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Cat, 27

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I went to high school in a school that had maybe 300 people, in a town in rural Newfoundland that had about 3,000, so maybe it’s not that surprising that sex ed was lacking. I remember a couple classes on puberty in Grade 7, and vaguely recall a thing about reproduction and childbirth in biology class, but that was really it.

When I was in Grade 11 or 12 there was an outbreak of chlamydia amongst a group of younger students. There were also a few pregnancies and abortion rumours floating around. All this put the teachers in panic mode I guess, so they decided to give the younger students some sex ed classes. When my class heard about this we demanded a sex ed class of our own. That was all we got, one class. I think it was during English. We were a surprisingly sensible class, it didn’t end up being the puerile shit show it could have easily been. It was very nuts and bolts, though: how to put on a condom, contraception, what STIs are and how to avoid them. Nothing about respect or consent or anything like that.

Honestly by that time we already knew anything we needed to know from watching the Sunday Night Sex Show with Sue Johanson, but it was the principle of the matter.

Jonathan Kennedy, 30

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My Grade 10 sex ed class included a long discussion on whether a man can urinate with an erection. The teacher was certain it was impossible.

Now every time I pee with an erection, I laugh at that teacher.

J, 24

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I was also a Fully Alive victim. I remember vividly the portion on masturbation. The book that we read said that we may get urges when we’re alone. We may want to touch ourselves. We were told by our teacher that we shouldn’t do that because God was always watching and that masturbation was a sin that cheapened sex with your future husband. The book said that to avoid masturbating we should take up a hobby, like knitting. (It literally said knitting.) This was in Grade 7, I think. The Catholic guilt that went along with that one was tremendous, probably until early high school. It engrained in you that you were a dirty sinner who was knowingly sinning and who didn’t have virtue or will power. It was like defying God.