Sex Education !

[masie]

This is not designed to be a lets all hate on America thread, as while this is a rather extreme example, I am not convinced that the majority of places are getting this right. I just thought this might be an interesting thing to share (also it made me laugh).

Is it any wonder that teenagers are suppose to be getting the majority of their sex edication these days from adult websites!

- http://todayinawesome.com/blog/2015/...-sex-education

[Frans]

LOL.. that one female presenter prolly didn't have problems with abstinence, heh. It is rather shocking to see that material as actual teaching material, because it indeed gives very little options to young kids. That's not smart. I'm pretty sure we've had proper/reviewed sex-ed in schools in the Netherlands since at least 1980 or so.

How's that in the UK btw? Lots of unwanted pregnancies there I keep hearing. A sex-ed celebrity from Belgium (Goedele Liekens) now even has show on a UK network about it. It seems to be a topic that takes skills to talk about. It's recognized profession in NL and Belgium anyway; sex therapist (psychologist base + additional course, with official certs yes).

The sock-trick was smart btw, good teacher that!

[mdj812]

I love it. On the one hand, if he was on Comedy Central rather than HBO, I think John Oliver would get a lot more attention. On the other, the fact that he's on HBO means he can do much more interesting things than if he were on basic cable, such as using the F-word. In any case, he's fantastic.

I'm intrigued by the notion of teens learning about sex through pornography. On the one hand, simply talking about STDs and showing how to put on a condom isn't going to help anyone figure out what they want out of a sexually active relationship.

As the clip pointed out, understanding the concept of consent is paramount.

In porn, though, consent is a given, and so is mutual satisfaction: the actress may be faking everything, but a teen on a tube site may not know the difference. Which makes me wonder: should sex ed curricula include information about sexual pleasure? My first thought is that they should--everyone has a right to understand their bodies, and no one should feel weird or guilty because they like A but not B, if that makes sense.

(Also, as an American: there are plenty of good reasons to hate on us. My feelings won't be hurt; I'll probably just nod in sad agreement. Fire away.)

[simono]

Thank you Masie - an entertaining and thought-provoking video, and full of irony as we might expect from John Oliver. The bowling alley scene was incredible - some film crew actually thought they were imparting an important lesson! Attitudes and behavior about sex here in the U.S. are indeed all over the place - a cartoon on basic cable tv (South Park) depicting butt sex and defecation, and afternoon soap operas with constant erotic entanglements while classrooms, if they include any sex education at all, may only cover physiological aspects and teachers must often be very careful of word choice or straying into ad hoc topics to avoid possible backlash and discipline. I believe things are getting better though, if slowly. My health classes long ago did not broach the subject at all. I literally learned more in the cafeteria at lunch.

[boomertoo]

Thank you, Masie. After seeing that I am slightly stunned; but then I suppose I shouldn't be because when it comes to sex and all things sexual there are still far too many people who simply cannot handle the subject. One only has to look at the the gay marriage issue here in Oz as an example. Goodness knows what the solution is, but I can see it will be a long and painful path to finding the answer.

By the way: John Oliver rocks!

[renae_d]

I John Oliver

In my schools sex ed was covered in health class. I didn't take health in high school though because I 'tested out' after taking it in middle school. My middle school health class was taught by a student teacher (21 yr old college student) while our official teacher snuck off to have an affair with the Texas history teacher. So basically it was a free period, and all I remember was her chatting with me and couple of other girls while doing their nails and saying something like "you can totally get pregnant without having sex, like if he cums on the outside of you and it just like, slides in you." That, and seeing a list of STDs which all seemed to have the same symptoms and could END IN DEATH.

My advanced Biology teacher told us "condoms don't protect against AIDS. Think about it, viruses are really small. They can go between the spaces."

But since my middle school life science teacher was a big proponent of cryptozoology (liked to show videos on Bigfoot and Loch Ness monster), and my high school economics teacher told us about how the chupacabra is real, I tried to not listen to or believe anything my teachers said on any subject, and only get my information from books.

Oh and one last anecdote: A senior girl in my Spanish class was telling me you could get pregnant with your underwear on. I said I didn't think that was correct, and she said "oh yeah? Then why don't they make condoms out of cotton?" Sigh.

[mdj812]

Texas

If I had to summarize your post in a single word, this is the one, haha. I can sympathize: I grew up in Arizona.

[renae_d]

Ha! Besides abstinence-only (and more!) fear mongering, I even included Texas History class and chupacabra. Never has a more Texas post been written.

It's true. Arizona is pretty well the same (as I understand).

Speaking of sex ed...

http://publicdomainreview.org/2015/08/19/when-the-birds-and-the-bees-were-not-enough-aristotles-masterpiece/

[mdj812]

Arizona is pretty well the same (as I understand).

You are correct. We don't have much to celebrate, you see. I love Stevie Nicks as much as anyone, but Arizona never produced an artist like Stevie Ray Vaughn, or a writer like Molly Ivins.

Speaking of sex ed...
http://publicdomainreview.org/2015/0...s-masterpiece/

Great stuff. I've only read a small portion of the primary source as linked in the article, but it's a kick. Thanks for that.

[masie]

Wow some interesting things here.

In England our unwanted pregnancy levels have actual dropped in young people so something seems to be working in terms off all the condom and STI stuff that we teach in UK schools - which we do rather well these days.

The problem is we currently mostly look at things from a health point of view not a human view and this is where pornography can pick up the slack in a wrong way. I am not sure how wide spread it is as an actual problem, as the media are prone to sexing up these kindof stories in the news but we are led to believe that your more generic boy-girl porn where she is called a bitch and takes it on her face/in her ass etc while the boy is all ohh yeah ya dirty girl take it - is the kind of stuff these teens are watching and now and that they have gained a attitude that all woman are sluts to be taken and thats the langauage of adult encounters is this.

We are also told that more teenage girls feel pressue to do anal and have dirty put you down sex and that the whole male female balance has been spoilt based on what they are seeing. I have heard a few documentaries where teeagers themselves have voiced these things which is very sad especially because on the flip side as a consenting adult sometimes these kind of scenes are exactly what I want to watch and enjoy as they can be really fun but I have the context of knowing this is porn not sex. Maybe that is the next thing we will be teaching in our schools but I can see why tax spenders may not see this as the best use of funds.