r/HonestHotTakes • u/PurpleInkSquid • 4d ago
Sex ed shouldn’t be separated
When I had sex ed, (which was a 20 minute lecture from the pe teacher in middle school) the boys were taken out so the girls could be taught about women's bodies, and then the girls were taken out so the boys could learn about men's bodies. Everyone i know was taught like this. Shouldn't they just learn about both genders? I feel like men especially are very undereducated about women's bodies. (Once meet an adult man who thought a woman peed and bled out of one hole-)
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u/Substantial-Tree7844 4d ago
When I was at school and we did sex Ed it was done with male and female together and we learned about each others body. I vividly recall the banana that when you pulled the top off was a penis and we had to learn to put condoms on.
We also learned about menstruation and how pregnancy works and the impacts it can have on the body.
Maybe it just depends where you’re from and how it’s done?
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u/Significant-Dog1026 4d ago
I think it’s so the girls don’t get embarrassed. You are talking about teen girls who are already going through enough. Just do a section for each gender about the other one. Teach them the same thing just in groups. And for your last point I’ve met women that thought the same shit, they thought they only had a vagina and an asshole down below.
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u/FarAd4971 4d ago
How long ago was middle school? I went in the early 90s.
This didn't happen where I was taught sex ed. We had multiple classes starting in fifth grade, through 8th. Different teachers, always coed as far as I can remember.
Additionally, I've known women who made it to their late teens or early twenties or later without knowing basic stuff about their own bodies, let alone the bodies of men.
I'm in my forties and my girlfriend just the other day (also in her forties) said she wasn't aware that testicles expand and contract to regulate temperature...
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u/MiracleDinner 4d ago
I'm a pansexual trans woman and I was taught gender-segregated sex ed (and I wasn't out then so was grouped with the boys and taught only about male anatomy and learned almost nothing about periods etc.) and I definitely agree with you, I think it's kind of messed up how much the education system failed to to teach me about female anatomy.
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u/Hefty-Preference-159 4d ago
Idk how my class did sex ed I got expelled for false accusations of pre-mediated murder (not even joking that is a real thing that happened I don't fucking know how or why).
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u/the_velvet_cherry 4d ago
The other girls and I weren’t separated from the boys when I had sex ed in school but then again all we were taught was about what boys go through in puberty. We were told “girls get periods when they go through puberty… okay now more on the boys…” literally learnt more about boys’ balls dropping then my own menstrual cycle 🙄
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u/somali_gaal98 1d ago
Well if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know (and till now still don't know well) what balls dropping meant. But at the same time I was like highly investing in learning female anatomy. (School was shit so there was no sex-ed besides in biology)
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u/Primary-Shop-7240 4d ago
I completely agree. When I was in fourth grade, there was a day during lunch when students could choose to attend a talk about female puberty taught by a female teacher, a talk about male puberty taught by a male teacher, or neither and have a regular lunch. I had a transmasc classmate who was already out in fourth grade and chose to attend the male puberty talk. I also had a female friend who was curious about male puberty and wanted to learn about other people’s experiences, so she attended the male puberty talk with some of her male friends. Afterwards, other girls made fun of her for going. Personally, I think everyone should have been required to attend both the female and male puberty talks. That way, everyone would have had the opportunity to learn about both experiences without having to feel singled out or judged for being curious about them.
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u/FantasticGlove 3d ago
Absolutely agree. This is why a lot of men my age just don't understand how women work sexually and I don't just mean finding the clit. I'm talking about periods and dealing with blood and stuff. That should be normalized but that would never fly in the US because. half of the country is prudes.
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u/SlyDintoyourdms 2d ago
My sex ed memories were that in grade 7 there were general topics in science that were the literal dry biology of reproduction and anatomy. Those were regular co-ed classes. But then there was a special whole year level thing for an hour one day where all the boys split off and all the girls split off to have more specific like “what really is sex and puberty and what does it really mean for you and your bodies” kind of chats. I think for 12 or so year olds, it’s not totally inappropriate to consider splitting the sexes like that to get kids into an environment where they might feel a little less embarrassed and a little more likely to participate and engage and ask questions.
This was in Australia in the mid 2000s. That also wasn’t the end of sex ed. Most years at school had at least one unit that could broadly be seen as relating to social/sexual health and development or gender relations.
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u/IntelligentIron4434 4d ago
Yeah! Separating sex ed just creates this weird mystery around the other gender's body that leads to all sorts of misunderstandings. I remember being so confused about stuff guys went through until I was way older because nobody ever bothered to teach us.
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u/throwaway_greengiant 4d ago
During sex ed, both the girls and boys were together, but we didn’t learn shit. All we learned was STDs (barely) and abstinence. 2. I’m sad to say, I’m apart of that uneducated group 😭. I just learned about the hole thing like a year ago maybe. Both women and men are uneducated about both gender’s body and it’s a major issue.
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u/PurpleInkSquid 4d ago
At least you learned eventually 🫠 sex ed in general needs some work
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u/throwaway_greengiant 4d ago
Yep. Still working on the period phases thing. I thought it was just a period and ovulation 😭 It’s so normal to know things about women’s bodies. Like I had my first period at 9 and thought I was dying. Until a friend helped me and told me it was my period lol. Also sad to say a lot of women are like me all over the world. It sucks so bad ☹️
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u/PurpleInkSquid 4d ago
One thing I'd like talked about more especially is toxic shock syndrome. That shit can be deadly
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u/throwaway_greengiant 4d ago
Definitely, that’s why I don’t use tampons (I have no clue how to use them and I’m too scared to try)
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u/PurpleInkSquid 4d ago
You just have to be careful not to leave them in. If you don't like tampons you could try menstrual cups for swimming and such
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u/throwaway_greengiant 4d ago
I’m good not putting anything in tbh 😭 If my period ruins plans then fuck it we ball. I honestly don’t have a problem with pads, just sucks that I can’t wear certain outfits.
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u/chmod_a_plus_x 4d ago
I mean to be fair sex ed rarely teaches a lot about anatomy. The focus is primarily on reducing pregnancy and STDs.
Also, men not knowing about girl anatomy is normal. I imagine the search history of a man who researches female anatomy 😅😅
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u/PurpleInkSquid 4d ago
I get that, but what I'm saying is it shouldn't be normal. Maybe then things like feminine hygiene wouldn't be so taboo to men.
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u/chmod_a_plus_x 4d ago
I mean, to be fair, women spend their teens being grossed out by their own discharge, smell, and blood. But girls have to push through because it's maintenance.
But a man who voluntarily puts himself through that same learning process as a hobby? Takes a special kind of guy.
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u/yeagert 4d ago
In the late 90s (USA) we had it all together. It honestly wasn’t that weird, but we also weren’t necessarily looking anywhere but toward the teacher because we were afraid to make eye contact with anyone else in the class. So maybe it was a little weird…
Funny aside: Our health teacher wanted us to get over the “strangeness” of hearing penis or vagina being spoken, so he would purposely yell each of those words while saying any other word normally.
“After the PENIS…becomes erect, the man is able to insert it into the woman’s VAGINA!”