Comments on: Pregnant Pause

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:20:40 +0000

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.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:26:46 +0000

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: ?

By: eeyore19

eeyore19 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:57:50 +0000

drdan: wasn’t that the episode where Fonzie was the substitute teacher and they tricked him into giving sex ed?

By: FlyingFish

FlyingFish — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:46:17 +0000

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.)

By: Rasheed

Rasheed — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:24:24 +0000

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.”

By: meep

meep — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:09:53 +0000

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.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:46:10 +0000

My school was Kindergarten through eighth grade.

By: drdan

drdan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:04:40 +0000

Wasn’t this a plot for happy days after all the regular cast left?

By: Dave Van Domelen

Dave Van Domelen — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:36:16 +0000

The internet is a series of tubes. And so is sex.

By: Cedar

Cedar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:05:12 +0000

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!”