Sexual education classes, particularly in conservative areas, are notoriously terrible. In fact, in some states in the US it's perfectly legal and accepted for the teachers and curriculum to outright lie to students.
Typically speaking, the grounds for the deception is that teaching fact-based sexual education would encourage students, typically teens, to engage in "immoral" acts of sexuality. The unfortunate outcome is swaths of people with far less sexual knowledge than they need to keep themselves and their partners safe, healthy and happy.
Reddit user Evee_19020 asked:
What's one thing you wish you learned in sex ed?
It turns out a whole lot of people were left tragically under-educated by their sex ed programs. No, it wasn't just you. Here are some of the most popular responses.
Just Pee
PEE AFTER SEX.
Why is this important?
Not doing it increases your risk of UTIs.
Think of a garden hose. And when it's sitting in the flower bed for a little while, and when you finally go to turn on the water, a little mud and dirty water comes out before the clean water starts flowing. Then it's great. That's why you pee after sex.
Like, for the good lord and savior above, it ain't too much to ask, but both guys and girls need to clean out the pipes after intercourse.
And yes, I know I sound like a worn out dishrag when I say it like that, but it is better than getting a UTI and having to find out it is because you don't know the body as good as you think.
Obviously, or, I should phrase that as a "I hope", women know that... Right? Because your parts are so much more compact than guys, there is a lot higher chance of a UTI than for guys, but it is still there...
What's It For?Â
What's pubic hair for? I remember in sex ed I did ask that question, the entire class laughed at me, teacher shrugged and gave me a "dunno," and 25 years after the fact I still don't have an answer.
- llcucf80
Reduces chaffing in a naturally sweaty region. Also provided a little protection for your ancestors giblets when they were marching through briers and dense brush in the nude.
Well Manicured
Clip your nails, clean them, make sure there are no rough edges.
Yeah, and file them down smooth afterwards too. Jagged edges aren't appreciated but well manicured fingers can end up almost anywhere.
The Steering Wheel
Giphy
In my sex ed class, there wasn't a single mention of the clitoris. Enough said.
That's like taking drivers ed and not mentioning the steering wheel.
- deldge
Porn Isn't Real
What we see in porn isn't normal sex.
- Forgiii
To add to this, people don't realize how much hygienic care goes on behind the camera. Like, of course you have a UTI Stacy, you just told me how you let a guy go back to front because you saw it in a video and thought it'd be hot. They do a LOT of cleaning between takes.
I explained to my kids that porn is like watching action movies. All fake and massively over the top to make it look interesting. Real sex is to porn like real fist fights are to action movies.
The Condom Conundrum
How to use a condom. I went to a super religious school, so we only got taught not to have sex, not how to have it safely.
My sex-ed teacher told us condoms don't work, because the latex has little holes, which are bigger than sperm.
I think it was probably supposed to scare us off from sex but instead I just thought to not use a condom when having sex then, if it's that useless.He even drew a diagram: a gigantic circle for the latex gaps and a tiny dot for the sperm going through it.
Thankfully my mom also educated me, imagine just going off of that class info!
It's Not Just Baby
After a woman gives birth she also has to push out the placenta. I thought the baby was just the only thing she pushed. (Also that the vagina can rip or be cut down to the anus.)
I had a friend who thought she was unknowingly having twins when she felt like pushing again after the baby was out. It was the placenta...
- butwhyme
Moving On To Plan C
That a pharmacist may refuse to sell you Plan B unless you are female, or because of their political and/or religious beliefs. Both of which I've encountered as a male with a worried partner embarrassed to enter the store.
It didn't bother me so much, but it's worth noting to teens that this can be an obstacle (at least in America).
Also if you are over a certain weight one pill won't be enough.
That the morning after pill is not as effective if you are over 150 pounds. You technically run the risk of it failing because the dose isn't high enough for your weight.
- Rezalina
Some STD Honesty
That oral herpes can be transmitted to a partner's genitals. Always thought that they were two completely different diseases that effect different parts of the body. Turns out I was wrong.
Also that HPV vaccines were available for boys, and that without being vaccinated there would be an almost 100% chance of contracting some form of HPV.
Basically, I was just taught in sex ed, "Don't have sex, you could get STDs!" Ok..get real here, the sex was always going to happen. STDs didn't have to.
Like A Flower
Giphy
In order for sex to be fun as a woman you have to be wet. "Your body will open like a flower" clearly didn't get the message across to me.
- ommmlbox
"Is Everything Okay?"Â
As a female, I never knew that women could also have orgasms. Was never mentioned in any class and my mom never had that talk with me. So imagine my surprise when at 17 I'm having sex and start having this crazy ass feeling down there! I hopped off and the guy is like "is everything okay?" And I'm like "yeaaah I think??" Lol. Still didn't figure that one out til months later.
Labia
That my labia are normal. It's different for every woman, but there is this rumor that if you had a big labia, you were a whore. It's definitely not true because I've had one since I was a teenager and didn't have sex until I was 26.
This always cracks me up because mine are noticeably asymmetrical. So, what, I'm a ho but only on one side?
- iikratka
always sleep on big decisions like surgery. but if you honest to god believe it will better your mental perception of your own body image, go for it.
I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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