Debates of all sorts discussion

Does it work? Why? How does it work, and with what? How effective? (I don't think so ..)

Tenebris In Lux wrote: "Does it work? Why? How does it work, and with what? How effective? (I don't think so ..)"

What's the percentage of teens having sex? Has it gone down? If not, the programs aren't working and need to be either fixed or replaced.

Not working, and schools need to do stuff about it. trust me, the sex ed classes aren't the problem. Its the ignorant hormone-crazed teenagers.

If schools are having trouble getting the basic academics down, sex ed is not a priority right now.

luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "If schools are having trouble getting the basic academics down, sex ed is not a priority right now."

Basic academics have always been hard to get down. And I think, personally, sex ed should be left up to the parent. It's gross to talk about with a teacher. But not telling kids about sex in school is obviously not working either. And no, it's not the kids faults either. That's kinda why they're in school -- so you can teach them.

And not all teenagers that are interested in sex are ignorant and hormone crazed. If you actually told them the pros and cons and educated them on how to be safe (seriously, teens are having sex with or without your information on it) while informing them that they should probably wait and here's why: fact 1, 2, 3. Don't give them scare tactic bullshit. Give them facts that will make them understand. Scare tactic bullshit only makes them want to do it more.

It's almost like reverse psychology at times. Don't have sex .. don't have sex .. don't have sex! But I'll have it anyway :-P

Yep, kids will do it no matter what, so why not equip them with what they need?

The awful health class I had only mentioned condoms in a bad light, saying myths and only bad things about them. Yes, they aren't perfect, but can't we look at the pros, too?

Its the ignorant hormone-crazed teenagers.

Hello? Not an ignorant hormone-crazed teenager. I use my head. It's not *my* fault I'm being fed a bunch of lies. I want to education myself and play it safe.

There will always be teenagers having sex. Funny enough, some of the school who are loudly pro-abstinence have the most pregnant teen girls! They seem to be totally ignorant of this, which is sad.

Mello wrote: "luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "If schools are having trouble getting the basic academics down, sex ed is not a priority right now."

Basic academics have always been hard to get down..."

Um, I know lots of fact-based evidence on why teen sex is a no-no and benefits no one. I'm very well-educated. Its not the teachers' fault, its the students that dont care.

luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "Mello wrote: "luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "If schools are having trouble getting the basic academics down, sex ed is not a priority right now."

Basic academics have always been ..."

Yes you know this, but the majority of abstinence only education (it is a fact) tells half truths and scare tactics. If the teachers taught these "facts" you supposedly know maybe the students would pay attention to it. Incidentally, do you mind sharing these facts?

Exactly. Are you just believing in what she is saying?

And proof of that, please. Please don't direct me to a propaganda site, too.

Tenebris In Lux wrote: "And proof of that, please. Please don't direct me to a propaganda site, too."

Ooooh I came across one of those sites a few weeks ago and was compelled to beg Anonymous to hack it. "Having sex with girls is gay"...CAN'T YOU THINK OF A BETTER SLOGAN THAN THAT?!

Wow.

Another thing I don't get is when a guy sleeps around, he's considered "a man" now that's he has had sex. But when a woman sleeps around, she's a whore. I don't get it.

I love this site. It's a sex ed site that's actually helpful:
http://www.scarleteen.com/

Oddly enough... we didn't learn abstinence only. My teacher talked about all kinds of birth control methods, std's and said that abstinence is the best option but didn't just constantly say don't have sex.

That's better. I had another sex ed class (freshman year) that was better. The textbook described in detail how to use a condom.

Mine was Freshman year as well lol. But that was the only one we had... in 6th grade they talked about puberty though.

luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "Not working, and schools need to do stuff about it. trust me, the sex ed classes aren't the problem. Its the ignorant hormone-crazed teenagers."

You're kind of contradicting yourself there. You say schools should do something about it but then you say it's beyond their control because of hormone-crazed teenagers.

I agree more with your latter argument. I don't think constantly pushing abstinence on kids is effective. I think sex ed classes should discourage promiscuity, but they shouldn't tell kids they absolutely shouldn't have sex, because––like it or not––it's going to happen. What's more important is teaching teenagers how to have safe sex so that if they ever choose to do it, they'll be ready and hopefully won't run into any problems.

Okay.

I do believe in abistinence-only. I really hate the way of thinking that "It's going to happen anyway, so you may as well help it along." That doesn't make any sense. There are murderers, and even though there are laws against killing, people are still going to do it. That doesn't mean we should just legalize killing. :P Nor should a teacher just hand out condoms because they think the kids are going to have sex anyways.

I don't actually take sex ed anymore. Well, the parts about protection and how to have "safe sex". Since I've already made my decision that I want someone to love me enough to marry me first before they take my virginity. :P While I know that telling kids that they shouldn't have sex isn't going to convince all kids not to do it, it would probably help. I think it's up to the PARENT and not the school system to tell their kids about safe sex, because that is not the job of the school. That kind of pushes sex on kids, and the reason that I don't even take that part of the course is because it makes me very uncomfortable, that my teacher just assumes I'm going to hand out my virginity on a silver platter. (At least, that's how it makes me feel.)

It's not the job of the school to teach a kid how to have sex. It's not their place at all. People forget that sex outside of marriage is actually a morality issue, even if people choose not to see it that way. I mean, they don't give the pros of taking drugs. You're told not to do it, because it could have dangerous consequences. And not all birth controls prevent things like pregnancy or STDs. So the only way to actually be 100% safe is to just wait.

So I'm traditional. :P

I really hate the way of thinking that "It's going to happen anyway, so you may as well help it along." That doesn't make any sense. There are murderers, and even though there are laws against killing, people are still going to do it. That doesn't mean we should just legalize killing. :P

That argument isn't very logical considering murder is illegal and sex before marriage is not.

While I know that telling kids that they shouldn't have sex isn't going to convince all kids not to do it, it would probably help. I think it's up to the PARENT and not the school system to tell their kids about safe sex, because that is not the job of the school. That kind of pushes sex on kids, and the reason that I don't even take that part of the course is because it makes me very uncomfortable, that my teacher just assumes I'm going to hand out my virginity on a silver platter. (At least, that's how it makes me feel.)

Maybe it's your school system, but at my school I didn't feel at all that sex education was "pushing sex" on us. I don't know about your class, but in ours we learned a ton about STDs. It's not like they're saying, "Okay kids, here are some condoms. Go have fun!" They teach about safe sex, but the consequences of sex are also a big part of sex ed. We were taught that having sex is a big decision––and although it's not wrong if we choose to do it, we should know how to do it and what the consequences are. I also don't plan on having sex unless I'm either married or in a very serious relationship (where I'll probably get married), but I was grateful to be taught these things just so there are no surprises in my future.

And no, I don't think it's enough to leave sex ed to parents. Many teenagers do not get along with their parents at all, and might not have anyone to turn to if they have questions about sex. Sexual education in school is important because it answers those questions for everyone. Sometimes it's hard for people to ask these questions at all, even if they get along with their parents. So it's good to have someone there to explain it all.

You're not supposed to take the parallel as literal. It's more the "do something that might be wrong just because people will do it anyway".

Perhaps it is my school, but it was the same way at both my middle and high school, and it always made me uncomfortable. I don't think kids even need to know about sex stuff until ninth grade; not all of this starting at fifth grade stuff. They haven't even hit puberty yet! And the thing is that there are people, like myself, who do believe it's wrong to have sex outside of marriage. I suppose I just feel like schools always defend the argument that is not at all connected to anything that might have to do with religion, and the other side is forgotten...People forget that there are people who still see it as offensive, and I think that, even if it's a minority, it should be stood up for. So, naturally, I don't think it's okay for teachers to teach that sex is okay if you decide to do it, since that's actually the teacher's own opinion on sex...

They should talk to an adult they trust then. Safe sex education shouldn't be part of one's required curriculum. If they want to speak with a teacher after class hours, then by all means, go for it. If you don't want to talk to your parents, find someone else. But it's not fair to make it part of the required course in the school.

I don't think kids even need to know about sex stuff until ninth grade; not all of this starting at fifth grade stuff. They haven't even hit puberty yet!

But they're about to hit puberty so they have to know these things in advance. You don't want poor little 12-year-old girls to get their period and think they're a freak and/or bleeding to death or something. Kids' bodies start to go through changes when they're in fifth grade, and they want to know why. It's not fair to deprive them of that knowledge.

And the thing is that there are people, like myself, who do believe it's wrong to have sex outside of marriage. I suppose I just feel like schools always defend the argument that is not at all connected to anything that might have to do with religion, and the other side is forgotten...People forget that there are people who still see it as offensive, and I think that, even if it's a minority, it should be stood up for.

It is stood up for, at least in my school system. We had to get permission from our parents every time we learned about sex in health class, biology, etc.

They should talk to an adult they trust then. Safe sex education shouldn't be part of one's required curriculum. If they want to speak with a teacher after class hours, then by all means, go for it. If you don't want to talk to your parents, find someone else. But it's not fair to make it part of the required course in the school.

Find someone else? It's not that easy. What are you going to do, walk around saying, "So who wants to explain sex to me?" Plus, you don't know if you can trust just anyone to tell you about sex. Health teachers are professionals and they can give you the true facts, and they tell you details you probably wouldn't have known otherwise. Most people are not experts on these things, and awkwardness gets in the way of proper explanation. Whereas, health teachers are straightforward and know how to explain in non-awkward ways. Plus, you can't expect all kids to be confident enough to ask questions. There are a lot of things kids want to know but they're too timid to ask about it. That's what sex ed is for; to educate them, and also to save them from having to ask things they're afraid to ask––because odds are, most kids want to know.

Yep. We had to fill out a little slip for "permission" to learn about puberty in the forth grade in my school. Haha, that was actually after it happened to me (I hit it pretty early). But I know if my mum didn't explain to me what a menstrual cycle was, I would have fainted when I experienced my first bleeding!

The whole abstinence-only education seems to add to the stigma and taboo-ness of sex. Just avoiding it will do nothing. And preparing them will at least give the students smarter choices to make -- learning and preparing themselves later on with their choice of birth control should avoid an unwanted pregnancy later, thus avoiding those abortions you dislike.

And also, just because you teach it doesn't mean they will go off and do it.

My parents believe that the abstinence-only class that they taught me in seventh grade was a bunch of "bollocks"*. Sure, at that grade level, you shouldn't really be having sex. The longer you wait is probably the better, but who is to say when you should have it?

* Yes, actually wording. And even if you do notice me using a lot of English slang, I am not from England. Sadly.

I never said it wasn't okay to teach kids about puberty. That is very different than teaching them how to put on condoms.

And we have no such permission slips. In fact, I have to get a note from my parent myself and even then the teacher usually looks at it like, "What the heck is this?" and then scrambles to find something else for me to do. Which usually involves me re-learning the food pyramid for the billionth time. Perhaps that's because I live in Oregon, a very liberal state.

And I would still stand by the fact that sex education shouldn't be required. Because I was required to complete at least one sex ed course about birth control and all of that in eighth grade. If a student wants to learn about sex, have them talk to their health teacher on their own. It should not be required. Even if you wanted to do it in class; I shouldn't have had to take that one course; it should't have been required of me to learn something my parents and I both objected to.

I still don't get that abstinence only is just not teaching them anything that all. That's just...lack of sex education in the curriculum. Not abstinence only. So I don't understand that.

I think that, Thalia, they should have an alternate class for people who don't want to learn it. Because that is incredibly unfair. (Plus there are those of us who find the whole thing very awkward and just don't want to sit through a class like that...) Not a food pyramid bit in the side, I mean a whole other class that just focuses on something different. But just because you and others may not want to take the class doesn't mean it shouldn't exist...I think it should exist. But there just should be an alternative.

I never said it wasn't okay to teach kids about puberty. That is very different than teaching them how to put on condoms.

Well you did say, "I don't think kids even need to know about sex stuff until ninth grade; not all of this starting at fifth grade stuff. They haven't even hit puberty yet!" Of course, "sex stuff" isn't very specific so I figured you meant fifth-graders shouldn't be taught anything about sex. Maybe I'm wrong. But even so, puberty and sex are closely related subjects and I think fifth-graders should know what sex is. Puberty is related to maturing sexually and I think kids at that age should know that. They either hear it from an expert, or they hear it from misinformed friends at slumber parties; I think the former is a much better option. They don't necessarily have to learn about what condoms or STDs are; I didn't learn about that stuff until middle school. But they should at least know what sex is.

And we have no such permission slips. In fact, I have to get a note from my parent myself and even then the teacher usually looks at it like, "What the heck is this?" and then scrambles to find something else for me to do. Which usually involves me re-learning the food pyramid for the billionth time. Perhaps that's because I live in Oregon, a very liberal state.

Wow. In that case, I think your school system is just very inconsiderate. And don't blame it on being liberal. I'm from Massachusetts which is pretty much the most liberal state there is; seriously, I think I knew one conservative person at my entire high school. But we still had to always get permission slips signed to learn these things.

And I would still stand by the fact that sex education shouldn't be required. Because I was required to complete at least one sex ed course about birth control and all of that in eighth grade. If a student wants to learn about sex, have them talk to their health teacher on their own. It should not be required. Even if you wanted to do it in class; I shouldn't have had to take that one course; it should't have been required of me to learn something my parents and I both objected to.

Only one? I was required to take three ... lol.
And I still stand by my opinion that it should be required or at least highly recommended, because the classes cover a lot of important information. You can't expect every kid to go to their health teacher because a) a lot of kids would be too shy, and b) the health teachers probably wouldn't want to give the same explanation to hundreds of individual kids, over and over. Plus I think it's comforting to learn about these subjects as a group. You find out that way that a lot of other kids have the same issues and questions that you have, and you're not alone in your confusion.

I don't think kids should be forced to learn about it if they really don't want to, and I think my high school did a good job of handling that. If yours doesn't, I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean sex ed should be banned from all schools. And I still think it should be encouraged because for most kids, it's a good and important learning experience.

There's one other issue about sex ed which hasn't been brought up yet - it doesn't relate directly to abstinence-only education, but I feel it's relevant to the way the discussion has turned. It's this: there are some children who have been sexually abused before they've had a sexual education class, and the classes can help them to realize what happened to them and begin a healthier healing process - as well as presenting a clear line between normal, healthy, positive sex and what was done to them. For that reason alone, I think all kids are due some explanation of human sexuality by about seventh grade at the latest.

Back on the main topic - I see abstinence-only education working sort of like a legal drinking age. Teens are still going to experiment, but because it's forbidden/not spoken about, they're not going to do it as safely as they might. Hormones are pretty crazy things and can be hard to resist. I'd much rather see teens handling themselves maturely - like, say, using contraception and getting themselves and their partners checked for STDs - than let them do whatever and whoever they like without regard for consequences. Now, I didn't go through an abstinence-only education program, so I'm not 100% sure what would and would not be covered in that sort of curriculum. Would someone mind defining that, actually? For instance, I know my school covered contraception, STDs, where to get tested for diseases and for pregnancy, and also issues of consent - how many of those topics does an abstinence-only program discuss?


(By the by, the idea that high schools which teach about contraception are handing out condoms or whatnot is a blatant misconception. Colleges, on the other hand...)

Mello, an alternate class is a good idea. I don't mind learning about reproduction and how that works. That's useful information, no matter what your opinion on abstinence is. But, like you said, having an entirely other class (since I'm sure there's more than just me; I mean, I know of several dozen kids in my class alone who are also LDS, so are the same as I am on sex education) is a really great idea, but will probably get shut down, since we're poor over here right now. So much so that the photography teacher is having the class draw pictures. *headdesk* But I only need one more year of health, which I'm taking online through BYU--the Mormon college, hahah. So at least I don't have to worry about it, personally, ever again.

Brigid, I didn't really count puberty as sex stuff, since it's not...well, sex itself. Of course it's good to teach kids about their changing bodies. But I'm sure they know what sex is. Heck, I was never told outright by anybody was sex was, but I...well, I always seemed to know what it was. But hey, that might have just been me.

Really, you needed to have slips? Ugh, what in the heck? What's up with my school then? My school isn't at all considerate of covservative kids; even though teachers are told not to get politcal, I had teachers in middle school telling us how badly they wanted Bush impeached; and then telling us that we needed to get our parents to vote for Obama! And of course with stuff like sex; I don't understand!

I never said sex education should be banned. My stance is that it's taught too liberally, with the "you're going to do it anyway" sort of thing. At least when I was taught, my teachers never once gave us the "you should probably wait until you're married" sort of thing. It was always "just make sure you're ready, however near that may be!" So I just didn't appreciate the way they handled it, but perhaps that's not how it is everywhere.

Taught too liberally? I wish my ab-only (first sex ed class) was more liberal. Silly laws.

I would give anything to live in a very progressive place. Sure, I live in a nice college town, but Washing and Oregon sounds lovely to me. I get tired of rednecks often times.

Brigid, I didn't really count puberty as sex stuff, since it's not...well, sex itself. Of course it's good to teach kids about their changing bodies. But I'm sure they know what sex is. Heck, I was never told outright by anybody was sex was, but I...well, I always seemed to know what it was. But hey, that might have just been me.

Well, I for one didn't know what sex was until they taught us in fifth grade. My parents just never brought it up and ... SURPRISE! Haha. But, I'm grateful I learned it then. Learning it from my parents would have been pretty awkward. And really, they didn't teach us much except defining what sex was, and that was it.

Really, you needed to have slips? Ugh, what in the heck? What's up with my school then? My school isn't at all considerate of covservative kids; even though teachers are told not to get politcal, I had teachers in middle school telling us how badly they wanted Bush impeached; and then telling us that we needed to get our parents to vote for Obama! And of course with stuff like sex; I don't understand!

Yup, we did. I'm sorry your school didn't take conservative beliefs into account. You're right, it's unfair. We had the same rule at our school that teachers weren't supposed to express their political beliefs, but I know what you mean. Most of them were obviously liberal––although usually they would refuse to tell us who they voted for, etc. Although I had one teacher who was very openly conservative and talked a lot about how he admired Ronald Reagan ... like, all the time. But he didn't try to change our minds or anything. He was a cool guy. :]

I never said sex education should be banned. My stance is that it's taught too liberally, with the "you're going to do it anyway" sort of thing. At least when I was taught, my teachers never once gave us the "you should probably wait until you're married" sort of thing. It was always "just make sure you're ready, however near that may be!" So I just didn't appreciate the way they handled it, but perhaps that's not how it is everywhere.

It is taught pretty liberally but I still think that's a good thing. I don't think educating kids about sex "just in case" is going to make them want to have sex more. In fact, to me it made sex seem a lot more intimidating––learning about all the safety precautions you have to take and whatnot, not to mention all the nasty STDs you can get.

I mean, it's not like our health teachers treated us like we were a bunch of sluts. It wasn't like, "Well you're all probably having sex already you crazy teenagers!" They just wanted to let us know the facts in advance, and personally I appreciated it.

Aleph wrote: "Yes, i agree. Although advising teenagers not to have sex isn't a bad idea."

Yeah ... I mean, I don't encourage teens to have sex because I think in most cases, they don't know what they're doing. But if teens choose to have sex, I'm not going to think lower of them for doing so. (Unless they're being really promiscuous, which I think is a rather poor decision...)

Lol my school used scare tactics, they showed PICTURES of STDS, not pics of the virus, non, the effects they have on the body! That was horrifying :P

Cody wrote: "Lol my school used scare tactics, they showed PICTURES of STDS, not pics of the virus, non, the effects they have on the body! That was horrifying :P"

Urghhh. I'd surely be scared, so maybe that program is doing it's job? D:

Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what could happen, they didn't want us to just brush it off, they also told us what we saw was extreme cases. They also taught us about birth control and what not as well. I thought it was a good program over all. (didn't enjoy it but it was informative)

Cody wrote: "Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what could happen, they didn't want us to just brush it off, they al..."

Well OF COURSE you didn't enjoy it! Who really enjoys sex ed lol I mean really? *waits for crowds of people who did enjoy sex ed to band together and beat her over the head with sledgehammer*

At least it wasn't entirely scare tactic. That's a good sign.

Cody wrote: "Lol my school used scare tactics, they showed PICTURES of STDS, not pics of the virus, non, the effects they have on the body! That was horrifying :P"

Oh yeah, they did that to us too. *shudders*

Cody wrote: "Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what could happen, they didn't want us to just brush it off, they al..."

Haha same at my school. So I guess it worked. Of course, I also went to high school in a really wealthy town, so girls could probably afford to get abortions...

Mello wrote: "Cody wrote: "Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what could happen, they didn't want us to just brush it..."

Haaaa, actually I really did enjoy it. Freshman year, anyway. My teacher was really cool. XD lol

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Mello wrote: "Cody wrote: "Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what could happen, they didn't want us to..."

Well, okay, I retract that statement! It was ill-founded and assumption based!

Mello wrote: "Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Mello wrote: "Cody wrote: "Lol well I haven't seen many pregnant girls in my school. They said they weren't really scare tactics as much as them showing us what ..."

Haha it's fine. Of the three health/sex-ed courses I had to take, it was the only one I liked... and it was just because of the teacher. So yeah.

Squid wrote: "luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "Mello wrote: "luhvBOOKS *~Colin Morgan/JD Forever~* wrote: "If schools are having trouble getting the basic academics down, sex ed is not a priority ri..."

1 out of 4 girls get Herpes every year.
By the time teens reach 19 years of age, 7 out of 10 have had sexual intercourse.
More than 10,000 girls get pregnant every year.
Of the approximately 750,000 teen pregancies every year, 82% of them are unintended.


That;s pretty much all I can name at the time, but as you can see, sex for teens is not getting a good rep.

Like Tenebris said, that is more proving that abstinence only sex education isn't doing a damned thing. If everyone knew about safe sex and practiced it those numbers would plummet.

Again, it's kind of like prohibition: the more you tell people not to do something, the more they'll want it :P

Nina wrote: "Nope. I disagree. All kids can go to the library, resreah it or ASK somebody. And those who don't have ANY acsess to ANY form of reserach ANYWHERE...? Well, they probably don't even go to school."

What about Anila's previously mentioned situation, where the kid has been victim to some kind of sexual abuse and doesn't have anyone to talk to and has no idea what has happened to them? That kid may not have a private laptop, they may not know of/have a trusted adult to talk to. And no, not all kids can go to the library. Some neighborhoods don't even have libraries.

I think that if your parents are planning to talk to you about it themselves they should be able to tell the school that and have you put into an alternate class but just to have a certain number of children not know something like that is just insane. Especially considering that there will be children who do know. And what if some of those kids try to take advantage of the other children? I don't know, I'm paranoid, but all of these things have indeed happened and are possibilities and they should not be overlooked.

Nina wrote: "i'm all for SRE, i just don't think its the MOST important thing"

Of course it isn't the most important thing, but it is still an important thing. What do you think is the most important thing?

Well, yes, but knowing about your own body can't hurt either, can it?

But it seems to me that the choice is really "what's more important, learning how to take care of yourself in a sexual relationship or anything else?" And in that case, I don't know about you, I'd say number one.

Besides, it's not like it really takes away from other subjects - at least it didn't in the school district I grew up with. Health was a required class twice, once in middle school and once in high school, and each health class included a unit on sex. At the same time we were all required to take other 'core' classes like history, English, math, and science. Health actually replaced an elective, not any of those 'important subjects'.

Nina wrote: "Well, I disagree. I think if you said " which is more useful in life, knowing that sex makes babies, or learning about all the countries in world, their culture, history and where they are located?..."

It's not really like if you take a sex-ed class you'll stop taking everything else...

And some kids do look up these things when they are curious, but they don't look up the right things or find the right sources. I've heard a whole lot of weird things that have come out of the mouths of my peers, mostly because our health class was abstinence-only. (Most of us didn't really like the class anyway)

Nina - There are two big problems I can think of off the top of my head with Googling stuff: bad sources (as Tenebris mentioned) and also just not knowing what to search. I mean, if I wasn't told in school about my period before it happened, I wouldn't have wanted to tell my mom about it because I'd assume she'd blame me for doing something wrong and getting sick and then just stick it out every single month '-_- Also, I'd still think pregnancy was caused by kissing xD

If you won't teach your kids about sex (be it safe sex or how sex works in general), then who will?

Oh, and Rachel, I'm so glad my mother told me about the menstrual cycle before I even started because knowing me, I would have fainted at the sight of all that blood xP.

Nina wrote: "Well, I think that you only need to be taught it in a week or so, but then you know pretty much all there is to know really. I mean, it doesn't need to be taught every week, because it's not that c..."

Yes, yes it actually is.