Sex education - state's role?

Former Member

My mum didn't teach me the biological facts about sex, I agree that should be left to science class, but she explained to me why you should wait until you are in a loving relationship or married and ready for children before you start having sex, she told me that you should be prepared with contraceptives, and she explained to me about bad reputations etc. So she didn't go into any gross details, she just told me what was right from a mother's point of view. It's better that way I think. I'm 19 and have been smart enough not to get pregnant or catch STDs.

Former Member

It's scary to think that there are people out there my age with 5 year olds.

It *is* scary, but at the same time, regardless of how sure they are that they've decided to continue with the pregnancy, it is pretty scary for them too, and sadly, whether a teenager decides to be pregnant or not, there's a huge stigma with both, and a lot of people tend to forget that they didn't get pregnant/STIs etc out of thin air.

Former Member

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Former Member

No she didn't. She explained about having respect for your body, why you shouldn't sleep around, and why you should wait until you're old enough and with a loving partner along with using precautions. I don't see what's wrong with that. Schools don't teach you that, and they can't. Not a lot of kids nowadays is going to listen to an old fart at school tell you what to believe?I don't agree with parents who say "Sex is when the willy goes into the fanny and that's how you get pregnant. Shag whoever and whenever you want as long as you use a condom" and leave it at that That's the worst sex education. I think that's a lot of the reason why you end up with under 16s having sex too much too young, eventually not using a condom catching STIs or getting pregnant by someone they don't love and some having an abortion and some ending up as single parents.

Sorry but that's my view. Call it naive, narrow minded or whatever but I'm happy. I've slept with one man who I loved and I'm proud of that.

Former Member

Blagsta wrote:

Yes, should be. Its not though and never has been. The main aim is to instill the ideology of our culture. Schools don't teach learning, a love of knowledge. What they actually do is beat it out of you. Small kids are natuarally fascinated by everything...a few years of schooling soon changes that.

its about the only time people are facinated by maths and language - unless it happened to last all your life (like me )

Depends really. Ideally parents should do that sort of thing, but often they don't. Research does show that countries that teach about sex and relationships earlier have less teen pregnancy and STD's etc. So no, schools role is not just about academic teaching and never has been.

sex and relationships as a whole not just sex seperately

Former Member

HunnyPot wrote:

No she didn't. She explained about having respect for your body, why you shouldn't sleep around, and why you should wait until you're old enough and with a loving partner along with using precautions. I don't see what's wrong with that. Schools don't teach you that, and they can't. Not a lot of kids nowadays is going to listen to an old fart at school tell you what to believe?I don't agree with parents who say "Sex is when the willy goes into the fanny and that's how you get pregnant. Shag whoever and whenever you want as long as you use a condom" and leave it at that That's the worst sex education. I think that's a lot of the reason why you end up with under 16s having sex too much too young, eventually not using a condom catching STIs or getting pregnant by someone they don't love and some having an abortion and some ending up as single parents.

Sorry but that's my view. Call it naive, narrow minded or whatever but I'm happy. I've slept with one man who I loved and I'm proud of that.

Just because you want to follow that path doesn't mean others have a moral obligation to force that sort of stuff on their children. Plenty of people enjoy sleeping around and do so as safely as possible, I can't see anything wrong with that - it's personal choice of whatever you're comfortable with.

Former Member

girl with sharp teeth wrote:

I think a lot of the parents I've spoken to professionally could do with a few lessons as well to be honest.

I've been spending time with the out of hours GPs, and they had a call on a Saturday from a 15 year old girl asking for the morning after pill. The reason? It was her 16th birthday party that night and she thought she might get lucky so she'd need it for Sunday morning...

It beggars belief.

(She was declined a prescription for the MAP, and counselled about a more sensible option for contraception)

Former Member

PrincessPink wrote:

Thats fair enough, but 'I honestly believe that having watched that awful excuse for a documentary - 'no sex please, we're teenagers', that teenage pregnancy is more of a class thing. I know very few middle class teenage mums, I'm sorry but its a fact. How many teenage mums do you see a day??

Interesting point, but "middle class" girls are much more likely to have abortions than their less privileged counterparts. Hence it is a class thing to be a teenage mum, but not to get pregnant as a teenager.

ETA: oops, Go_away made that point already.

Former Member

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Former Member

She explained about having respect for your body, why you shouldn't sleep around, and why you should wait until you're old enough and with a loving partner along with using precautions. I don't see what's wrong with that. Schools don't teach you that, and they can't.

My school did. Plus the mechanics. And how we'd all be dirty sluts and would make the baby Jesus cry if we did it before marriage. At one point we had 3 girls in the same class pregnant at the same time.

Sorry but that's my view. Call it naive, narrow minded or whatever but I'm happy. I've slept with one man who I loved and I'm proud of that.

Slightly self-righteous springs to mind No, in all seriousness, you're very lucky, and that's obviously a good thing. But in teh great world of sex, regardless of how well pills are taken, or how carefully condoms are put on, mistakes will happen, and that 1% failure rate will creep in. No one is immune to it. As you'll know, warts and herpes can be spread without condoms (80% of sexually active people have the HPV virus without symptoms) and unplanned/unwanted pregnancies can even occur after the most care has been taken - we had a client who became pregnant twice after being sterilised.

It beggars belief.

You need to come to work with me for a day, I think you'd keel over (but my fave surgeon always gives me chocolate :yes: )

Former Member

girl with sharp teeth wrote:

Oh believe me, it gets worse.

Where abouts are you shadowing? At the General?

I'm sure it does - thankfully, the nonsense calls get filtered out by the call centre.

That was with NYED in North Yorkshire.

Former Member

go_away wrote:

You need to come to work with me for a day, I think you'd keel over (but my fave surgeon always gives me chocolate :yes: )

I'm far too cynical to believe any of the stories you must hear. But I never say no to chocolate, especially if the boss is offering.

Former Member

I'm far too cynical to believe any of the stories you must hear

So are most of our doctors who provide the 1st signatures (not the actual surgeons). That doesn't stop them from saying what they want to say.