s/o of Republicans, guns, etc - How was sex ed taught to you and where did you grow up?

[Anonymous]

Some do want to ban it, but not many, as you said. A bigger issue, to me at least, is the number that don't want it taught in schools, for the same "encourages promiscuity" reason. I grew up near the Alabama/Mississippi line, and I saw how well that worked out.(Fortunately, I went to a private school that had no such illusions) IMHO, employers should not be in the business of picking and choosing medical coverage for all of their employees based on their personal opinion. If the insurance companies just offered standard plans to everyone, then each person could choose what they wanted based on their personal beliefs, and we'd all save a lot of time, money, and effort arguing about things like this.

I was raised in GA and identified with this poster a lot. My school graduated more parents than college-prep students (in the 90s). Luckily we had one teacher who "broke the rules" and told us a lot and got through to a few people, like ME. She obviously was on a mission b/c of the teen pregnancies but she would literally check the hallway before she taught us about condoms. I stayed a virgin longer than I wanted to, b/c I knew if I got pregnant, I'd have to STAY THERE.

Leads me to wonder - - where were you raised, what time period, and what was sex-ed like for you in school?

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a VERY liberal town in MA, in the 90's. My highschool was the first in the state to put condom machines in the bathrooms in 1991 (I was there from 94-98). I remember as early as 5th grade being taught about reproductive health (can that possibly be right?). In high school, we practiced putting condoms on bananas. We had teen pregnancies, like everyone else, but everyone who was having sex seemed to be on the pill (through the local Planned Parenthood). But, a lot of people graduated virgins. My friends at least seemed to take sex pretty seriously.

Unrelated, our sr. class president was openly gay and brought his boyfriend to prom. It was a non-issue from what I can remember.

[Anonymous]

I grew up here and the nuns (!) taught us what they considered sex-Ed. It was very entertaining, but the real sex-Ed was taught to us on the weekends by the varsity football players

[Anonymous]

Midwest small town, very Catholic elementary school.

Sex ed in 6th grade. Included biological changes of puberty (separate gender classes) and extensive accurate lessons on fetal development. Basic discussion of fertiliaztion of the egg (don't remember sex being part of this discussion, other than talking about loving married couples living out God's plan. Sperm was mentioned, but only in context of fertilization). Very pro life and abstinence approach to sex.

Mid 80s.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I envy you, MA!

In middle school my mom told me they'd tell me about my period at school (I know). They didn't. So I was resourceful and looked up what I needed to know in the World Book encyclopedia!

[Anonymous]

Just the female repro stuff was covered in school. Sperm was mentioned. No BC stuff. Watched a film of childbirth (sexes segregated). Mom didn't tell me much. Learned from other kids and by doing it. Got pregnant, had AB, just like many others in my school.
Kids need to know everything from a reliable source, not from each other.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the county in MD with the second highest teen pregnancy rate behind Baltimore. We actually got decent sex ed starting in 4th grade. The early stuff was about puberty, later was more about how babies were actually made. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help - plenty of people had babies in HS. I wound up going to a Catholic HS, where we got sex ed in Religion class (I know, weird) - we watched a childbirth video at that point (9th grade). We learned about condoms in health class at some point.

[Anonymous]

Penthouse

[Anonymous]

I'm 28 (which I think makes a difference).

I started getting sex-ed in 4th or 5th grade in SoCal. Basic stuff like puberty, correctly identifying the names and purposes of body parts, no talk about birth control really, just the mechanics of it all. Watched things like animated videos of childbirth and pregnancy. That continued through MS.

Moved to MA before 8th grade. Health was mandatory and our teacher also taught at the HS, so he tried hard to scare the shit out of us about everything. We had graphic pictures of STDs, people with cancer (missing jaws kind of thing) from smoking, etc. This is when we did the condom on the banana thing and talked about the different types of birth control. Honestly, I remember more about his vendetta against smoking than any sex-ed.

Moved overseas before 9th grade, attended a DoDs HS. Health was 1 semester, 9th graders weren't allowed to take it bc the counselor was a prude and it was the same kind of thing that I got in 9th grade. We also lived in an area where prostitution was legal and widespread though, so got an eyeful on a pretty regular basis.

I know a few people I went to school in MA with ended up pg before HS graduation, but not many. At my HS overseas, if anyone got pg, they were sent back to the States. A few people disappeared, but you could also get sent back for drug or alcohol use too (anything worth getting expelled for) so I'm not sure why they left.

[Anonymous]

Got pg at 17 he 19, both should have known rhythm method wasn't 100%. Got married, that was 2 daughters & 52 yrs ago. Still happily married