is a lot more to them that they never talked about, in brief.

(And I also worry that religious and cultural concerns might have undue influence over a child's right to sexual education in certain areas, but that is an entirely different discussion that I am not a bad enough dude to tangle with)

My district was pretty much the same. I remember those cartoons... The memories, the memories...

this seems to be a trend in Sweden unless the 3 of us coincidently went to the same school since i remember the same pattern .
a couple of meetings to talk about it or watch a cartoon and then finishing with a visit to the local health association for some advice, Q/A and free condoms.

Make that four. I had trouble remembering the event at first since it was basically nothing new and only charts and talks. And yes, that video and follow-up visit to get free condoms.

 

[Arshaq13]

You guys are atleast a bit lucky.
We had no sex-ed. At all. It was in our syllabus and in our textbooks but it was blacked out when we bought it. We weren't even taught how babies were made, our biology teacher took out her own time, asked for us to keep it between our class and taught us about the birds and the bees. God bless her.

It was the Indian CBSE system at the time if any of you were wondering.

 

[Elfgore]

My early sex-ed classes made it sound like having sex could lead to STIs... which it does. But they made it sound like if even both parties were clean, you could still get an STI if you had sex. That and they pushed abstinence, instead of teaching safe sex. I'm pretty sure God was mentioned at some point too. I think high school was when I actually got a decent sex-ed class.

 

[direkiller]

See, I disagree with that lady in the video. Barring a run in with a an Aids monkey, two monogamous, STI free people would be hard pressed to contract an STI.

Monogamy is effective at stopping infection; a close circuit is a good system.

She doesn't say monogamy. The bad sex ed example is "The true love of marriage will protect us from STI's".

So the only way to disagree with her is if you think marriage will protect you from an STI.

Anyway our sex ed was quite normal and I guess informative. Though this one time we did see a baby's head being squeezed out of a vagina. Thats.. A lot of people say childbirth is beautiful.. It's.. It's not beautiful..

I associated true love with monogamy. I didn't think that's a very big leap...

You also apparently associated it with virginity and a lack of drugs.

Which is a big leap.

Never said anything about virginity, or drugs. I said they had to be infection free, not sexually inactive, and comically alluded to a situation that involved poor judgement on behalf of a drug user and his monkey.

Further, wouldn't an infect transmitted by needle not be classified as an STI?

Nope a STI is a class of infections that can be transmitted via the exchange of fluids common during sex. It dose not have to be caught via nookie to be an STI, and if you catch a cold from your sex partner it's not an STI.

Most STI's are blood infections, not in seaman or vaginal fluids. You just have a very good chance of exchanging a small amount of blood during sex.

 

[Raggedstar]

Wow, the stuff in that video is horrific. How do these people get into the education system and maintain a clear conscience? All non-straight people were molested? Seriously? In-wrapper condoms causing STDs is a hilarious and ludacris thought. Cramps don't hurt? HAHAHAHAHAHAno, you've obviously never been at work or school as a woman and feeling like your guts are ripping apart. Stuffing toilet paper like a tampon sounds like something that could cause toxic shock syndrome (which is potentially deadly in it's rare occurance, even when using a tampon that's meant to go up there). Just...all of those "facts"...wow.

It surprises me when I see people talk about sex-ed as if it was only one day's class (unless I misunderstood). We had sex-ed several times, usually as full-on units in our curriculum. I remember we had it in Gr. 9-11 either as health classes or biology (biology as more for the mechanical and anatomical applications). Our health classes were pretty decent, and even though there was a general "pushing" for abstinence (maybe because our public school systems are also governed by the Catholic school board), sex and sexual behaviours weren't shamed. We saw various forms of birth control as well as learned how they're used (as well as pros/cons), some talks about STDs, what happens in puberty, as well as general advice to healthy relationships. It was pretty well balanced, but then again I live in Canada. I know some of my American friends, especially from the south, don't get proper education on the subject. It's a bloody failure in the education system when you teach people absolute lies about their own bodies and behaviours (especially as teens).

Mind you, I was the kind of kid where most of this wasn't necessary. I didn't even get a real "talk" from my parents, though less because of sex-shaming and more because I already knew. When I got my first period, I was so terrified that I picked through every encyclopedia I had (which was several) to figure out what was wrong with me. And then it just kind of went on from there. I'm weird.