sjhoward.co.uk » Sex Education

Sex Education

Published by By sjhoward
Published on 16 November 2003.
2 minutes long.

Hold up! Before you read on, please read this...

This post was published more than 14 years ago

I keep old posts on the site because I often enjoy reading old content on other people's sites. Not everything that is old is bad. It can be interesting to see how views have changed over time: for example, how my strident teenage views have mellowed and matured.

But given the age of this post, please bear in mind:

My views might very well have changed in the 14 years since I wrote this post. I have written some very silly things over the years, many of which I find pretty embarrassing today.
This post might use language in ways which I would now consider highly inappropriate or offensive.
Factual information might be outdated.
Links might be broken; embedded material might not appear properly.

Okay. Consider yourself duly warned. Read on...

As a medical student, I have to do a Community Placement. One placement I could be put on is teaching Sex Ed to local school kids . I was discussing with a couple of friends today (both female, as it happens) how you’d go about teaching it. We decided we’d look at some websites. And we were collectively shocked.

I know things are being dumbed down, but really, no wonder teenage pregnancy rates are so high considering some things that people apparently need teaching. Here are some of our findings…

One website, under common condom mistakes, lists “The condom was put on too late”

On the subject of lube – “Lubricant goes on the outside of the condom”

On an agony aunt style site – “Can I get pregnant from having a shower with my boyfriend? Rachel, 15”. The answer provided was “Yes”. I would personally suggest that the chances of this are minimal.

“It is a good idea for a boy to wash his testicles and penis…after he has had a wet dream.”

“Sanitary towels…are worn by a girl inside her panties.”

By far the most disturbing thing we found described homosexuality as “A sickness that was not like smallpox but no less dangerous and contagious. A sickness of the mind.” The only thing comparably disturbing was sites pedalling the fact that condoms do not prevent HIV (an opinion publicly held by the Pope, too, as it happens). Shocking.

Originally posted on The LBSC

This 44th post was filed under: University.

Comments and responses

Comment from Jess

by Jess

Comment posted at 17:11 on 18th January 2008.

hiya,
i totally agree, usually i only really comment on the “Teen mums” thread, as im expecting my first baby this year, but this is something that riles me none the less!
My personal experience of (HUMAN) sex education was watching a video of two frogs having sex on a rock….i was only 11, but knew that that wasnt gonna cut it!!
and learning about a womans cycle, which i felt was slightly misleading (they’d obviously NOT realised ahlf the girls in the year had already got there period…and therefore knew better…)
We didnt learn about penetration or the process of fertilisation or arousal or any personal problems. The only thing we did about puberty was designing posters to cure acne….
We were supposed to do a more “in-depth” series of lessons at age 13, when we had then moved up to high school, i must admit they were a little more in depth ( like we learnt how to put a condom on a dildo)
It still was not good enough, and the teachers were all trying to be prim and proper and talk about pregnancy and sex as some sort of incurable disease (homosexuality was avoided at all costs).
Result :
in my year at school: at least 10 abortions, 1 pregnancy to full term and at least 50 morning after pills ( age 14)

year above: 6 abortions, 4 pregnancies to full term, i wouldnt even like to guess at the mornin after pills (age 15)

Year above that (Last year of school): 5 abortions, 2 pregnancies to full term, countless M A Ps, (age 16)

the school excluded anybody who became pregnant and they werent allowed to attend school, as they “made the school look bad”

I left school early for other reasons, but i am now nearly 3 months pregnant.
I passed all my GCSES at Bs and they have a special ceremony infront of all the school and the parents exactly a year later, for you to actually pick up your cerfiticates and the year that left, all comes back for one last time to recieve them, this will be held in june ( by which my walk will have turned to a waddle and i will be 7 months pregnant)

And guess what, ive been excluded from that too, and they are posting the results, im not to come near the school on that day to collect them 🙁

When are schools gonna wake up and realise that its the 21st century???

Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)

by sjhoward

Comment posted at 23:36 on 23rd January 2008.

The state of sex education doesn’t seem to have improved in the four years since I wrote this post, and that has to be depressing. As you point out, Jess, until schools wake up and start giving proper sex education relevant to the 21st century, then many people are going to end up with unwanted pregnancies.

It’s sad to see that this still doesn’t seem to be a political priority – probably because the idea of ‘little’ 13-year-old Constance being taught about sex shocks the middle class Daily Mail readers who politicians clamour to impress.

Somebody needs to take a serious political stand on the issue.

Sex Education

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