S02.E24: Sex Education

[Athena]

Sex education varies widely between school districts, leaving many teens without comprehensive information.

We made a video that covers what some schools are too embarrassed to teach.

[bmoore4026]

Of course the anti-sex ladies are named Shelly and Pam.  Of fucking course they would be.  Apologies to all you Shellys or Pams on this site, but you couldn't have a name anymore white bread than Shelly and Pam.  Let me guess, they're Evangelicals, too.  Of course they would be.  All this has the stink of Dominionism on it.  I'm terrified of those people completely taking over the country.

 

I went to a Catholic school up until 8th grade and they didn't shy away from shit.  Of course, certain things were taught along the lines of Catholic dogma, but we got the basics (penis goes in the lady, baby comes out the lady).  I've grown very bitter and depressed over what else the Church says, specifically about homosexuality.  ("Freedom through chastity"!?  You mean don't love!  I didn't fail you, Catholic Church.  You failed me!) 

 

And every one of the abstinence videos were anti-woman.  How disgusting can the producers of such things get?  I'm a man and my mama taught me to always respect women.  What is up with these backwards people?  And that's the thing.  The young ones brought up on this crap are going to come out backwards in terms of thinking. 

 

Such things are being distributed to "Red states", aren't they?  Christ, I feel sorry for my fellow previously.tv aficionados.  Having to hear such things every day must be horrible. 

Edited August 11, 2015 by bmoore4026

[Lantern7]

Wound up watching this episode on DVR after Rick and Morty. Damn, I reckon that I lucked out with my health education teacher, who was a bit of a lovable whackjob. I don't know what's a bigger deterrent for intercourse . . . the "abstinence always" videos, or John pronouncing the word "condom." It's almost like the syllables are two separate words.

 

Anybody else wonder what sex ed was like for Donald Trump? Um . . . me neither.

[Delwyn]

So sweet that the title card was Jon Stewart and Jonathan Banks joining in the fun with all the other awesome folks was great.

I also liked "trump is a douche, shut it down", but was surprised he didn't somehow acknowledge North Korea making a new time zone. I continue to have gratitude that I live in an open minded community that makes US sex and gun laws seem pretty archaic.

[BabyVegas]

Honestly, I don't remember much about my sex ed class even though it wasn't that long ago. I do know I took it at least once through a very conservative school and spent most of the course laughing at the incredibly bad information. I'd already had a fairly fact-based health ed class in either late elementary school or early middle school, so I didn't really pay attention other than to just get through it. I got the actual Talk from a family friend who worked at Planned Parenthood. Consent was never, ever covered in any of my school-sanctioned courses. I only got it from the PP talk. I feel awful for kids who only get the bullshit version. The misinformation is confusing at best and dangerous at worst. It makes me mad every time I see stuff like that, but I loved the video at the end of the segment. I honestly would far rather that be shown than Shelly and Pam and their bullshit. That crap is damaging.

[Irlandesa]

Loved that Jonathan Banks popped in to educate us on the fact that getting one's period doesn't make us better at bowling.  Oh if only. 

 

The sex-ed segment was good but I don't think anything topped my amusement and frustration over the sex ed class a woman live tweeted when she visited her son's class.  You can read it here. 

[Jamoche]

Loved that Jonathan Banks popped in to educate us on the fact that getting one's period doesn't make us better at bowling.  Oh if only. 

 

No kidding. I get klutzy the first few days.

 

Texas, late 70s, the boys and girls were separated out and us girls got something that started when the sperm hit the egg, with only the vaguest indication of how it got there. Imagine the funny part of "Look Who's Talking" - the pre-credit pre-Travolta bits - only not funny.

[The Luvly Junkie]

    I'm glad Ollie-Scone plucked out the absurdity of Trump's sexist comments (even if it was minimal). Hopefully it will be a pre-cursor to what Larry Wilmore will say about him, the other Republicans and the debate tomorrow. And correct if I'm wrong (because it's the first AND last time I'll be able to watch LWT during its initial broadcast) but I haven't heard of a story from India since Ollie-Scone covered Indian elections during his pilot episode. 

 

    Even though I do like Whole Foods and their organic concept, I'm glad they poked fun at the pricing of their products, even if it went to the extremes of the products themselves. If only their organic products were a wee bit more affordable I'd go there more often. 

 

    My sex-ed is a bit of a blur since I learned it during middle school. Girls and boys would be separated and we would have the conversation with the respective teachers (one male and one female). I will say the boys in my middle school were easily off the hook judging by the laughter and the light-hearted chattering behind the wall. If only I could go back in time, and with the teachers' consent to present the revised Sex-Ed video (which is just AMAZING no just because of Kristen Schaal, Laverne Cox, and company) for its direct approach of the birds and the bees. 

[Slovenly Muse]

That is so horrifying. I have never been so glad to be Canadian. My sex ed was amazing. Apart from getting information about how to have various types of sex safely (vaginal, anal, oral, same-sex partners, etc), and how to protect against pregnancy and disease, our teacher had a collection of interesting questions she'd amassed over the years and would pose them to us, like "Sometimes when I give oral sex to my boyfriend, he holds my head and makes it difficult for me to breathe. He knows I don't like this, but continues doing it. Is this a kind of sexual assault?" And then we would discuss it as a whole class and really reason out what was problematic with this behaviour and whether or not it qualified as assault (It does). And best of all, no one EVER compared me to a piece of tape, stick of gum, or any other object that gets used until it is a piece of garbage.

 

I don't understand abstinence-only education at all. What possible value could there be in it? Apart from a few religious nutjobs sleeping better at night thinking there is less sex happening out there in the world (which there isn't), who is benefiting from this? Even people who choose abstinence as teenagers are expected to have sex EVENTUALLY, right? Like after marriage? Don't they still need to know about safety, respect and "family planning" (i.e., birth control) for when they DO become sexually active? Or is that what porn is for? (Except in India, amiright?) I don't understand how wilfully denying people information they need in order to be safe about their own bodies (and the bodies with which they may eventually become intimate) is expected to benefit society in the long run. I just don't.

[Jamoche]

Don't they still need to know about safety, respect and "family planning" (i.e., birth control) for when they DO become sexually active? 

You're making the logical but incorrect assumption that the fundegelical nutjobs care anything about safety, respect, or family planning, other than the kind of planning that goes "I'm the man, I make the plans."

[ajsnaves]

The only thing missing was the actual results of Abstinence Only education. 

 

I don't remember much about my sex ed other than it came from the my school's Home Economics teacher Mrs. Berg.  Sweet old lady.  Taught me how to cook, sew, and put on condom. (Not personally of course.)  She talked about the mechanics of sex, different types of birth control and their effectiveness, and other things I am sure. I seem to recall that she recommended the sponge as the best option for birth control aside from condoms. (I guess I remember more than I thought.) The most important thing she taught was not to be ashamed of our changing bodies and urges.  That it is natural.  That the best way to avoid getting pregnant or an STD is abstinence, but if you do have sex, be safe.  And NO MEANS NO!

[Primetimer]

Laverne Cox on lube, Megan Mullally on what kind of 'curve' she's used to, and Kumail Nanjiani on special birthday sex events? Yes, yes, and yes -- unless your answer is no, of course!

Read the story

[Eegah]

Count me as another one who never realized how lucky they were to have such a good sex ed program. My biggest memory is the classic egg baby assignment, with the twist that other students were encouraged to kidnap any eggs whose parents weren't keeping an eye on it, and possibly demand a real cash ransom. Unfortunately, this worked well enough that we didn't get to actually see it happen.

[LADreamr]

The worst part of it is the woman hatred and disgust, especially when it comes from other women. For fuck's sake how long do we have to put up with this?

[Traveller519]

It really did reinforce how important good Sex Ed is. Early on the basic mechanics of it, and later on the issues of feelings, teen pregnancy, and disease. Unfortunately consent wasn't an issue I was presented with until college, and even then it was in a limited setting.

 

One thing John said that I didn't like is that Sex is something that parents don't want to talk about with their kids so they defer it to the schools. In my opinion, as someone who doesn't have kids mind you, I think there is a great deal of responsibility for parents to have those hard conversations with their kids.

 

I'm actually reminded of Oliver's second show, and his introduction to the Death Penalty topic. "Look this is a hard conversation, we're probably not going to enjoy it, but it's important, and afterward we can all have something enjoyable as a result."

 

I'll never forget that after my first day of Sex Ed, my Dad and I went and shot hoops at the basketball court. Looking back, that's something we almost never did other than that time. And he just asked about what I'd learned and bounced some notions off of me, and he stayed involved throughout my education, and ultimately bought me my first box of condoms when he sensed the time was probably right. And looking back, outside of that box of condoms, it never felt that awkward as we were always just speaking in the hypothetical.

 

With the prevalence of the issue of assault especially among young people these days, I can't think of anything more important for a parent to discuss with their child than the issue of consent, both boys and girls. So much portrayal of Rape by the media is still attacked in the park at night, which while it does happen is not the majority. The majority are between parties that know each other and have different interpretations of consent. Guys who have a don't take know for an answer mentality because they're that horned up or are acting on the advice of a *ugh* "pick-up artist," and girls who put themselves into bad situations by getting overly drunk and not putting up a forceful NO.

[ganesh]

Oh, the yelling from the woman. If I were a teen, I'd be like, why is she so angry? Probably not enough sex.

 

My HS was public, but in a fairly conservative area. ish. I remember in health class, they did say that abstinence was preferable, simply because most teens just aren't ready. Like, don't have sex to make someone like you. No means no. But, some of you are probably mature enough for sex, and what we say isn't going to sink in. So wear condoms to prevent pregnancy and disease. It's sensible advice. No one really had a problem with it.

 

Also, anal is nature's birth control.

[torontomeridith]

I belong to the Unitarian church and my kids are in the OWL program which has age-appropriate sex ed for three grade levels: K/1, 5/6 and 7/8. It's a great program that covers everything. A couple of months ago, I was trained to be an OWL teacher myself and I'd love to show the video from LWT as a first lesson intro.

[Jamoche]

... I'd love to show the video from LWT as a first lesson intro.

You really should. I'm sure John et al would be thrilled if you did :)

[Eegah]

My biggest outrage was the video saying that even if the girl clearly says "No," it would still be her fault unless she shouted it. Edward Cullen approves.

[iMonrey]

The funniest part, aside from Jonathan Banks, was John showing his awful teenaged picture. Unfortunately, that's the experience I can relate to - abstinence by default because you're such a geek you have no chance of getting laid anyway. 

 

I seem to recall a very brief lesson in sex ed that mostly just explained the mechanics of how it worked and that was about it. No talk of birth control or anything. And this was in California, in the 70s.

 

I have no problem with promoting abstinence to teenagers, it's just that abstinence only is wrong on so many levels and John handled that beautifully.

[VCRTracking]

I went to school in San Francisco and we had probably the most comprehensive sex ed you can think of starting in the 6th grade. This was the late 80s. They took all the boys to the cafeteria and we watched a video of a woman giving birth! I mean I knew by that point that women get pregnant and the baby was in the belly. I was actually a premature cesarian and my mom showed me her scar on her stomach and I assumed that's how all women gave birth. What girls had between their legs was a complete mystery and to suddenly see a screaming baby pulled out of there--!

[ALenore]

and us girls got something that started when the sperm hit the egg, with only the vaguest indication of how it got there.

 

 

I  went to high school in the early-mid 1970s and got absolutely no sex ed.   The part about sex education was literally cut out of our health science text books.   This was in a conservative Long Island school district.   The only reference at all to sex was when the health teacher talked about "diseases of the male and female reproductive organs," but he never even said what those organs were or exactly how disease might be spread.  We also got a class that basically started "where the sperm hit the egg," but absolutely no indication of how it got there   So if you were a kid who hadn't got any information about sex previously, this wouldn't tell you anything.  An no one ever said that sex felt good.  I guess you were supposed to get the impression that sex was only to make babies, and you only did it when you wanted to have one.    Fortunately, both my mother and grandmother had already explained the basics of sex education to me.    (And of course I got information from friends at school, not all of which was accurate. )  

[dcalley]

John saying "condom" is one of my favorite things.

[Wax Lion]

I was lucky as I had several sex ed classes. We covered it in fifth and sixth grade under the idea that if we're talking about it among each other we should know the proper facts. The sixth and seventh grade classes added a focus on understanding puberty, in case we didn't have a parent willing to discuss it. In our junior year we had a more comprehensive sex ed that covered birth control, abortion and how sex worked for opposite sex couples (something I'm guessing isn't covered often based on how little the average straight guy seems to know about female anatomy). Most of us were born in 1974 so discussing abortion was also about how abortion was an option for our parents. Still, there was little discussion of consent (I think there might have been some "No means no" talk but I think we didn't fully understand it. Heck back then Cagney & Lacey took on date rape and he had to go from nice guy to Lifetime movie villain. It always bothered me that pop culture at the time always felt the need to portray as abusers as such unrelenting villains because  people have a tendency to cling to the moments when he seems like a nice guy as an excuse. I think that really slowed our ability to understand consent.) I'm especially lucky because I had parents not able to talk about sex, my mom was the kind of person who found it scandalous for CBS to air a documentary about the biology or sexuality at 10PM.

 

Hasn't there been studies showing that comprehensive sex ed is more effective at getting kids to put off sex than abstinence-only? It turns out if you tell kids to think about all the precautions and dangers of sex, they're better armed for their brain to overcome their body's urges.

[iMonrey]

 

Hasn't there been studies showing that comprehensive sex ed is more effective at getting kids to put off sex than abstinence-only?

 

My understanding is that studies show kids who are taught abstinence-only are no more likely to refrain from sex than students who receive comprehensive sex education, but they are unfortunately badly mis-informed about sex and think things like oral and anal aren't sex and don't count. They are also less likely to use contraception. So yeah, it's bad. But on average both groups of students engage in sexual activity at the same ratio, it's just that the latter is better prepared and informed and thus safer.

Edited August 10, 2015 by iMonrey

[peeayebee]

Good show. Seriously, the show's sex-ed video is excellent. There's humor, that kids love, and good information. I suppose having teenage comedians, actors, or musicians might be more effective for school kids, but what the show did is, imo, perfect.

 

I'm very happy that Jonathan Banks was included.

 

I also loved the Whole Foods pseudo-commercial. Granola being blown back and forth by two fans, a single pomegranate that listened to NPR this morning, and the slogan: Whole Foods – an elaborate practical joke that got really out of hand.

[VCRTracking]

I love Jon mentioning that really creepy line from Grease's "Summer Days(and Summer Nights)" song where Kenickie asks "Did she put up a fight?" That part is always a WTF? moment.

 

John saying "condom" is one of my favorite things.

The first time I became aware that British people say the word "condom" differently than Americans was when Emily Blunt was on The Graham Norton Show in the UK promoting Five Year Engagement and she talked about how for the film she had to pronounce it the American way which sounds like "CAHNdem".  It's at 9:40 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8A2Xc7CncA

 

Always reminded me of how John said we Americans pronounce "aluminum" wrong!

Edited August 10, 2015 by VCRTracking

[dcalley]

... and think things like oral and anal aren't sex and don't count.

Ah, "The Loophole" (NSFW Garfunkel and Oates video).

[ganesh]

My understanding is that studies show kids who are taught abstinence-only are no more likely to refrain from sex than students who receive comprehensive sex education, but they are unfortunately badly mis-informed about sex and think things like oral and anal aren't sex and don't count.

 

Anal Don't Count was the name of my barbershop quartet in college. 

[Traveller519]

I was delighted to see that the Whole Foods commercial was VO'd by Fred Armisen. 

[Lila82]

During my teaching years, I taught in two different inner city high schools in the bluest of blues states, NY.  At the first school, we had no sex education and multiple pregnancies per grade every year; at the second school, we had sex ed and two pregnancies across the entire school in four years.  Education = safe sex.  It really is that simple.  Plus, our awesome showed this video during the male sexuality unit  and everyone spent the entire day humming along.  At school a, I used to hold students' babies during parent-teacher conferences and try not to cry.  It was agonizing listening to a fourteen-year-old talk about her poor choices while staring lovingly at her son.

 

Yet, despite a really amazing program at school  b - the teacher was a licensed sex therapist and had a phd in sex education - there was a terrifying amount of misinformation from students who hadn't taken the course yet.  Most of the kids attended Pentecostal churches and were bombarded from birth with warnings about going to hell if they had sex, and their fears were very real and made me very sad.  During a unit on the Progressive Era we learned about Margaret Sanger and talked about her advocacy for birth control, and a student stared, wide eyed in her seat, and said in a small voice, "You can choose when you want to have a baby?"  Family planning didn't exist in her world and she'd watched unplanned, teenage pregnancies ruin so many women in her life.  She graduated from college, first in her family to attend, last year, and I like to think I played a small part.  Just like I feel I prevented a horrible experience for a young lady that asked me if she could use a plastic bag in place of a condom.  OUCH.   

 

But if you're wondering why we had no sex ed at school a: budget cuts.  If you're wondering why the sex ed teacher at school b got sacked?  Budget cuts.  It's not just that arts that are suffering in the wake of Common Core.

 

And finally, for those living in states or districts without access to sex education, or parents unsure how to start a discussion, "Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice" is both:

- an amazing book about a young woman predated Rosa Parks and helped kickstart the bus boycott in Montgomery

- a cautionary tale about how a young, promising life can veer way off course, and not for the better, because of a lack of information about sex

 

So I guess my point is: this week's main segment hit close to home and made me very angry and sad for all those kids without access to accurate information.  

 

ETA: my very first sex ed class, in the fifth grade, separated the boys and girls and taught us things like the importance of deodorant.  It's a lesson that teenage boys can't be taught enough, because try as they might, Ax Body Spray is not an acceptable alternative.  My nose is still recovering.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Lila82

[cattykit]

I graduated from HS in 1974.  They would have had a public castration before they'd have ever allowed anything even approaching sex education.  Just showing us in grade school those old movies about menstruation was considered cutting edge.  Pregnant girls weren't seen and not heard; they were never seen again.

 

I wish I could say the lack of sex ed was why I eventually became a single mother, but I was 32 at the time...

[attica]

A couple of months ago, I was trained to be an OWL teacher myself

 

Wait: do you teach at....Hogwarts? Now I'm picturing a gaggle of schoolkids shouting "Expelliarmus!" in moments of intimacy. Which would be awesome, the more I contemplate it.

 

I watched that video going, 'that's not Jonathan Banks, is it? Could it be?' The voice -- it's all in the voice. So: points for Gryffindor!

[ganesh]

During a unit on the Progressive Era we learned about Margaret Sanger and talked about her advocacy for birth control, and a student stared, wide eyed in her seat, and said in a small voice, "You can choose when you want to have a baby?"  Family planning didn't exist in her world and she'd watched unplanned, teenage pregnancies ruin so many women in her life.  She graduated from college, first in her family to attend, last year, and I like to think I played a small part.

 

You did.

[90PercentGravity]

I noticed the screaming lady said mouth to genitals is sex and hand to genitals is sex, but she didn't say anything about anus to genitals. So, I guess that's not sex. Kinky screaming lady.

[VCRTracking]

I'm very glad I sex ed class because there was no way I was asking my parents. Although when I think about it our school was certainly very liberal. In the 7th grade Biology when we got into sex ed when one of the kids asked something about how two women could have sex and "would they use something like a dildo?" and the teacher said "Not like a dildo. A dildo."

[Delwyn]

 Edward Cullen approves.

 

This comment sent chills down my spine at how deep this problem cuts (not directed at Eegah, at all). At that moment it occurred to me how Twilight and, as a direct result, Fifty Shades of Nonsense completely tie into this backwards way of raising kids. How can those fictional male "heroes" not be construed as people who frequently break the law and violate consent, but are still considered sexy while doing so? Telling girls that they are garbage - it just makes me sad that we say people in other countries are deplorable for this behaviour and then teach it in schools? Women have voting rights but are not allowed to know their bodies or understand that they are not a bad person for saying no. Boys should watch the previously mentioned movies and be taught that that is super-gross behaviour. If your daughter is into Edward Cullen, you should be worried.

 

ETA: Sorry for the weirdo typos, I got a new touch screen/keyboard hybrid computer today and typing has a learning curve.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Delwyn

[monakane]

I graduated from a Catholic high school in 1972 and we were given sex education in our biology course.  It was a film that covered the basic mechanical side of sex.  It didn't seem to be a big deal at the time, but looking back, I guess it was.  Of course, there was plenty of preaching in the religion class, about abstinence.

[sacrebleu]

 

Always reminded me of how John said we Americans pronounce "aluminum" wrong!

I think the British pronunciation of condom is adorable, but they have no room to judge, I've heard English people pronounce oregano as or-uh-GAH-no, which is just about the wrongest thing ever.

[Thog]

I was a middle school science teacher at a North Carolina private school in the late 90s. Kids spent all year reading ahead and waiting to get to the chapter on puberty and sex, but when it came time to actually teach that section the principal told me to skip it. She also refused to let me have a speaker come in to give an age-appropriate talk on changing bodies, etc. (with permission slips, if necessary) because the program was developed by Planned Parenthood and some parents might object. My last-ditch effort was to try and show the very biological Nova video that I had seen in high school (The Miracle of Life, I believe), but the principal wanted to preview it and as soon as the word "sperm" was used it got vetoed. Meanwhile I was intercepting notes and overhearing conversations that contained shocking and dangerous misconceptions, and kids were routinely caught behind the school engaging in activities I wasn't allowed to name. To this day I feel like I did those kids a disservice by not fighting harder (I quit after one year). I'm so glad to see John Oliver tackle this one head-on.

[rck]

I was shown a video in COLLEGE (I go to a Christian college) where the screaming lady lectured a bunch of Catholic high schoolers. I was really horrified by everything she said in it. I remember that she literally told girls that if they go on birth control they might die. She also did the segment they showed where she told boy to run from promiscuous girls.

[Hanahope]

Apart from getting information about how to have various types of sex safely (vaginal, anal, oral, same-sex partners, etc), and how to protect against pregnancy and disease, our teacher had a collection of interesting questions she'd amassed over the years and would pose them to us

 

 

That is simply amazing.  I've never heard of even the most liberal school district providing this comprehensive education. My school provided basic info and even some birth control, but all my mom preached was abstinence.  Even in my middle years, there are some things I have no idea as to how or why some people would do some things.  If I don't know, and my kids' school district doesn't cover it, I'm not sure how I could help my kids get the best information.  My oldest is turning 11 in two months.  I'll definitely save a link to John's video.

 

Its horrifying that there are colleges where the frat boys are allowed to chant like that.  And then the screaming ladies are yelling at the boys to run away from 'promiscuous girls.'

[larapu2000]

Wow, I grew up in a small town in Indiana, which could be pretty conservative, and I had no idea how awesome my sex education was until reading all these comments!!  We learned about all of the diseases and the symptoms, the street names, the female and male anatomy, all of it.  Probably a week's worth of information in our Health class.  We learned about all of the different kinds of birth control, including abstinence.

 

We also did an exercise where we had to do a weekly budget based on a single parent's income and expenses.  I'm not even fucking kidding.  That, probably more than anything, affected the kids in my class.  You have no money!  And it's hard to get a college degree while raising a child.  I think that did waaaaaay more good than showing kids pictures of infected genitals.  Even though infected genital are terrifying and nightmare inducing.  I have a feeling my sex education was based on the fact that it was the mid 90's and the AIDS crisis was forcing everyone to discuss safe sex.  Because you literally could DIE from having sex.  It wasn't just a scare tactic anymore.

 

However, the most important thing that our sex education preached was to NOT LISTEN TO OTHER TEENAGERS WHEN IT CAME TO PREVENTING PREGNANCY AND STDs.  That teenagers are basically a giant bunch of horny morons that spread misinformation.  Which is so very, very true, lol.

 

I guess I was also lucky to have the parents I did.  We never had nicknames for genitals, not even as little kids.  My mom didn't want us to think they were some mysterious thing, they were a part of our body.  My parents also used TV shows and movies to discuss sex issues.  That sounds super lame, but it wasn't.  It was more one off comments they made about characters or character motivations that influenced us.  

[iMonrey]

I think in the pre-AIDs era sex education (where taught) was focused more on the basic mechanics of where babies come from and how they get there in the first place. When I was old enough to start asking those questions my mother gave me an age-appropriate book that more or less spelled that out, and what little sex education I got in school was limited to the same basic biological functions. I never had any kind of education in birth control at home or at school, but that may have been a sign of the times because teenage pregnancy maybe wasn't considered real common back then, nor were teens expected to be in danger of communicable diseases.

 

The stakes are higher now.

[dcalley]

This episode made me think about my favorite depictions of sex ed on TV: The Wonder Years, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons, where what do you know? Fuzzy and Fluffy go bowling!

[Irlandesa]

Boys should watch the previously mentioned movies and be taught that that is super-gross behaviour. If your daughter is into Edward Cullen, you should be worried.

I like the idea behind the first statement but don't agree with the second. I don't necessarily think there is a need to be worried about how someone feels about a fictional character.  Rape and voyeur fantasies are popular even amongst strong, successful women.  That doesn't mean it's what they want in real life. When I was a teen, I loved romance novels that were often full of sexist men and a few even had rapes in them.  Those things didn't turn me off the way they do now but I sure as heck never thought they were depictions of healthy relationships.  I think those movies can be educational for both boys and girls to talk about what is creepy/inappropriate about the behavior of Edward and Christian and what is attractive (to the straight girls and gay boys) about these characters. For most, all it'll be is a fantasy and girls should feel comfortable having them.

 

But they're definitely worth a conversation...as is, perhaps, a discussion about porn sex vs. real sex. There's nothing wrong with the fantasy of porn...but women may need different things than what the porn women need.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Irlandesa

[b2H]

I graduated from HS in 1974.  They would have had a public castration before they'd have ever allowed anything even approaching sex education.  Just showing us in grade school those old movies about menstruation was considered cutting edge.  Pregnant girls weren't seen and not heard; they were never seen again.

 

I wish I could say the lack of sex ed was why I eventually became a single mother, but I was 32 at the time...

 

catty, You and I graduated in the same year.  I had the grade school discussion of menstruation too.  I think in Junior high we might've had something on reproduction, as health classes were segregated by sex.

 

But here's the thing:  I had one classmate who mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the eighth grade and, as you said, was never heard from again.  Rumor had it that she was pregnant and there was never any evidence that any other reason, like moving away from the school area, might've been in play.  If true, consider that - having a baby at 13 or 14 years old...   I cannot fathom.

 

By the time I got to high school, the last couple of months of the school year resembled a maternity ward.  We were definitely inner-city, but not all the moms-to-be were inner city.  I've seen some of those moms since (coming to HS reunions) and I'm shocked to think that today they have children well into their 30s when we are barely out of our 50s.

[Kel Varnsen]

Megan Mullally on what kind of 'curve' she's used to, 

I wonder how many people at home watching this got the joke that Nick Offerman is Megan Mullally's husband?

[b2H]

I like the idea behind the first statement but don't agree with the second. I don't necessarily think there is a need to be worried about how someone feels about a fictional character.  Rape and voyeur fantasies are popular even amongst strong, successful women.  That doesn't mean it's what they want in real life. When I was a teen, I loved romance novels that were often full of sexist men and a few even had rapes in them.  Those things didn't turn me off the way they do now but I sure as heck never thought they were depictions of healthy relationships.  I think those movies can be educational for both boys and girls to talk about what is creepy/inappropriate about the behavior of Edward and Christian and what is attractive (to the straight girls and gay boys) about these characters. For most, all it'll be is a fantasy and girls should feel comfortable having them.

 

But they're definitely worth a conversation...as is, perhaps, a discussion about porn sex vs. real sex. There's nothing wrong with the fantasy of porn...but women may need different things than what the porn women need.

 

The only reason I would disagree with the statement in bold relates to the link, attached.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/slender-man-stabbing-judge-decide-teens-adults/story?id=32988388

[OneWhoLurks]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier today, President Obama released his fiscal year 2017 budget, the final budget of his administration. The President’s Budget supports the sexual health of our nation’s youth by eradicating abstinence-only-until-marriage funding, increasing funds for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, maintaining funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, and calling for a five-year extension of the Personal Responsibility Education Program.

 

The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) Vice President for Policy, Interim President and CEO, Jesseca Boyer, issued the following statement in response:

 

“SIECUS is grateful for President Obama’s leadership in seeking to end abstinence-only-until-marriage funding once and for all. After three decades and nearly $2 billion in federal spending wasted on this failed approach, the President’s proposed budget increases support for programs and efforts that seek to equip young people with the skills they need to ensure their lifelong sexual health and well-being.

 

 

http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&featureid=2437&pageid=611