Pregnant Pause
Cidu Bill on Nov 13th 2008
How old is this girl supposed to be? Even if she’s not a seventh grader herself, if she’s in the same school as a seventh grader, she has to be at least in the fifth grade (depending on how the school district is set up; more likely sixth grade). For a ten-or-eleven-year-old to be this ignorant would require the school to have an abstinence-only teaching policy so severe that even Sarah Palin would disapprove and a mother who’s too repressed to have ever discussed sex with her daughter — and if there’s one thing Eve isn’t, it’s repressed.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Clear Blue Water, Karen Montague-Reyes, Sarah Palin, abstinence, comic strips, comics, humor, sex education | 19 responses so far
Charlene Nov 13th 2008 at 06:58 pm 1
It’s clear that you haven’t read many of the questions posted to the Yahoo Answers pregnancy board.
This ignorance does not surprise me. It’s not that parents like Eve are repressed; it’s that they don’t start sex ed early enough, and sometimes assume the school is doing a better job than it is. Some schools have no sex ed at all, especially if certain factions have decided that there will be no sex ed.
James Nov 13th 2008 at 07:03 pm 2
Actually, it’s not THAT unusual for girls this age to be grossly misinformed about the facts of life, and to conflate accurate and inaccurate information. But given who her mother is, it’s surprising she didn’t learn the straight dope at home.
Dave Van Domelen Nov 13th 2008 at 07:12 pm 3
I went to a 1-8 school, actually. It’s not too uncommon for private schools, magnet schools or schools in lower population density areas.
BlueRaja Nov 13th 2008 at 07:13 pm 4
Our school didn’t have sex-ed until 8th grade (I am currently a college student). Before that, most of my sexual education came from gossip and an abundance of porn from the Internet.
Even after sex ed., there were a few things most of us weren’t sure about. Things cleared up pretty quickly (during Freshman year), though, after most of the girls lost their virginity.
Patrick Nov 13th 2008 at 07:16 pm 5
Why does she have to be a fifth or sixth grader? I went to a K-8 and my daughter does now. I wouldn’t expect a second or third grader to know “the facts of life” yet. Besides, how can we expect her to retain any information at all with the top of her head blown off like that?
Rebecca Nov 13th 2008 at 08:00 pm 6
My 11-year-old sister recently revealed to me that she doesn’t know what sex is and thought you could get pregnant from making out.
Seems like some kids actively avoid learning about the icky stuff that grownups do on TV.
Jack Nov 13th 2008 at 09:05 pm 7
Is it just me or is the “drama” level of this comic average about 9 on a scale of 0-10?
And, uh, Gee whiz Beav…if I ever have children, I’d rather them learn about this stuff from me and know my values on the subject, rather than absorbing whatever information and values that society and the school curriculum are feeding them at that (as yet undetermined) future time.
I think that it is important to time such teaching correctly. If it is given too late, children like this little girl will be woefully ignorant. If too much information is given early (such as at preschool age), children may be burdened with more information that they can developmentally handle (we adults tend to forget that young children are tackling unique challenges of their own every day, and don’t need to be burdened with adult worries on top of those they already have). Anyway, it’s something to think about.
Spiritcatcher Nov 13th 2008 at 09:31 pm 8
it’s possible for teachers to explain, erm, reproductive capabilities, without explaining actual intercourse, with leaves that rather important tidbit to guesswork.
think of offline surfing. something is obviously working… now let a child fill in the blanks. you won’t get “the tubes” as an explanation for the internet, but a believe of being able to “install the ‘net from CD” or somesuch could result.
John DiFool Nov 13th 2008 at 10:06 pm 9
“and a mother who’s too repressed to have ever discussed sex with her daughter”
I think we can take this latter statement on faith. Mrs. Shouty obviously has some hangups in this area, to put it mildly-and Mr. Shouty doesn’t even want to deal with it at all.
Cedar Nov 13th 2008 at 11:05 pm 10
Indeed, Spiritcatcher. At my school, we had a “puberty education” (altho it was called sex ed) at grade 6, and then nothing until grade 9. That’s enough time for a lot of misinformation to get spread around.
I remember clearly the day I learned that sex was actually the penis going inside the vagina. I was like, “Of course! That makes sooooo much sense!”
Dave Van Domelen Nov 13th 2008 at 11:36 pm 11
The internet is a series of tubes. And so is sex.
drdan Nov 14th 2008 at 01:04 am 12
Wasn’t this a plot for happy days after all the regular cast left?
Scott E Nov 14th 2008 at 01:46 am 13
My school was Kindergarten through eighth grade.
meep Nov 14th 2008 at 05:09 am 14
Look, even if you explicitly tell kids, until they have a personal interest in fitting tab A in slot B, they don’t really pay attention. When I was little, my parents had a book called “Where Did I Come From?” which has pretty explicit illustrations, but still my younger sisters didn’t quite “get it” til they were about 13.
Also, kids just don’t think straight, and assume all sorts of things that don’t make sense as a matter of course, whether sex is involved or not. I was wondering if you’ve talked to a pre-pubescent child recently, because they’ll tell you all sorts of wacky things.
Rasheed Nov 14th 2008 at 11:24 am 15
All I remember is one slideshow presentation in the 6th grade with a poorly drawn penis diagram, and three lectures in high school about STDs. We had a whole unit on STDs in Health class, but one of the lectures had a lengthy slideshow of scabs, scars, lesions, etc. of “unfortunates.” One of the lectures pretty much focused on how abstinence is the only 100% method to avoid getting STDs (mentioning ANY contact is enough to risk getting SOMETHING), and the last one discussed birth control. This one actually had good advice about avoiding novelty condoms (like the ones that come on lolly sticks, inside nutshells [lol]) because they’re not always good quality latex and don’t always carry expiration dates.
My sex ed (inside and outside of school) has been adequate for me. In all honesty, the only “lesson” I really wished I knew ahead of time was “which way to roll.”
FlyingFish Nov 14th 2008 at 01:46 pm 16
My sex ed class was in 7th grade, although it was hardly abstinence only. My parents beat them to me by a year.
PBS beat both of them by four years. (I had weird viewing habits.)
eeyore19 Nov 14th 2008 at 01:57 pm 17
drdan: wasn’t that the episode where Fonzie was the substitute teacher and they tricked him into giving sex ed?
Mark in Boston Nov 14th 2008 at 07:26 pm 18
So this kid asks, “Mommy, what’s sex?” And the mother thinks, oh well, he’s only six but I’d better tell him before he learns something on the street corner. So she gives him the full thirty-minute dissertation. And he’s like, “How do I fit all that in this box on the form?” Name: Billy. Age: 6. Sex: ?
Jack Nov 15th 2008 at 09:20 pm 19
I remember playing a video game when I was 9 years old, and it had a timer on it that counted down the seconds. It said “Secs: ##” and I asked my mom “What does ’secs’ mean?” She was doubtless relieved when I pointed to the video game screen and she saw what I was talking about.