Comments on: You Learn Something New Every Day

By: Lies my sex ed teacher taught me « Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction

Lies my sex ed teacher taught me « Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:33:32 +0000

[...] gender roles & gender stereotypes. It was a sex education class that, while technically not abstinence-only, was nonetheless skewed to press abstinence if not outright celibacy until marriage. It was [...]

By: Becca

Becca — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:49:20 +0000

Ooo, in addition to Cara’s story…

I also saw a skit in which teenage girl was contemplating having sex with her boyfriend. She then asks if she can have some of her friend’s Skittles, and the other girl puts them all in her mouth, chews them up, spits them out on her friend and asks “How does it feel to get something that’s been used?”

What a fabulous lesson. Blah.

By: William

William — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:40:39 +0000

At my high school (late 90s) we were supposed to have comprehensive sex ed. I know a few people who said that their classes were informative, if careful. Mine, however, was hilarious. The issue was that sex ed was taught by whoever you ave gym with that semester. In my case it turned out to be a short, Catholic, ex-marine who was later discovered to be having sex with students (still has his job though, thanks teacher’s union!). We got ten minute of him yelling like a drill sergeant about what words we would be allowed to use, followed by a few questions about sex that made him uncomfortable. He then said, I kid you not, “OK, lesson over, now some sports high-lights.” The rest of the block consisted of him handing out some kind of state-approved literature, then turning on another set of sports high-lights. At one point he used a projector to show us a bunch of Vietnam-era genital horror slides.

Fuck yeah Chicago Public Schools!

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:11:32 +0000

Oh, memories!

Why kNOw actually provided sex education for the health classes at my high school (and I assume they still do).

This led to my school being a live action example of abstinence only education fail since, despite the fact that all us girls signed our little “no sex until marriage” cards, my school still had the largest amount of teen pregnancies in our county.

I also recall that there also happened to be a chlamydia outbreak amongst the students at my former school a couple of years ago. Gee…I guess just forcing us to watch a movie where some doctor showcases loads of icky STI pictures isn’t good enough!

By: Miniminx

Miniminx — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:07:05 +0000

This is so sad. Part of becoming a healthy adult is having an understanding of sexuality. Sex is a healthy thing to do (safely, of course). I cannot believe that they are telling kids that condoms are useless. Not only do teenagers HAVE sex, now many of them have it unsafely. Thanks abstinence educators! I had no idea your job was to promote sex-related guilt and the spread of STI’s and STD’S!

By: Ole Blue

Ole Blue — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:00:56 +0000

The religious right makes me nuts. Plus I live in Texas.

And as I was reading in Skeptical Inquirer Magazine tonight one of the articles stated how difficult it is to argue with people who do not base their beliefs on reality.

By: tinfoil hattie

tinfoil hattie — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:44:15 +0000

Wow, I thought there was supposed to be a separation between church and state. What happened to facts?

They were swallowed up by the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.

By: kat

kat — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:05:38 +0000

I went to HS in the late 80′s and remember having a comprehensive sex education including–shocker!–where the clitoris is and how it works and that it’s purpose is for female pleasure. Also discussed were all the various types of birth control and how to used them.

Is this not being taught anymore?? What a shame.

By: Emma

Emma — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:48:54 +0000

I’m in 10th grade. My school does ‘abstinence-plus’, which was basically the whole ‘sex is bad, condoms are bad, birth control fails, and you all have no self control’ shtick. The plus part came from devoting half a period to mentioning birth control and 2 or 3 to the idea that you can stop having sex if you start. No, really? I never would have guessed. {/sarcasm}
And of course, nothing about the actually process, even something as basic as insert tab A into slot B, repeat as necessary. Nothing on GLBT issues either, or even acknowledgment of our existence. On top of that, there was the incredibly creepy and unhelpful declaration that males can only be raped by other males.
The most I can say I about the class is that I only got the message that condoms were mostly ineffective instead of completely, and at least they didn’t get into any creepy duct tape/candy/rose metaphors.
I didn’t even know until recently that my school called its program ‘abstinence-plus’ instead of ‘abstinence-only’. There was no discernible difference in terms of message. Abstinence-plus programs are supposedly more effective than ‘only programs, but that’s only true if they aren’t run in conservative towns like mine, where the ‘plus part is downplayed as much as possible. Of course,abstinence-plus sounds like it’s better, so I’m worried that even if abstinence-only programs somehow get eliminated, ‘plus programs, and their ilk, will get a free pass and keep getting government funding/approval when conservative areas can use them to continue to teach abstinence-only under a new name.

By: Tess Eract [formerly Backson]

Tess Eract [formerly Backson] — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:30:43 +0000

…and there’s some of us, having brushed up close enough to the new age sector to loathe it, distrust anyone who uses the word “holistic”, anyway.
Sure glad I’m asexual. And thanks for directing Jenn to good info.