Sex education in schools

The aim of the show was to fix Britain’s blushing attitude toward sex education. 

When I was in school I vaguely remember being shown a video, some pretty horrific photos of people with sexually transmitted infections and being given a diagram of a woman’s uterus and being asked to label where everything goes. 

Was the sex education good?

No.

I’ll just give you a brief outline of what ‘Sex in Class’ was about. 

Goedele Liekens, a United Nations goodwill ambassador for sexual health, spent two weeks at Hollins Technology College, Accrington, giving a group of thirteen 15-16 year olds a comprehensive sex education course. 

Photo: Handout/Channel 4

The show starts off with Goedele talking to the teachers at the school about her methods. All of the teachers appear apprehensive and wary of some of the things she suggests, including gifting the girls with a sex toy at the end of course. 

Yes, really!

The male P.E teacher in particular states that would not be a good idea as it would most definitely lead to some bad publicity. 

Which I have to agree with!

What shocked me the most was the boys attitudes toward sex. 

The boys, aged 15 and 16, were all very open and honest throughout the show. The majority admitted that they watched porn on a regular basis. 

What’s worrying though is the affects that watching porn had, had on them. 

The things that they thought were completely normal, were in fact very far from it. 

Without going into too much detail, one of the boys talked about how it was his ‘right’ to ejaculate over a girls face. He said something along the lines of: “…if she’s agreed to have sex with me, she won’t mind.” He saw no reason to ask for her consent first. He just saw it as a normal thing to do.

Another boy said that when a girl gives oral sex, she should swallow ‘out of respect’.

I was left feeling sad that these young boys had such a bad attitude towards women at such a young age. It also left me feeling quite angry.

According to the show, I believe it was around 90% of teenagers watch porn on a regular basis. 

The fact that children can have such easy access to porn is astounding, but what’s even more astounding is how these teenagers views of what’s normal is being shaped by what they have seen happening in these pornographic films.

The teenage girls in the show remained fairly quiet throughout. They were silent during many of the tasks and appeared to be too scared to correct the boys on their attitudes. 

Something else that also left me aghast is that when Goedele asked the girls to draw a vagina and label where the clitoris, uretha and vaginal opening were – only one of the girls was able to do so correctly. 

Bear in mind that these girls are 15 and 16 year old girls. They should really know this information. Goedele set the girls a rather unusual homework challenge after the epic fail of this task! She gave them all a small mirror each and asked them to take a look at their own vaginas. 

One the girls dad wasn’t happy about this and called Goedele to express his concerns to her.

I wonder what his attitude toward women and sex is like. 

This leaves me thinking that not only are the schools letting our children down, but we as parents are as well. 

The teachers in Hollins Technology College admitted that they don’t even talk about the clitoris at all. 

Another part of the show that I found fascinating was when Goedele produced a board containing photographs of lots of different women’s vaginas. 

Some had lots of pubic hair, others had none and some had been shaped or waxed in some way or another. 

The teenage boys were completely disgusted by the natural look of a vagina with pubic hair. 

Goedele asked a few of the boys to go up to the front of the class and show her which one they preferred. All of the teenage boys chosen opted for a completely shaven vagina. 

The result of viewing porn perhaps?

I have to admit that I rather admire Goedele’s attitude and passion toward teaching children about sex education. 

She wants sex education to be a GCSE and I have to agree. Some of the topics included in her course are consent, sexual pleasure, safe sex amongst other topics. 

I feel that as a parent it is my duty to educate my children about their bodies and about sex. I won’t be the kind of parent who leaves it down to the school. 

I believe it’s so important to teach children about respecting their bodies, consent and everything else that goes hand in hand with sex education. 

What do you think? Will you be open and honest with your children or will you shy away from the subject?

Did you watch the show? I’d love to hear your thoughts!