While you may not immediately associate comprehensive sexual health with St. Louis Park, Minnesota you may be surprised by my personal experience in my hometown public school district. I always knew how fortunate I was to receive such a well rounded and in-depth education that taught me so many things just beyond the biology and physcial aspects of sex, but I did not fully understand how fortunate I was until I went off to college and met so many people who recieved little to no education at all. Looking back on my experience I now recognize the well structured curriculum that was set in place from elementary school that shaped my view of not only sexual health but sex in general.
The first time I remember recieving “the talk” about sex was from my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Blumer in a jam packed room of all of the 5th grade girls at my small elementary school. We were sat down and talked about our bodies, periods and more changes that we were about to go through as we entered middle school the following year. While I recognize that this information was delivered to me through a pretty non-inclusive, cisgender and heterosexual perspective, it was still a good baseline introduction to sexual health and positive discussions about our bodies. While I may not have understood it at the time, introducing “the talk” into an educational setting at this point in my life was vital in shaping my initial perspective on my own body and made me more comfortable talking about sex in general. I remember going home that night and receiving the real “talk” from my parents because I was even more curious and began asking a lot of inquisitive questions that my parents could no longer ignore.
The following years throughout middle school were more focused on our developing bodies and evolving identities with an emphasis on constructive conversations. This is where we learned physical anatomy as well as personal wellness and self care. This was the first time we recieved education on teh anatomy and make up of the opposite sex in a co-ed classroom. as you can imagine, a room filled with middle schoolers looking at diagrams of sexual organs did not go over as sophistically as my teachers may have wished but I believe that we all got a basic understanding of reproductive anatomy and a basline understanding of what sex is and how it biologically works. I found this to be a good transition from a basic understanding and knowledge of our bodies into mature and constructive conversations about sex, consent and contraceptives which set the stage for further discussions about LGBTQ+ communities, STD/STI’s, advanvced contraceptives and deeper meaningful conversations about personal identies and choices we make in our sexual lives.
When I reached high school was really when my sexual education ramped up dramatically. My teacher had no shame and was ready to make students feel uncomfortable in the name of education. We had 3D models on 3D models of genitalia in which we practiced putting on both male condoms and female condoms, skits about the menstrual cycle, presentations on all types of birth control including the IUD, the implant or the Depo shot. We also had a whole entire year that was dedicated to mental health and STD/STI education that highlighed the interation between mental health and STD/STI’s and how they relate to sex ed and the practical applications of it. Above all, the best part about this class was the anonymous question time at the end of class that held no judgement and acted as a safe space for all students.
Here are some of my favorite questions I recall:
- Does it hurt when a guy ejaculates inside of a girl? Doesn’t it come out at about 20 miles an hour??
- What does the A stand for in LGBTQA+
- What is the clitrios?
- Can girls just go about their day with an internal condom inside of them?
- What exactly is a period and how do girls deal with it?
- Can you get pregnant from a toilet seat or hot tub?
While these may seem like silly questions they are legitimate ones that students wanted answered for themselves which is an important part of learning. Contuining to ask questions is a part of continuous learning and my sex ed teacher did a wonderful job of encouraging us to ask questions no matter how stupid we may have thought they were, which was instrumental in building a foundation of trust and confidence when talking about sex, gender and idenity.
Despite the positive association I have with the sexual education I received there are some things that could be altered. Across the board sexual education focuses on the negatives of having sex and the preventaive measures that can be taken but the positives of sex and sexual pleasure and even with comphrensive sex ed paints sex as something that should be more shameful than pleasurable and fun. This is a topic that if changed, in my mind, would do a lot more good in changing the standard outlook on sex and sexual education as a whole.
Overall, I believe that I had a really well rounded and comprehensive sexual education that covered many of the basics and delved deeper into the ones that built on what we already knew. Due to this I have been provided with the knowledge that encourages me to ask questions beyond what already know and to be comfortable talking about it with others. I plan to use this knowledge to help others who were not as lucky as I was to receive such comprehensive sexual education.
Lets Talk About S** 