One of the things which I sometimes end up lying awake thinking over at unholy o'clock is what I think sex education should be like. Mine was somewhat mixed. My parents didn't really bother, unless you count my mother muttering a few things just before I turned 22. My school was a case of "blink and you miss it", and I think I was off ill that day. I got most of my sex education from the uni LGBT society, which meant that I had a great knowledge of safer sex but knew squat about contraception. It also resulted in my sitting in the Family Planning Clinic, looking up at all those leaflets depicting a woman gazing up soulfully at a man, thinking, "That's a bit heterosexist...oh, hang on."
Most of what I've learned about sex has been since then, from reading on the internet, talking to friends, and the experiences I've had with partners, both good and bad. There's no substitute for really widespread reading and lots of good conversations, but I think that a lot of the things I've learnt should have been covered at school at the basic level at least. So here's my wishlist, in no particular order.
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The nicest story I've heard about sex education: how a friend of mine was sat down by his parents when he was a child so that they could explain that sadly, some people are homophobic. It says so much about where they were starting from.
The funniest story I've heard in a while: we were talking about this in the pub the other week. After reminiscing about the putting-a-condom-on-a-banana lesson, someone was talking about learning to put a condom on with your mouth. R (my partner, who is, for the record, a straight cisgender man) said in surprise, "But I couldn't reach!"
Most of what I've learned about sex has been since then, from reading on the internet, talking to friends, and the experiences I've had with partners, both good and bad. There's no substitute for really widespread reading and lots of good conversations, but I think that a lot of the things I've learnt should have been covered at school at the basic level at least. So here's my wishlist, in no particular order.
( Read more... )
The nicest story I've heard about sex education: how a friend of mine was sat down by his parents when he was a child so that they could explain that sadly, some people are homophobic. It says so much about where they were starting from.
The funniest story I've heard in a while: we were talking about this in the pub the other week. After reminiscing about the putting-a-condom-on-a-banana lesson, someone was talking about learning to put a condom on with your mouth. R (my partner, who is, for the record, a straight cisgender man) said in surprise, "But I couldn't reach!"
