Sex education in ireland

entropi · 14-05-2010 09:26PM

Clare Puny Ladybug wrote: »

Had sex ed in 5th and 6th class... I was 12. They explained everything we asked...

Same here! I was 11 at the time, we had our principal teaching us in those classes (shared classroom at the time) and we had one morning a week where we would start a folder, progressing through the act of sex, how children are born, and a whole load of other stuff...that was then shown to our parents at the end of the year to prove we had taken the classes.

In that one class also, we took 15 minutes to ask the teacher ANYTHING we wanted regarding sex, and he would answer it regardless. Very good decision by him it was...learned alot we all did

UpCork · 14-05-2010 09:53PM

I went to a convent primary/secondary school.

We had 'the talk' in 6th class. Am not sure if it was actually supposed to happen but one day one of the girls in our year (she was wild, always in trouble, always expelled) was dared to ask the teacher what an orgasm was. There was war as the head teacher (the nun) heard about this, so she gathered us all in one classroom, to tell us we were at the age where 'changes were to occur'. She stood there all nun like with a straight face on her.

'The Talk' from an expert came the following week - we all had to attend with our parents. My friends and I thought it would be a good idea if the three of us sat together and our Mum's sat together, but no, the head teacher got up on the podium and requested that we all sit with our mothers as it was important 'to share it with them'!! The woman giving the talk thought she was the 'bees knees' and kept using slang words for everything which made us all laugh and we kept getting glared at.

In secondary school then we had a talk in first year. It was the 'period talk'. It was too late for all of us to be honest. A nurse came into the school library and showed us a slide show of how to insert a tampon and then we got freebees. The next class after that was CSPE. Our class teacher used to take us for CSPE but she was absent at the time, so a German exchange teacher took the class. Cue lots of embarassment and went through everything the woman who gave the talk said in minute detail and then asked us for comments and questions.

Then in 5th year we had the 'chastity talk'. This group of American students came in to talk to us about how they were 'saving themselves' until they were married because they 'loved Jesus'.

It's weird reading this back how vividly I remember all this !

--LOS-- · 14-05-2010 10:08PM

LC2010HIS wrote: »

not shocked at all . Found sex ed in school over the years completely useless... its a joke ! They were telling us about periods at ages 17-18 :rolleyes:
What ye think of this?

same here, no sex ed only the period talk when we were in 3rd year I think, stupidly late. Was a joke the amount of girls who got knocked up in the year.

Bookworm85 · 14-05-2010 10:08PM

PK2008 wrote: »

LOL, Theres something so "Irish" about a nun teaching sex education.

LOLS
We had our sex ed in 6th class, but we had a video with a nun! This nun had had two dolls who were 'married',and these dolls were used were used to show the different parts of anatomy. The 'male' doll never had his underpants off.We were told that sex was a wedding present from God.:rolleyes: Sex before marriage was a grave sin and we would go to hell for even thinking about it.

No mention of STIs, contraception etc. Not even a mention of periods!
I got the period talk with my mam long before that, but didnt a period talk from school until 5th yr! :eek:

Thank god my Mam wasn't the squeamish type, and told us all the gory ins and outs herself (no pun intended).

parker kent · 14-05-2010 10:15PM

Master of Nothing wrote: »

Same here! I was 11 at the time, we had our principal teaching us in those classes (shared classroom at the time) and we had one morning a week where we would start a folder, progressing through the act of sex, how children are born, and a whole load of other stuff...that was then shown to our parents at the end of the year to prove we had taken the classes.

In that one class also, we took 15 minutes to ask the teacher ANYTHING we wanted regarding sex, and he would answer it regardless. Very good decision by him it was...learned alot we all did

That is very similar to my experience, right down to the 15 minutes to ask any questions we wanted. I have to say, it was very beneficial. I think everybody should get the same lessons at that age.

LC2010HIS · 14-05-2010 10:16PM

--LOS-- wrote: »

same here, no sex ed only the period talk when we were in 3rd year I think, stupidly late. Was a joke the amount of girls who got knocked up in the year.

weve had 5 girls knocked up in our year. Only 1 outta the 5 actually had her baby.
But i mean, look at the US ..they tackle the awkward areas. eg condoms and how to put them on . At least their saying "if your gonna have sex, well, listen" instead of Irelands: "dont have sex or you will get pregnant and die" ,..and be shunned from society.

We need to break free off this denial sex religon irishness :rolleyes:

bronte · 14-05-2010 10:37PM

Bookworm85 wrote: »

This nun had had two dolls who were 'married',and these dolls were used were used to show the different parts of anatomy. The 'male' doll never had his underpants off.

Ahahaha!

annie87 · 15-05-2010 12:35AM

Was anyone ever shown some weird video from the eighties with a nun in it giving a sex talk? There was something in it about two raindrops running down the window and joining together as a methaphor for sex.

And all these mulleted children in awful jumpers asking staged questions such as,"Sister, could you tell me what a period is?" and "I've been noticing some hair growing in unusual places. What's that about?" and things like that. It was hilarious!:pac:

We were shown it by our religion teacher who was a crazy ancient nun and she looked mortified all the way through it. She also showed us a film where someone was "promiscuos" (i.e had sex with 5 people before she got married) and ended up with AIDS. She kept fastforwarding through all the (really unrealistic) sex scenes!

LC2010HIS · 15-05-2010 03:10PM

annie87 wrote: »

Was anyone ever shown some weird video from the eighties with a nun in it giving a sex talk? There was something in it about two raindrops running down the window and joining together as a methaphor for sex.

And all these mulleted children in awful jumpers asking staged questions such as,"Sister, could you tell me what a period is?" and "I've been noticing some hair growing in unusual places. What's that about?" and things like that. It was hilarious!:pac:

We were shown it by our religion teacher who was a crazy ancient nun and she looked mortified all the way through it. She also showed us a film where someone was "promiscuos" (i.e had sex with 5 people before she got married) and ended up with AIDS. She kept fastforwarding through all the (really unrealistic) sex scenes!

ahahahhhaahahaha:D:D raindrops
oh jesus haha
promiscuos? 5 people? nowadays its ALOT more.

minidazzler · 15-05-2010 03:19PM

I know a local school gave sex ed to a class of 5th year pupils with 2 pregnant girls!!!

Cypher_sounds · 15-05-2010 03:33PM

A banana and two oranges

LC2010HIS · 15-05-2010 03:59PM

Cypher_sounds wrote: »

A banana and two oranges

haha
but, why do ye think ireland is still incopatant regarding sex ed? like, the church dont have much of a say now so....

amacachi · 15-05-2010 04:15PM

FFS if you get to 15/16 and don't know to put a ****ing johnny on it no amount of classes is going to help.

bonerm · 15-05-2010 04:50PM

I remember when we were doing junior cert science there was one chapter in the book on reproduction and from day1 in September we were all looking forward to having a good perv at it and maybe learning a thing or two in class for a change. It was chapter 18 iirc. Anyway we sat there month after month patiently listening to boring crap on Photosynthesis, Atomic Theory and all the other topics that made up chapter 1-17 until finally the glorious day came for a lesson on lady-parts and the rest.

So we file into the classroom and eagerly take our places. "Open you books on chapter 19!" yells the teacher. What? What about? Eh? No explaination. No excuses. It was like "German history 1932-1945" for a kid from Munich. Just totally passed over as tho it never happened. One of my early experiences in adult hypocracy and the sheer worthlessness of a state education.

At the time we thought the teacher was just being a prude (her having to explain the rudimentary biology of sex to thirty 14 year old lads) but In retrospect I'm fairly sure the she drank from the furry cup and didn't know the first thing about the old in-out in-out herself. If she wasn't then she certainly did a great impression of a diesel dyke and wasn't getting her beef injections either way.

The Master · 15-05-2010 04:55PM

Our classes sex education consisted of our very nervous and sweaty religion teacher telling us about the importance of keeping your genitalia clean.

Suffice to say I spent a lot of my teenage years polishing the aul chap

Mike 1972 · 15-05-2010 05:02PM

bonerm wrote: »

So we file into the classroom and eagerly take our places. "Open you books on chapter 19!" yells the teacher. What? What about? Eh? No explaination. No excuses. It was like "German history 1932-1945" for a kid from Munich. Just totally passed over as tho it never happened. One of my early experiences in adult hypocracy and the sheer worthlessness of a state education.

We had something similar as well

But on the mock exam (paper set externally but marked by teacher) there was a question covering the chapter which caused much delight

Contessa Raven · 15-05-2010 05:03PM

Sex education in Primary school was essentially female puberty class. We were taught about periods and breasts and pubic hair. That was in 6th class. We were shown a graphic diagram of the vagina as well and the woman showed us all the different parts.

In secondary school it was abysmal. We didn't have any until 5th year. Even though I did biology, we hadn't covered reproduction and we never did.
When we did have sex ed in 5th year, it was pretty terrible. Basically a repeat of the one I had in 6th class except with the woman telling us a bit about STD's, contraception and sex itself. She talked about the legal ages of consent in Ireland as well but it was far too late. Most people had already had sex and most were underage when they started. And about three people in my year alone were pregnant.

She gave us all a free little goodie bag. We were expecting to get maybe a free condom or two but no. Tampons! And a little book about puberty and sex. :rolleyes: Awful!

kylith · 15-05-2010 05:14PM

We had a temp science teacher who was an ex nun once. She told one of the biology classes that it took three people to make a baby: a man, a woman, and god.

Did anyone else's school show a horrific film of an abortion as seen through an ultrasound. If I remember correctly it was called The Silent Scream. I've always been surprised that no-one's parents kicked up a stink over it.

liah · 15-05-2010 05:24PM

This thread is both absolutely hilarious and infinitely depressing as a person who wasn't educated in Ireland!

I can't imagine how I'd be able to keep a straight face if a nun was trying to teach me sex ed.

Cypher_sounds · 15-05-2010 05:30PM

LC2010HIS wrote: »

haha
but, why do ye think ireland is still incopatant regarding sex ed? like, the church dont have much of a say now so....

Well i think parents should have a close enough relationship with their kids to explain to them as early as possible all about sex, sure whats the big deal if you are a parent.
What about the church sure they are just holy people(well supposed to be) sex isn't holy.

15-05-2010 05:40PM

We had in science class a very quick going over the types of contraception and effectiveness and that kinda thing from an uncomfortable teacher, then another teacher took us through programs involving changes to the body at puberty, that kinda thing.
Thankfully I didn't go to a religious school...

Mike 1972 · 15-05-2010 08:49PM

liah wrote: »

.........a person who wasn't educated in Ireland!

Very few people are educated in Ireland.

Even those who go to school there

LC2010HIS · 15-05-2010 09:39PM

Contessa Raven wrote: »

She gave us all a free little goodie bag. We were expecting to get maybe a free condom or two but no. Tampons! And a little book about puberty and sex. :rolleyes: Awful!

we got that toooo! at 18 we got pads!! haha and how to put on tampons booklet. Naturally, the lads found ours in the trash and stuck um on eachother. Then ,principal found out. We got killed for "disrespecting their efforts to educate us"
Ehhh ...ok then

danbohan · 15-05-2010 09:42PM

PK2008 wrote: »

LOL, Theres something so "Irish" about a nun teaching sex education.

no not really , they probably do a great deal of thinking about it

E.T. · 15-05-2010 10:07PM

LC2010HIS wrote: »

its kinda ridiculous because if the school cant provide a basic service and some parents cant handle telling their innocent child about the facts, some poor kids are gonna get peers there own age, giving them a warped account of it all...if that makes sense?:o
Education system needs to cop on

You might want to "cop on" and check your facts - there's a programme being taught in primary schools called RSE (Relationship and Sexuality Education). It covers everything, starting in infants by giving the proper names for the body parts, and up to the facts on intercourse, pregnancy etc by 6th class. There's a course for secondary school too but I don't know what's covered in it. If it isn't being taught in a particular school then that's their problem and they do need to "cop on".

Unfortunately I've experienced the resistance that a lot of people (teachers and parents) have had to the content of the programme - I've heard it described as too explicit but I think at this stage some parents need to stop "protecting" their children from sex ed, and some teachers need to get over their embarrassment and teach the programme as it's laid out.

We teach RSE in conjunction with a programme called Stay Safe, both of them are designed to work together to try to prevent child abuse by giving children the information and confidence they need in order to tell someone if they are experiencing any kind of abuse.

E.T. · 15-05-2010 10:09PM

kylith wrote: »

We had a temp science teacher who was an ex nun once. She told one of the biology classes that it took three people to make a baby: a man, a woman, and god.

Did anyone else's school show a horrific film of an abortion as seen through an ultrasound. If I remember correctly it was called The Silent Scream. I've always been surprised that no-one's parents kicked up a stink over it.

Did the nun tell you Darwinism was a sin too!:D

That film sounds horrific but I can well believe that it was shown. The sooner schools are out of church control the better IMHO.

Ann22 · 15-05-2010 10:26PM

My 5th class teacher told us the whole shebang. She was a crap teacher, never did maths but she informed us well in the nookie dept - she was an ex nun too.

I'd heard it all already actually..my sister had told me what periods were all about but wouldn't tell me how babies are made... the only thing she'd say was that you could keep your top half dressed:o. I was baffled! Eventually a girl told me and my friend all the gory details.. I was horrified...

One day about a year after our teacher's talk my mam was putting rollers in my hair. I was kneeling on the ground in front of her with my back to her. She said in an awkwardly embarrassed voice 'um eh um do you ever hear em girls talking about ahem periods?' I said 'my teacher told us all about that last year'..that was followed by an awkward silence.:o...

My granny never told my mam about periods. She had to suffer in silence for years and find bits of material and rags to use. She got a job in another county when she was 17..on the journey to her new post my granny told her you could buy pads in chemists for her monthlies. Wasn't that awful?!

E.T. · 15-05-2010 10:40PM

That's terrible! It's really hard to understand what things were like and that's not so long ago.

XxMCRxBabyxX · 15-05-2010 10:40PM

annie87 wrote: »

I'm doing a grad dip in primary school teaching at the mo, and because of the new curriculum we have to teach 'Relationships and Sexuality Education' as part of S.P.H.E (Social, Personal , Health Education.) And just found out, we're not allowed to teach about contraception! Fuppin ridiculous!

Call me close minded but surely Primary School kids are still a bit young to be learning about contraception? I'm not against sex education or anything like that at that age, nut we are still talking about kids here.

Got "The Talk" myself in 5th/6th class and had a brilliant religion/SPHE teacher in secondary school who gave us every talk there was. From first year she was making sure we were prepared. Guess I was lucky in that respect then.

I honestly didn't realise that sex education was still an issue in Ireland today!

kiffer · 15-05-2010 11:00PM

send them all to farms to help with birthing lambs.
Smart kids with pets have it easy too...
"Remember when the boy gerbil got in with the girl gerbil... And she had those baby gerbils? Yeah, well it's like that but with people and it takes longer and you tend to only have one baby at a time and you don't have to a human take the dad away to stop him eating them... Usually."

I had the whole thing figured out from Wildlife On One on the BBC and an Open University program that I saw one morning when I got up too early for cartoons... well before anyone thought to bother telling me anything... Obviously not the fine details.

Sex education in ireland

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