3 Comments

We did Sex Ed when I was 12.  I’d have to say my teacher did her best, we were informed about pregnany and periods and all that jazz.  We discussed STI’s and so on.
At the end we were given a book to look through and I went right to the gay page.  It went on about how bodies are like jigsaws, they are meant to fit together , I remember thinking it was a load of crap and then decided not to read on but rather check out the girl to my right that I had a massive crush on.
Gooner said:
Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:06 am

LOL!!  That sums up sex ed for me, Gooner. Well-intentioned but meaningless.
We had the period talk when I was 12, and there was lots of talk about AIDS and HIV as it was just coming to the fore then.
The sex ed really came when I was 13  or 14 and it was part of religion class so it was all shame and prejudice.
LOL…..I just remember one of my classmates putting her hand up and asking innocently what masterbation was.  The nun who was teaching us went over to her and whispered the reply, all I heard was “when your boyfriend…..” and missed the rest. To this day I would love to know what she said. The poor girl was morto!
HAL said:
Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:15 am

I went to a liberal Dublin secondary school in the 80s, but same sex relationships were not addressed adequately, outside of an occassional mention in ‘discussion class’ (!)… the school had good relationships with outside organisations, so we had visits/talks from Well Woman Centre, IFPA etc… which were radical organisations at the time in terms of promoting sexual health and reproductive rights… as good as you could get for straight students, even condoms being passed around…  but still all focussed on the straight and narrow.
Sadly, seems like very has changed…. despite the Junior Cert SPHE syllabus  having stated outcomes:
To enable the students to deepen their awareness of stereotyping and its influence on attitudes and behaviour
• To identify some contemporary attitudes to sexuality
• To help the students to recognise the need for respect for sexuality
In practice, at least according to my young person in the system, it’s more like ‘std and condom class’… the same youngster raised hand at 11 in national school in midst of RSE class to ask about gay and lesbian relationships and was told, somewhat apologetically, by teacher that she wasn’t allowed discuss this with the class!
Optical Mouse said:
Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 1:40 pm

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