Question: Did sex education exist decades ago how did kids learn about sex?

(Posted by: I love anime obsessed with Japan on 2010-07-27 22:19:03)

In the 1950's I heard they had these educational videos they would show to teenagers about sex but some who grew up then say they learned from mothers and there was no sex education.Kids today of both races are having sex in Elementary school also including another new concept is that teens are postponing sexual activity but I think this has something to do with the sexual revolution of the late 1960's.Did they actually explain sexual intercourse to teen boys?

Posted by: Peggy Pirate on 2010-07-27, 22:23:07

I had to go to this sex conference, and I went with a lady at work who is 76. Anyways, they talked about how we learned about sex. She said that she knew all about sex from a very early age and so did her daughters and son. They learned about it at the age of 5. About the time they noticed the farm animals having sex. They learned that is how babies were made and it was completely natural.

Posted by: Fox on 2010-07-27, 22:20:46

Woah... teenagers learning sex from their mothers? O_O

Posted by: The Wise Owl on 2010-07-27, 22:21:14

Experience is the best way to learn about something.

Posted by: DesireE on 2010-07-27, 22:22:06

We should teach wisdom. Have you read Alma 34 lately? Prepare to live forever. If you think the bible is enough of God's word, you're right; it's enough to send you to hell.

Posted by: Gorgeoustx Elect Bill White 2010 on 2010-07-27, 22:22:11

None in school, and parents were not really open about sex either. So for the babyboomers it was trial and error. When I was first married (1974) THERE WAS A BOOK CALLED "Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask ". My husband and I read it together. As a single mother I was apprehensive about explaining it to my son, but it really was not hard. I initially began with using clinical terms and slowly we began to speak more openly. When he was 11 or 12 I decided it was best to tell him then that masturbation is normal and healthy because I was afraid that some religious nut job would poison his mind by making him afraid, and feeling guilty, of what is natural.

Posted by: Super Liberal on 2010-07-27, 22:23:32

They taught the parts and functions, sex was like putting a two piece puzzle together. Today, it's ineffective abstinence-only, proving to have no different then people not enrolled and discouraged by the American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and many many others.

Posted by: JESUS is ALIVE on 2010-07-27, 22:27:31

They had some pictures in health books. Other than that you learned from friends and experience. Parents avoided the subject except to say don't have sex. It was fairly puritan where I was from.

Posted by: Trish JPA and Jewish Pastafarian on 2010-07-27, 22:28:47

I was born in 1955. We learned about menstual periods, and that was about it. Mostly, we learned from each other, and the lucky ones among us were able to locate books that had information, abeit usually very limited stuff. I don't know what the guys were taught. The educational videos didn't SHOW sex - they talked "around " the subject, and talked about the reproductive system (mostly of the woman). I was lucky enough to have a health teacher who explained the male version (and she had to get WRITTEN permission from every student's parents), but by the time that happened, I was already 15; I had figured out most of it for myself (libraries were godsends). My parents didn't talk about it, and I think they were pretty typical. If you go to a library an go to the reference section, you can look at old magazines - "Life " magazine would be most instructive; women's magazines such as old "Ladies' Home Journal " would be eye-opening as well. They BARELY advertised tampons and sanitary napkins (although they didn't really come out and say those words - more like "feminine protection "); advertising condoms would have probably made half their subscribers cancel. I'm very intelligent (IQ of about 145), and *I* was confused, but at least I was able to figure it all out. Lots of people - maybe most - weren't so lucky, and lots of young women my age ended up pregnant, sick from gonorrhea or syphillis, or both, because they had ZERO idea how to protect themselves. Our parents learned because, by and large, they were brought up in rural areas, and it's not too big a leap from "this is how the cattle and horses do it " to "this is how people do it. " It was a pretty stupid way of doing things, all in all. Last thing in the world we need to do is go back to a world without sex education and birth control. Knowledge was, is, and always will be POWER.