Let's Talk About...

Last week, I touched on the subject of sex. It was brief. But it was there. And it got me thinking...

When I was growing up, my parents never talked to me about sex. Never. They never told me that it was good or bad. Never said that I should stay away from it. We never had "The Talk." My Mom didn't really say much to me when I started my period. In fact, I probably waited about 18 months before even telling her.

But we did have a lot of sex education in school. I was in 1st grade, 6 years old, when I had my first sex education class. The girls and boys were split up. We left there knowing that boys had testicles and a penis. They knew we had a vagina and one day would have breasts. We saw horrible 50-70s sex ed materials. I honestly thought I had fallen into a time warp. But we learned.

By the time we were in 5th grade, and about 11 years old, sex ed was held in the gym. All of us together. We had been shown horrible 1950s sex ed material. Saw what 80 year old men and women looked like naked. They were drawn pictures. But still, it was horrible! All of our questions were answered. We saw real life pictures of what our bodies would look like from the time we were babies until we were 90. The pictures of that old man, they still haunt me!

But we knew things. Like what sex really was. That we could get AIDS from unprotected sex. We knew what condoms were. And why they were used. Our teachers answered every single question we had. Including the very pregnant 5th grade teacher. I can't remember her name. But they answered everything. Including how the very petite teacher could have sex with her very tall husband.

Then we went to middle school. Another year of sex ed. The boys had to learn about us girls. And our periods, cramps, pads, tampons, and our hormones. We learned that boys woke up with "hard ons" and that they quite liked to "play with themselves." It was a very open class.

In high school, we had 1 more year of sex ed. It was all about pregnancy and diseases. We saw real life pictures of infected vaginas and penises. We watched birthing videos. We talked about it all. About the kids in our school that were expecting babies. The ones that were "doing it" in the baseball dug outs, and under the bleachers. We talked about the pleasure that came from sex. And the consequences. we learned about it all. We even had a teacher that had an entire drawer full of condoms. They were free for the taking. No questions asked.

I never talked to my parents about it. But I did talk to both of my grandmas. I also talked to family friends. Oh, and my older friends. Most of which were male. It was nice to get their take on the subject. Their views on sex and women. It was just nice to talk to a guy and not be embarrassed. Thank goodness for older, wiser friends. :)

My best friend and I, well we talked to each other about it all! I still remember for her 8th or 9th birthday. I went to her house. Like normal, for a birthday sleepover. We'd spend the entire weekend at each other's house for our birthdays. And the minute I got into her room, she closed the door. She pulled down her pants and her underwear and asked if I had any of this...pointing to her pubic hair. I laughed and told her mine was darker. Um, she is a blond, and I'm a brunette. We also sat and talked about our growing new friends...our new breasts. Does "We must, we must, we must increase out bust" come to mind? :)

We had the period talk that weekend too. Her grandma actually supplied us with enough pads and tampons to last us each 18 months. That's the reason I didn't tell my parents when I got my period. Her grandma, she was the only one that ever really talked to us. You know, outside of school. She told us about everything. Yes, we were young. But somebody had to talk to us.

But we learned. I also grew up in the 80s. A time when sex was all over TV. I watched 90201 and Melrose Place. I was 7 years old. My parents didn't seem to mind. And anytime you put on MTV, there was some special about AIDS. I learned how to put on a condom on a banana. I was probably 7 or 8. And I was watching TV.

There were so many "After School Specials" on network TV, that it wasn't funny! They wanted us to know about sex, AIDS, and condoms. And our generation learned. It was everywhere we looked. And at some point, you had to learn something, from all the information that was flooding our lives.

That's what happened during my generation. TV taught us a lot. School taught us a lot. We weren't afraid to talk about sex. We talked about it. My niece, she's 7 years younger than me. She never had a day of sex ed from K-12th grade. This year, she's a senior. And she honestly doesn't know much about the consequences of sex. Heck, not much about sex in general.

Much was changed since I was in school. Since I first started school. Parents were upset because we were taught so much. But I don't see it as a bad thing. We were well informed. These days, honestly what are the kids being taught? Do they really know about all the STDs and what being a parent is all about? ♥Besitos