If I'm remembering correctly, sex ed in the '80s consisted of the following lessons:

-- First grade: Tell someone if a grownup (who isn't a doctor) touches your private parts

-- Fifth grade: You're going to bleed from your private parts one day, catch these free diaper-sized maxi pads as we lob them at your head

-- Tenth grade: You know what sex is, right? Don't do that unless you like making babies. And if you're going to have sex, wear a condom because of AIDS. Good luck!

If you're wondering where the big lessons on consent were, so am I. If I'm being generous, I can conjure up a fuzzy memory of a tenth-grade coach/teacher in belted short shorts telling the boys in the room, "Guys, no means no. I mean it." And that would have been the final word on the subject, because we all thought we were using the same language when it came to consent. Yes was yes, no was no, where's the confusion?

The confusion, as we've mentioned before, is in how pop culture tells men that no really means "maybe, try again," and tells women that if you didn't say no hard enough, you probably didn't mean it in the first place. Maybe work on your communication skills, body language, and drinking schedule for next time, girly. The confusion comes in real-world situations in which body parts are already slippery and engorged and you want this but not that, and you aren't sure how to say you want this but not that. The confusion comes when no one teaches that "maybe," "not yet," "let's just kiss" and *gentle push to create distance* should be treated as "no," full stop.

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Consent is sticky and confusing not just because sex itself can be sticky and confusing, but also because we haven't given future sexual beings the language, tools, or authority to communicate what they want out of sex. And yes, when I say "future sexual beings," I mean kids. This is a column about kids and sex.

I'm sorry.