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The Birds and the Bees


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Honestly, at first I laughed. That said, it is frightening to me that people make it to adulthood without this basic human knowledge. Holy repression, Batman! And we wonder why we have such a high teen pregnancy rate...

 

I didn't find out about the birds and the bees until my mother told me...I was 11 and I went and told all of my friends. They had no idea either!

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I didn't find out about the birds and the bees until my mother told me...I was 11 and I went and told all of my friends. They had no idea either!

 

But you were ELEVEN! By the time you had been married for two years, this was clearly no mystery. :heheh:

 

I think the only requirement to receive Federal funds for sexual health education is that it MUST BE abstinence-only education. As I understand it, that can simply mean - "don't have sex or...." Beyond that, I don;t know there is much that is required as far as information that must be passed along.

 

Interestingly, the University of Washington did a study (in which I have a sneaking suspicion my elementary/JH school took part) investigating the effect(s) of comprehensive sexual health education versus abstinence-only education. What was found (off the top of my head here) is that the age of first sexual experience remains the same, but rates of STIs and teen pregnancy drop dramatically. In other words, knowledge is power and with it, kids make better choices when Mom and Dad aren't around - they know how to protect themselves.

 

In our elementary school, there were a few kids who had to go to the library during that part of the day. None of us cared, and the info filtered to them eventually anyway because they DIDN'T learn it at home. What a number of them DID learn at home amounted to 'sex is bad and you should be ashamed; if you have sex before you are married, you will die'. I can't help but wonder (strongly suspect) if the couple in the original post were each from this sort of household.

 

I can actually remember being in 9th grade and our health teacher stopping in the middle of class (we weren't even into the sexual health unit yet) when she saw the prinicipal standing outside our door. She said "watch this," and then as the door knob turned, he walked into the room, and she said "and the man's peni$... Well, hello Mr. Brown." We all busted a gut when he turned red, then purple, and nearly ran from the room! We were all far more relaxed and attentive regarding the subject from them on because she effectively removed the stigma of shame with that small act.

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Guest guthriesm

I had abstinence only education as well as health courses. In college I had advanced health courses.

No where did anyone actually state tab A goes into slot B - that part was assumed. Plus if they actually *told* us how sex happens - then impressionable young people might *have* sex.

 

Even if you watch television shows, unless you are watching an "adult" movie- no one ever uses a real description of what physically happens. The only material I've ever seen an explanation would be some fiction books (which some people would not read due to personal choice) and even then there are more euphemisms than anything else.

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So what role do y'all take in the advancing a sex positive attitude for your patients? If a patient presents with any sort of sexual dysfunction ranging from impotence to vaginal dryness to frigidity to extreme fetishism and is seeking medical guidance, where do you turn? How do you approach it?

 

Sex is a horribly polarizing subject in American Society. It can crush political careers, derail "normal jobs" such as school teachers, result in being outcasted from social settings and generally having a sex positive attitude is about as close to the social plague as one can get. As a result, and as demonstrated by the OP's example, we have a poor supply of peer reviewed and accurate sex ed information that is easily available to the public. We can find scores of solid information that is verified and peer reviewed on obscure diseases that only 1 in a million people get, but I challenge you to find a website or book that can explain the finer art of sexual intercourse that the end user would be embarresed to have others find on their web browser or sitting on their book shelf.

 

As a hopeful medical practitioner who plans to work in small town America, I wonder if there is backlash that would arise from being sex positive. I have a friend of mine who is a PA in Washington DC at a fertility clinic who goes as far to discuss masturbation techniques and does medical trials with masturbatory devices to help women improve their sexual life but in the big city, it's easier to blend into the background noise. When the town is only 6000 people, word can spread quickly about things I find rather trivial but may or may not be trivial to the general population.

 

So what say ye, my peers of the PA student forum, and others who venture this way...do we simply write a script for ED drugs and refer all others to the town shrink or do we delve into the world of mental/emotional health and try to affect positive change in our own offices when dealing with subject matter that is normally discussed with peers amid snickering and reddened faces?

 

 

yes, I realize I commented to the positive about Darwiniasm being in affect for a couple 2 years into their marriage who have not yet figured out how intercourse works. I was struck with amazement that consenting adults who have all day/night to spend together have not yet figured out that peg A goes in slot B until desire results are met. That sort of lack of exploratory adventure floors me. So jokes aside...where do you turn to? http://www.scarleteen.com is a sex positive website for teens that is not porn, but it is written in a non clinical manner to help teens get some info...any others?

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Is there develop disability involved? Are these individuals employed and schooled at any level? This is very difficult subject to discuss .... especially through a brief forum post .... but if someone does not know what is involved in making a child at such an advanced age (over 18 since they are wed) than I suspect they need some counseling on what is actually involved in raising a child JUST AS MUCH AS grasping the process of vaginal penetration. As clinicians it would be VERY unique for us to have the ethical foundation to tell someone they should not have a child BUT in this setting it seems it would be UNETHICAL not to evaluate for disability and ensure they understand what it takes to mentor and support a child and also involve their families in this conversation. Sounds like a sad story ... I dont like the word dumb here .... because there is likely much more to this story than just some ignorance and lack of information.

 

 

As a side note .... there is interesting reading on the process of sterilization for the mentally ill in this country. NOT SAYING these stories would have any relevance in this case ... but still interesting.

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Lots of referrals to: The Center for Sex Positive Culture in Seattle... :O_O:
Interesting site. I was surprised to see a link there to the YWCA's support group for the LGBT group....Young Womens' Christian Association apparently supporting a sex positive culture...and I thought the church didn't venture down those roads...guess I should go to church and learn something.
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Has anyone ever heard of the Kinsey Institute (http://www.iub.edu/~kinsey/index.html)? I think they made a movie on the founder, Dr. Alfred Kinsey (PhD), a few years ago. I learned about it through a human sexuality course I took as a psych major in undergrad. Anyway, he started research on sexuality back in the forties after realizing there wasn't much (or any) clinical research on the subject. The institute still conducts research today and I think it would be a great source for medical practitioners looking for information to help educate their patients. Here is a link to a summary of findings from his original studies (still pretty interesting, I can't believe he got people to talk about this stuff in the forties and fifties!): http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-data.html. Current research looks interesting too.. http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/current.html.

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During my human sexuality course (psych 231) we studied some of Kinsey's work. Probably about the most comprehensive study out there still today but it is dated. With the advent of widespread media (internet primarily) and the inherent twists found within, plus offering a platform for special interest groups to have a spring board (anyone not know what LGBT stands for?) I think people are changing, even in the past 10-20 years. Love to see another researcher tackle the subject head on like Dr. Kinsey did and see where we, as a society, have shifted to. I'm betting much more tolerant and open minded.

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I had abstinence only education as well as health courses. In college I had advanced health courses.

No where did anyone actually state tab A goes into slot B - that part was assumed. Plus if they actually *told* us how sex happens - then impressionable young people might *have* sex.

 

Our classes (beginning in the 5th grade) were very explicit in this sense, though surprisingly clinical, and included video images. It was actually pretty interesting, as it was from an internal perspective - how that was accomplished, I have no idea. I think I was ten the first time I heard the words "penile tumescence." Again, this is why I think my school was part of the UW study population - proximity and the explicitly informative nature of our sexual health education classes. Those classes were embedded in health or PE classes beyond elementary school. In fifth grade, we were split into groups by gender to make it a little easier and to cut the chatter. By the next year, we were all together.

 

From my perspective, I would say that it provided us with the means and facts to be advocates for our own health.

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Guest guthriesm
Our classes (beginning in the 5th grade) were very explicit in this sense, though surprisingly clinical, and included video images. It was actually pretty interesting, as it was from an internal perspective - how that was accomplished, I have no idea. I think I was ten the first time I heard the words "penile tumescence." Again, this is why I think my school was part of the UW study population - proximity and the explicitly informative nature of our sexual health education classes. Those classes were embedded in health or PE classes beyond elementary school. In fifth grade, we were split into groups by gender to make it a little easier and to cut the chatter. By the next year, we were all together.

 

From my perspective, I would say that it provided us with the means and facts to be advocates for our own health.

 

I think my 5th grade teachers just rolled over in their grave....

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