[reilu]

i was talking to a friend last night, and the subject came up that a lot of women dont really know much about their bodies. what i mean is, in high school, you take health classes, right?? well i remember taking a health class in eighth grade, and it was a girls only health class (the guys had one as well) and you know something ive always thought about? we never once talked about female anatomy. i know for certain that the guys went over male anatomy, they had the diagram and everything, and im 99% sure they went over female anatomy as well. and we all used the same text book. so it strikes me as odd that we were never taught things about our own anatomy. didnt they think it was important to educate women on their bodies as well?? maybe it was jsut my school, but it jsut seems like a lot of women arent taught things so they have to go looking for information on their own, which is something i have done, because again, i was never taught.

i think females need to be taught about their anatomy. did your high schools teach you on your anatomy (guy and/or girl)?? it just seems that a lot of women dont know much about their bodies, so they have to go out and find it for themselves. not that its a bad thing to research for yourself, but having some knowledge might help answer questions or ease some fears, or something like that.

anyway, it was just something on my mind. any comments??

[Hopeless Dork]

I think they have to be so vague as to not anger some parents. I really wish they were not. I know a lot of parents want to shoulder the responsability of teaching their kids about sex so they want it out of the schools. That would be great in a perfect world, but since its not .. many parents won't talk to their kids about it, many will talk but some will not give them all the info they need to make informed decisions.

I've mentioned in a thread before, that my parents were so out of reach as far as talks about my body or sex goes that I went through years of being inappropriately touched because I was too embarrassed to tell my parents what was happening. I didn't know how to say what was happening without using words that I thought would make them mad at me.

I just think that in general more harm can be done by not knowing about our bodies than being told how they work. In school we were not taught about the emotional aspects of a sexual relationship, about our basic female anatomy other than the fact we had a vagina that had overies.

With parents afraid to talk to their teenagers, and schools not being allowed to: a lot of kids get their info from other kids who get their info from porn and we wonder why we have so many women coming to the forums not having ever had an orgasm, and some men not having any idea how to even attempt to please their S.O.

[SinisterUrge]

No, you are not alone. Its been a few years since public school health class, but if I recall correctly were were not taught anatomy, but instead spent one school quarter going-over various sexually transmitted infections, and we got to learn the various stages of pregnancy (zygote, fetus, etc). We were never actually taught that sex causes pregnancy (but really, you probably should know that), we didn't even get the lecture on proper condom usage. The rest of "health" class basically was nothing but corporate-sponsored films about driving drunk and the dangers of smoking.

So yes, sex-ed has always been pretty useless and probably always will be.

[WildChild]

I went through the last 60s version of sex ed in 6th grade. We watched a film put out by Kotex or Modess company about how to use feminine pads, this including how to fasten them into the belt (kind of like a garter belt) that held them in place (no adhesive then) I think tampons may have been mentioned as a possiblity for when you were older. There were diagrams of both male and female anatomy, which named the parts. Certainly no one pointed out the clit and explained that little hot button. There was some explaination of the stages of pregnancy but nothing specific about the actual birth or how you got pregnant. Girls and boys had separate rooms for this, so I don't know what the males were told. There was little or no discussion.

Based on the few clues I had from family and freinds, I had a vague idea that the navel was somehow involved, after all mama always told us not to let anyone see our navels! LOL It was a surprise when I told a gf what my bf and I had done, to be informed that meant I wasn't a virgin anymore. What, I wanted to know, was a virgin? And what was the big deal? She made quite a fuss, I just didn't get it. We called it balling in those days and I though it was much ado about nothing. It hurt a bit, made me bleed, he acted awfully strange and I thought it was all pretty silly, kind of a, who would want to do that twice? I liked the kissing and touching and didn't know what it was but had been close to orgasm with that. My second experience was rape. I was lucky to have a protective friend who as I got onto an more even keel emotionally, undertook to show me how my body could respond.

I do think we need hands on sex education. If you've read Jean Auel's series, I love the idea of men and women chosen to initiate and educate young people into this wonderful part of adult life. Taking it as a sacred and ceremonial resposibilty to get them off to a good start sexually, seems a much more sensible approach than leaving it to street corners, playground talk, TV and fumbling around in the bushes. Really it seems a lot of people don't get past about the 12 or 14 yr old level of understanding what good sex is about.

[WildChild]

This is touchy; how much and when? But bad sex abounds and misinformation and as we see on here there are quite a few adults who don't know their own anatomy. I am convinced that we would see the divorce rate go down if we were at some point prior to marriage, given a real education in sex. Understanding about pregnancy and STDs is important but so is understanding how to orgasm - for yourself and your partner.

I'm not thinking about an introduction to S & M and other edgier practices but of understanding the basics of meeting your own and your partner's sexual needs. Actually for women just learning how to masterbate and orgasm would make a huge difference. Males seem to get a hand on that all on their own for the most part but could also use some educaton on how to truly arouse a woman. Look at all the womens mags and their focus on arousing men! Men's mags talk about sports, hobbies, entertainment and women are in there for decoration. The world would be a different place if every adult on the planet had at least one good, guilt free orgasm a week!

[WildChild]

oh my all my posts are going right under whatever post I made previously, instead of being next in line as it were. Oh well.

[ItsASecret]

I have only been out of high school for a few years, and the school I went to did not have a class named sex education, instead it was called biology 30. An entire unit was devoted to human sexual anatomy. We spent a good month learning the basic anatomy, hormonal control of excitation and arousal, the events of reproduction, STDs, and genetic components of sex. I remember back in 5th grade we were taught a bit about puberty, and that unprotected sex is not a good idea but that was the extent of the education which now I totally agree with as all a child at that age needs.

My mother said that she wasn't even taught sex ed back when she was in school, but that students now absolutely need to be taught in the schools and not from their friends or other sources. Now that I am an adult university student I can without a doubt say that what kids are being taught in schools (at least around here lol) in their biology courses are all they need to know. The introduction to the hormones was the most interesting part for me because prior to that class all that was really known was the general anatomy and just the words "estrogen and testosterone". After learning those things I had a greater appreciation for how complex sexuality really is.

[reilu]

i just think kids arent given the chance to know about their bodies, so, like hopeless dork said, they go to other sources to get their information, and unfortunately, not all of it is correct or good. in fifth grade we had the "period" talk, but that was it. and i understand that at that age we were young, but in high school health classes, it was all about drugs, alcohol, anorexia, and we did touch on STDs, but still, why werent we ever taught about our anatomy and the basics of sex?

yeah, it would have been akward for us, but beneficial in the long run. and i understand that parents dont want schools teaching that stuff, but most parents will not teach their children about it. i know i never was. its not something my parents ever talked about. so where then does the child turn?? the parents dont want the schools intervening, but the parents dont do anything either?? thats no good

and with what sinister urge commented on, not being showed the proper use of a condom....i think that would be very beneficial information!!! the only way i ever learned about condoms was, of course, friends, cuz i was never taught. so i guess its not only the girls who arent getting educated, but the boys too. which makes me wonder why at my school they taught the boys and not us girls? i dont know.

i would want my child to know about what is out there. and to be honest, i wouldnt mind talking with them about it, but maybe if they were taught it in school with other people, OTHER teenagers in their age group, it would make it less akward for them, than it would be talking alone with a parent. and definatley beneficial to know that stuff.

[ItsASecret]

why werent we ever taught about our anatomy and the basics of sex?

they are given the opportunity, biology class. if they don't take it then they have one less chance to learn things. proper use of a condom wouldn't be such a bad idea, as long as they are not giving one out to the students after class.

[SinisterUrge]

proper use of a condom wouldn't be such a bad idea, as long as they are not giving one out to the students after class.

Condoms are sold in every gas station, drug store, supermarket, and Wal*Mart in the country (and the occasional vending machine). The only reason I don't like the idea of schools giving them away is because schools would buy them in bulk from China with questionable durability and without regard to product shelf-life. Show me a school that gives away quality product and I'll be impressed.

And what exactly did you want schools to teach children? Proper cunnilingus technique? How to give a foot-job? What a safe-word is and when to use it during consensual S&M?

No, I'm pretty sure one school in America only needs to tell one one class of 15 year olds how to arrange a sex party (and what is expected at one) and civilization would pretty-much collapse here (Riots, chaos, cats laying with dogs, etc).