[reilu]

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.

this is exactly the thing im talking about. this is why i wanted to put up this post, cuz for the longest time i thought it was just me.i thought i was the only one who didnt have knowledge about her body. but then i came on womens health, and i see so many questions about stuff and im jsut like wow, why dont we know stuff about our bodies??

and its not just females. i dont think males were taught much either. this is jsut interesting to me. we've all had to find out for ourselves, and again, im not saying thats a bad thing, but how do we know what we are finding on the interenet is factual, or beneficial?? why is sex, and "private" anatomy so hush hush?? there is nothing wrong with learning about it. in fact, its beneficial in my opinion. we learn about the respitory system, the digestive system, and all the others, so why not the part that actually has the greatest (in my opinion) impact out of all the other systems, in our lives ?? hmmm??

[WildChild]

Much of this comes down to taking personal responsibilty for your body, your health and your pleasure. The purveyors of various products have worked hard to get us to distrust ourselves, dislike ourselves and avoid responsibility so they can sell us more products and services. So we stay ignorant, we don't take responsibity, we end up overweight, unhappy, non-orgasmic and we take pills and see doctors and lawyers and order off of infomercials and don't know why it isn't working.

Self education is the best place to start and with your body it isn't that tough - you take it with you everywhere you go. This is a good thread to encourage us to get with it and find what we need to know.

[Mme.Marie]

Well , I actually just graduated from high school about a year ago. We had two classes that related to sex ed. One was called Life Managment Skills , and is required to graduated. It covers everything from writing checks , STDs and planning funerals. Then students had the option to take " Principles of Child Development " , that was a lot more comprehensive , classes are co-ed , although I dont think many guys took it. It covered STDs , how pregnancy occurs , the full atatomy of males & females , birthcontrol , and the stages of pregnancy , we even got to take the crying dolls home . It was the basically the information needed without adding anything about pleasure involved or actual intercourse. The books and materials were very outdated however , and this years budget cuts eliminated all "Home Ec." courses , including this one.

I think it really comes down to funding in public school and parents needing to chill. Also , students arent really given any good sources to research on their own. Most of what I learned is because I took the time to look it up .

[ItsASecret]

What exactly are adults looking to know regarding their bodies? I mean unless a person has been living at home, sheltered in the basement with no exposure to media or the internet for their entire lives they will know about their bodies. University provides the resources to fully understand the cellular structure, responses, make-up of the body. A sex therapist will offer the common explanation that it takes patience and mind manipulation to know exactly how to get to a state of exacting pleasure.

[reilu]

What exactly are adults looking to know regarding their bodies? I mean unless a person has been living at home, sheltered in the basement with no exposure to media or the internet for their entire lives they will know about their bodies. University provides the resources to fully understand the cellular structure, responses, make-up of the body. A sex therapist will offer the common explanation that it takes patience and mind manipulation to know exactly how to get to a state of exacting pleasure.

ok, but the media doesnt really give a person the right kind of information, now does it?? its all glamified (i just made up that word! hahaha) life isnt like it is on television, and honestly, how do you know which internet sources are one hundred percent reliable?? so if all a person ever did was look to the media to provide them with their information, i dont think they are going to be very well off, because they wont know which sources are really correct.

what im saying is that im noticing that as adults a lot of us really dont know much about our own bodies, and its kinda sad. i just wish we could have been taught, and some of us were, but the majority, like myself, had no idea about a lot of our bodies, and for me personally, it caused me grief and embarrassment, but only to find out that i was perfectly normal but just ignorant.

thats why im saying that i think a course should be covered in high school, or even middle school. i think that information is beneficial for that age group, especially because thats when a large amount are beginning to test out sex and what their bodies do and how they funciton

.....ok am i making sense here?? lol or did i just ramble??

anyway, this is just my opinion, but feel free to dispute it if you like if you dont agree. i wont take it personally!

[WildChild]

You make sense. Look at how many people come on here who don't have much idea at all how their bodies work, what BC does and how it works... missinformation and lack of information abound.

[ItsASecret]

If you didn't learn back then well, its just that...it was back then. Curriculums change. Students are becoming more sexual these days even if they are not given a coloring book of anatomical diagrams and lectures to coincide. I do know what you mean about things not being taught 'back in my day' type thing, and it is a shame but thats just the way things worked then. Today students are naive, and just as they should be since they are young, live in the moment, and don't bother to think of the future (until they get out of school and realize they should have been thinking about it back then haha).

As for fully grown adults watching tv, they should be able to distinguish between exaggerated and factual material even without having to put much thought into it. Books written by noted physicians or therapists (legitimate ones, not self-proclaimed therapists) can be extremely helpful and usually are written in a manner that isn't too complex. Sure you can get books that require a heafty background in science ahead of time to understand the stuff but just avoid that material if its too much to handle. Maybe thats the route people should take if they are curious about certain topics.

I know not everyone went to University to get a science degree, and I know that not everyone took sex ed classes in high school but it still boggles my mind as to how some people (not everyone) just are totally unaware of their bodies.

[WildChild]

It may be astonishing but it's true. A lot of people of all ages are truly ignorant about their bodies. Go back and read through some of the threads, not just on sex but health issues. It's essentially a total abdication of responsiblity for ones self. Believe it or not there are people, fully mature adults who've never had sex with the lights on, have never really looked between their own legs. I know women in their late 40s and early 50s, women who came of age in the sexual revolution who fall into that classification. They don't know their own bodies, how will they teach their children?

[reilu]

its just that, how i see it, sex in our culture is like something dirty....like something people do, but we dont talk about it, because its not proper to talk about such things. its "hush hush". now sex is all over the television, but in conversation, its a secret. its for adults to know, and teens to not know. we make teens think that sex is dirty and wrong and they shouldnt do it (which i think only makes them want to test it out more)

why cant we tell them constructive things?? instead of telling them what not to do, instead of trying to completely shelter them from the subject, explain to them the right way, cuz if they are just going to do it anyway, isnt it better that you equip them with the correct knowledge?

and i understand what you are talking about ItsASecret....about how people should be able to distinguish between factual and exaggerated material...........but what if the media was the ONLY thing they ever saw? it was the ONLY way they were given their information? how would they really know? as young people, teens i mean, thats really all they have to go by. they would probably take for granted that thats just how it is......but then they come to sites like this and ask questions because they are finding out there is so much that they really didnt know. im not dissing this site, its wonderful, but its just sad that people dont know things that i think they really should have been taught.

heres an example.....kids play a lot of violent video games now right?? well there are studies shown that these children are growing up and becoming very violent. and why? because they were not able to distinguish all taht well between exaggerated and factual, or they saw something that thrilled them, and without using logic, they went out and tried it. (are you seeing my connection to the media and sexual anatomy?)

again, just my opinion....

[ItsASecret]

Kids are still going to be naive. Putting them into a classroom and telling them "okay pay close attention because remembering this will help you in the future" won't work...they simply don't care. Unless they see a movie of sex happening, or boobies bouncing around the average student will be more interested in counting ceiling tiles than learning about the tissue relations of an erection and the penis. Of course some student will really enjoy the subjects and will retain the information, but the number of kids who will are far less those who will not.

I'm sure everyone can relate to the feeling of sitting in class having a topic forced upon you and you honeslty couldn't give a rats behind about taking it seriously. The social scene, and media are much more appealing to a 16 year old than listening to an adult talk about fallopian tubes and estrogen cycles. If the student doesn't possess common sense for differentiation of simple fact and fiction then they will have one tough time getting through life. They may regret later on not paying attention but thats their fault, once they are adults its up to them to fill in the blanks. Back then, it may have been ideal to know what a person knows now regarding sex but since there is no time machine the only thing to do is move on.

To me personally, the topic of sex that should be covered in great detail should be STDs. When I was in my high school bio class a doctor came in and talked about the stuff, then he handed out certain colored pieces of paper to a number of students and each one had to rip it in half and give it to different person each time. Eventually everyone in the room had at least one piece of paper, some having more than one. He then said that black was herpes, red was chlamydia, and so on (I remember I ended up with the black herpes piece-ouch lol). I just remember how everyone was almost shocked to see how quickly things are spread by having sex quite often (like a number of high school students do). I think thats the way things should be taught, interactive and eye opening. But that is up to the teachers to find new ways to make things more fun.