[ItsASecret]

Abstract thought and connecting the world around them with themselves, i.e. self-awareness, are higher-level skills that not all kids may possess or begin to acquire at the same time. So essentially, having the pictures is nice but they need to be explained in a way that makes sense to that particular age group.

The pictures when presented are not just put up for a few mintues and left for people to figure it out themselves, there would be no point to putting it up in the first place without explanation of the arrows. Besdies thats the job of a teacher. Even in a text aimed at high school students the structures and endocrinology workings are given a fair amount of explanation, most of which they will never be even tested on because the material is out of scope (will be presented in University) of the basic information they need.

[ItsASecret]

I guess technically everything can be boiled down to a chemical process of some sort. So then those are two separate issues: first it would be good to inform teens that both physical attraction and love are chemical processes in the brain, and second, that physical attraction and love are two separate issues, and can occur separately or together.

I think you are right on the money

[WildChild]

Sex education is given with different emphasis and focus in different school systems. It is entirely possible that in some the diagrams are barely looked at or discussed, while in others they may be gone into in depth. Even within a given district or school, each teacher will have some varience in how they deal with the material - despite training. I've sat in training for various work related things and had something scripted and gone over in detail that for legal compliance reasons had to be presented in a specific way and still seen people in the field, with the script on a computer screen in front of them, deviate all over the place! That's just people.

Young people don't always listen in school either - any parent or teacher can tell you that! LOL. Different people have different learning styles as well; some are inductive, others deductive reasoners. I don't know about sex ed in a university - we didn't have any in the Industrial Construction Management major, suppose we could have worked it into physics or something, "Now the angle and velocity of the penis with this loading...", I don't know.

[ItsASecret]

I don't know about sex ed in a university - we didn't have any in the Industrial Construction Management major, suppose we could have worked it into physics or something, "Now the angle and velocity of the penis with this loading...", I don't know.

lol I can see it now in physics class: " from the information given, find the velocity of his ejaculation". but there are courses aimed at sexuality, usually the psychology departments offer them. physiology courses will also provide the endocrinology and internal stuff.

[reilu]

there are several things i want to comment on here, but first let me say im soooo happy im getting some feed back! haha i didnt think many people would respond to this. i love hearing these opinions. awsome...

ok back on topic!! lol

"On a slightly related tangent, another thing that I think needs to be addressed SOMEWHERE with teens is a discussion about how physical attraction stems from hormones and the chemicals in our bodies, and that physical attraction does not equal love. I would bet a lot of doomed marriages would have been avoided and even unwanted pregnancies/teen parents might be reduced because people would be able to differentiate between sex and love. " -kms

you make an incredibly good point. i hadnt even thought about that!! i think if they did know it was more chemicals, a lot of problems could be avoided. because, as was said before, media romanticizes relationships. i mean honestly, how many relationships are in real life how they are on tv. not many i would say. attraction starts out as chemical. (but im still a hopeless romantic who believes in true love, regardless of just chemicals!) :P LOL hahaha

in my health class, for the females, we were never given a diagram, nor explained anything. we were told nothing. in the co-ed health class we had later, we were taught about stds, but again, nothing was ever explained about our bodies, or functions of things.

and i also agree that, while diagrams are good,they need explaining. if you dont understand a diagram, then is it really going to do you any good?? it might be common sense, but having your thoughts confirmed by someone knowledgable would be beneficial.

[ripdabs]

When I went to health class in the 70's, I learned about the male anatomy(I'm a guy). I think that since our anatomy sticks out and a womans anatomy is on the inside it makes it easier to talk about for guys.

By the way, here is a fun thing to talk about in mixed company. Ask someone or a group of people, if a couple has sex who enjoys it more, the man or woman. Ask them why? Then use the analogy of having an itch in your ear and you use your finger to scratch it. Which one feels better? The finger or the ear?

[WildChild]

you make an incredibly good point. i hadnt even thought about that!! i think if they did know it was more chemicals, a lot of problems could be avoided. because, as was said before, media romanticizes relationships. i mean honestly, how many relationships are in real life how they are on tv. not many i would say. attraction starts out as chemical. (but im still a hopeless romantic who believes in true love, regardless of just chemicals!) :P LOL hahaha

We could indeed do with more understanding of this. The so called infatuation chemicals stay in the body anywhere from 4 months to 2 years. Once those disapate is when you start to find out how much you really have in common and if there is a good foundation to build from. If you've married and had a child or two in that time and then find the "thrill" is gone, you are in each other's lives for a long time! Not a good place to be.

[reilu]

by the way, here is a fun thing to talk about in mixed company. Ask someone or a group of people, if a couple has sex who enjoys it more, the man or woman. Ask them why? Then use the analogy of having an itch in your ear and you use your finger to scratch it. Which one feels better? The finger or the ear?

hahaha!! Lmao :d

[Talitha]

All I was taught in sex ed, which was just a one day lesson from nurses from the health centre near our school, was how to put a condom on for a guy. There were both guys and girls and we all had to try it out on a fake penis. This was just last year. We all kind of felt like it was silly to be getting sex ed at this age when we already know where "babies come from". They also taught us about STD's, like we haven't heard enough about that already, and that was it. In science, we didn't even do anything about female/male anatomy. Only about the changes the body goes through through puberty. "Girls: Your boobs grow. Guys: Your voices change. You all start getting hair in unexpected places". etc.

Even though that information was usefull (I guess), I really didn't know my body, I had to google things and I still have to now sometimes. The things that didn't know and find out about the female anatomy surprise me lol and I wonder why I am so ignorant about my own body. I remember my mom spoke to me about it all but I was too young to remember. Ok, so I know where babies come from, but how does it actually work when the sperm is in there etc. I was never thaught these things. It's a shame I had to google it all and adults are still preaching the same things that we already know, over and over again. I'd like some new info now. Well, not anymore, since i've figured it all out by myself. I think. There might be some things I don't know yet, but I'm not relying on any teacher in school to inform me about that, because I know they won't anyways.

[WildChild]

Tabitha one book you may find helpful is, What's Happening to My Body? there is a girls version and a boys.