We have a morning slot on Channel 4 for "educational" issues, and cos I'm a Student I normally come across it. Anyway this morning it was sex education, it was exploring how sex is taught in UK schools etc, all very intresting, (UK has a massive Teen preg rate compared to others :slappy: ) then they went to Holland to show how it was done there, :o it was soooo good, kids at like 9 and 10 were being taught about it, but where as over here its mostly the bilogical i.e periods etc, Holland were into the relationship aspects like all the kids were calling it "making love" rather than sex :) (It was cute lol) They also didnt make hetrosexuality as default or normal, and looked at all aspects of being able to love.

So I was impressed, and was just wondering a) where in the world are you? and b ) What was your sex education like?

We did sex ed, in grade 7, so we were...12. And then again in year 8 when we were 13. That was all I'm pretty sure. Maddy might remember...I know we laughed alot during these lessons. The teacher brought in lollies once to encourage us to answer questions, and ask questions. Maddy won lots of lollies...DAMN HER!!!
lol

Lollies... lol!

Erm, well I am a Dutchie, so Rich's post would have to trigger my sex education-memories. But I can't recall having sex education when I was 8 or 9. I do know that there are discussions about it on parenting shows, about how and when to tell your kids where babies come from, and what the role of schools should be in this.
How the actual sex-ed is going, I have no idea.

I know that I had the biological aspects when I was twelve/thirteen in Biology and in Health Care. And because we have a very liberal government, homosexuality had to be addressed to. Not just once, but until we were bored to hell.

I'm from the UK and my sex ed consisted of:

- the study of how girls get pregnant/the anatomy of it all in Biology when I was 12 over 1 week
- a brief 2 week period of bad sex ed lessons when I was 14
- a one-off sex ed class when I was 15

That was it! I had to learn about everything from magazines because the school was so useless. Because the school wasn't open about it, I couldn't ask my parents.

There are a LOT of teenage mothers where I'm from. I see girls I used to go to school with and about 90% of them have babies. There's even a girl I used to hang around with who was on her second child at 14, and she went to the same school as me, so yeah you get the picture!

It does make you wonder, did they have the baby in the first place because they didnt have enough education about it or was it in fact they DID want the baby that they had unprotected sex.

I mean girls certainly are given dolls and things and they are based on babies... maybe having a real one is one better than a doll (yeah I do know that most 14 - 16 year old girls dont still play with dolls aimed at 5 year olds, but I hope you get my point :hee: )


Do you think it would be better to teach more about the relationship side of sex, or teach sex ed at a younger age? (Maybe both?)

Like Kim I had basically the same sort of education, taught about the male and female sex organs which was all very formal, then shown a few videos of a women giving birth (grosssss :lol: ) Nothing in between or any information about what in thoery, sex should be i.e sex with someone you ought to like, pleasure, fun etc, rather than just "Sex is between man and women to make a baby nothing else"

Nothing wrong with girls having babies at a young age, but caring for them etc puts your life on hold for the next 18 years its a massive ask, and would prefer to see females and males waiting before having babies. Because can a child really make such a huge choice/desion?

I'm lucky, I was actually given a book about the basics of sex when I was 6 or 7 years old. I don't remember where this book came from, or where it went, but it was aimed at children and was very well set out.

When I was 10 we had a few basic biology style sex ed classes, of the how your body works variety and a couple about the basic mechanics of sex. This was repeated when I was 11, and 12 and 13. At 13 we also had a single lesson about contraceptives. That was it. I don't remember any more sex ed after that.

There was nothing at all about homosoexuality or bisexuality.

I was already filthy minded at 11 years old, I already new that I fancied girls as well as boys, and at 9 years old I'd already seen 2 of my friends having sex.

I have been very liberal minded about sex for pretty much all of my life. I have been pretty well educated about it, although not by school, or my parents (who still don't like to talk about it even now). I have learnt a lot just by being aware of it and by having my eyes open.

Here in UK there is a major problem with the sex ed program - there isn't enough!! Having said that, the sex ed that is given may actually be construed as too much as it creates curiosity in kids. If they started bringing in more education about relationships, emotions and sexuality maybe things would improve, maybe kids would learn to wait, or at least be sensible about it.

I want to see UK attitudes to homosexuality and bisexuality change, I want to see the attitudes to sex changed, it's still a taboo subject as far as many people are concerned and that is just wrong.

I have 2 children, my son is 5 and my daughter is 3½, and I intend to make sure they are educated properly about sex, relationships and sexuality. I also hope that my kids will be able to talk to me about sex as they hit teens and with a bit of luck I'll be able to help them prevent any "accidents". I am very open-minded and relaxed about the subject so hopefully it won't be a problem.

We had sex ed in grades 5 (11 yrs old) and 8... We did all that stuff like rolling a condom on a banana... We talked about how a pregnancy happens, about hiv and aids, about other diseases... AND about sex positions! I remember it being very strange to see and hear the teacher talk about sex positions!!!

LMAO Sex positions!

Ja, grade 10 was the last time we had sex ed. Twas very very funny; and also, about me getting lots of lollies, I mean, who the hell doesn't know what everything is and what it does? I mean, that's what we're being taught! Sheesh! Bah, anyway, it was funny :D !

One of the people I don't associate with now is pregnant. She's about 16-17. She keeps losing them because she drinks, smokes, and does other things. Oh well, some people can't be taught...

In Wales, sex education in my school was something that was taken relatively seriously. It started when I was around 11 yrs old and in primary school when we had the whole puberty talk. Then in secondary school we had sex education for a day every year until the age of 17. However, the topics discussed were repeated every year and got a bit boring! It was highly embarrassing though! :unsure: :red:

in texas we had our first sex ed class in 5th grade, which was i think when i was about 9 or 10, which was like periods and the biological aspects of our bodies, and the girls were separate from guys.
then in 6th-8th grade, we had about 2 weeks in the science lesson plan to learn about STDs sex and all that. then in high school you are required to take a health class, in which about 4 weeks were for more detailed learning of STDs, having a baby (and watching one being born...yuck!) and all the things you need to have to take care of a baby, and how having a child or STD can change your life, and how risky unprotected sex while a teen/in highschool is.
but i don't think i'll have another sex ed class unless i go into anatomy.

I had one just a few weeks ago… But not because I needed those information again ^_^ . It was a lesson about how I have to teache these lessons to kids (between 4 and 12. For 4 years old it’s on a totally different level then 12 years old kids off course) . But I haven’t give a lesson like that yet. If I do, I let you know how it went.
My boyfriend is a biology teacher. Last week he taught 15 years old about sex education and stuff. (We’re Dutch btw) And it look a lot like Knux told us, nowadays. He also told me that they talk about subjects like ‘loverboys’. But I have to say, only a few years ago, it wasn’t like that yet. I think I was 13 when I had sex education, but what I remember it was more the biological stuff, and we didn’t talk too long about relationships and stuff. But we did talk about the ‘getting pregnant’ risk and stuff like that.

well my sex education was relivily home based, with my mum being a school nurse, she had me and my sister well preped before our time came, i even remember when it came to watch the vidioes, id already seen them all!

Mad! but yeh, also went to a catholic school, so contreception wasnt mentioned til the age of 16 and even then it was "dont use it" so my mum had another informative chat with me while we were in sainsburys... cheers mum!