Nuns teaching sex education

Foxhound38 · 21-06-2013 12:29AM #1

Did anyone else get this in primary or early secondary school? There's something very Irish about it, but now that I think about it - being celibate and from an organization with views toward sexuality that are... let's just say out of step with society at large, aren't Nuns the least appropriate people to be talking kids through these issues, as opposed to maybe getting the local GP in to do it or something?

Does it still happen? Who came up with such a bizzare way of dealing with such things in the first place?

Festy · 21-06-2013 12:31AM

Sex is naughty,if you do it you will burn in hell.

TheSB · 21-06-2013 12:35AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwcwZjTouhc

Sauve · 21-06-2013 12:36AM

I went to a secondary school run by nuns. I distinctly remember being told (by a lay teacher) that every time you have sex, there's a 1 in 6 chance of getting pregnant. Of course contraception was never discussed.

I've had sex five times so far, I sure as hell won't be risking a sixth!

kneemos · 21-06-2013 12:36AM

You don't need to be a sailor to know the sea is wet.

Festy · 21-06-2013 12:38AM

TheSB wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwcwZjTouhc

solas111 · 21-06-2013 12:39AM

Foxhound38 wrote: »

Did anyone else get this in primary or early secondary school? There's something very Irish about it, but now that I think about it - being celibate and from an organization with views toward sexuality that are... let's just say out of step with society at large, aren't Nuns the least appropriate people to be talking kids through these issues, as opposed to maybe getting the local GP in to do it or something?

Does it still happen? Who came up with such a bizzare way of dealing with such things in the first place?

A lot of people have different views on sex and they may not be talking from experience so I don't see why the nuns should not teach it.

Come to think about it, the thought of a sexy young nun talking about sex....

LizT · 21-06-2013 12:40AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5xkxTfVLSA

Zen65 · 21-06-2013 12:41AM

Foxhound38 wrote: »

. . . . . aren't Nuns the least appropriate people to be talking kids through these issues. . . ?

Not the least appropriate (that distinction would go to the local pedo) but certainly not the most knowledgeable, nor the most unbiased.

I don't see a problem with nuns giving sex education per se, even though they themselves do not partake in the act of sexual intercourse. After all, we have teachers in secondary school who teach Business Studies despite never having run a business, nor even to have worked in a non-academic business.

I do worry that nuns would give sex education which was not simply based on the scientific facts, but would include Catholic morality interwoven in such a way as to distort the scientific teaching.

I don't have a problem with Catholic schools teaching Catholic morals (though I find many of these "morals" to be abhorrently immoral in nature) provided they do so in "moral education" or "religious education" classes, and not in a science class.

Z

Cedrus · 21-06-2013 12:42AM

The nuns in my school brought in a "good catholic family" (couple) to break the news to our year (5th IIRC) of approx 50% farmers who could hardly not know the mechanics. All I remember now is the horrific slideshow of mutilated foetuses and their embarrassment when they did a kind of "Ask us anything" using anonymous slips of paper (who would have thought that Dineen knew about THAT perversion at our innocent age

).

The Backwards Man · 21-06-2013 12:43AM

Our sex ed teacher was a priest, came in the first day and said, 'shure yous know more about it than me', and we spent the rest of the classes watching 'This Morning with Richard and Judy'

KeithM89 · 21-06-2013 12:44AM

Its about as useful as driving lessons from Stevie Wonder.

Zaph · 21-06-2013 12:45AM

solas111 wrote: »

Come to think about it, the thought of a sexy young nun talking about sex....

When was the last time you saw a young nun, never mind a sexy young nun? Excluding porn of course.

ColeTrain · 21-06-2013 12:45AM

Sauve wrote: »

I went to a secondary school run by nuns. I distinctly remember being told (by a lay teacher) that every time you have sex, there's a 1 in 6 chance of getting pregnant. Of course contraception was never discussed.

I've had sex five times so far, I sure as hell won't be risking a sixth!

'Ridin Roulette!

The Backwards Man · 21-06-2013 12:46AM

Zaph wrote: »

When was the last time you saw a young nun, never mind a sexy young nun? Excluding porn of course.

Your wan off the Father Dowling Mysteries. . .

Engine No.9 · 21-06-2013 12:47AM

That's almost the same as in my school which was run by priests, the one and only physics teacher, and he was a genius at it, was indeed a priest.

Now fellas here's this dude called God and he created the world. But hold on, wait a minute, you've also got the big bang theory to consider

Esoteric_ · 21-06-2013 12:50AM

I went to a Catholic school run by nuns, and they showed us a video when we were in fifth year (too feckin' late for most of the girls, considering half of them had kids at that stage!), detailing periods and the basics about sex. They cut the film short because they decided it was against their religious beliefs to teach us about STDs, pregnancy, contraception, how sex worked (bar 'the man enters the woman and lays his seed' :pac: ), etc. I found it pretty funny. I asked were they not going to tell us about STDs and contraception and was told no, because it's wrong to have sex outside of marriage and it's wrong to use contraception. :pac:

Nuns teaching sex ed isn't really a problem. Nuns using religion as a factor in the level of education they offer is a huge problem.

Scortho · 21-06-2013 12:51AM

The best sex ed teacher in our school was a priest in his early 40s.
Why he became a priest was beyond us because he was such a player in his early 20s apparently.
Absolute hero though to many in our school and gave some excellent life advice.
If we could have nominated him for pope we would have!

Engine No.9 · 21-06-2013 12:51AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Your wan off the Father Dowling Mysteries. . .

Remember her??? She was rapid.

ToddyDoody · 21-06-2013 12:53AM

The health board and a 1970s biology video (animated) gave me my sex education. Did you know U can get genital warts in your throat?

the groutch · 21-06-2013 12:54AM

Foxhound38 wrote: »

aren't Nuns the least appropriate people to be talking kids through these issues, as opposed to maybe getting the local GP in to do it or something?

at least it's not the priests teaching it

Foxhound38 · 21-06-2013 12:54AM

solas111 wrote: »

A lot of people have different views on sex and they may not be talking from experience so I don't see why the nuns should not teach it.

Come to think about it, the thought of a sexy young nun talking about sex....

Yeah, but why SHOULD they specifically be the ones to teach it? I mean, there's no reason why firefighters or gardai COULDN'T do it either, but they would also be bizarre choices wouldn't they?

LizT · 21-06-2013 12:55AM

I went to a Catholic all girls school, I don't think we ever had sex ed, just an awkward seminar about periods in first year.

The Backwards Man · 21-06-2013 12:55AM

pajopearl wrote: »

Remember her??? She was rapid.

Just googled her, Tracy Nelson, big advocate of Obamacare now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceMmr163s5A

hatrickpatrick · 21-06-2013 12:57AM

Tension in our sex ed mounted (sorry heh) throughout the day until anonymous question time when she took out the first slip and read "Does it shrivel up with age? You know what I'm talking about", cue an eruption of pent up hysterics which people had been making a serious effort to restrain for the entire morning. Pretty sure we the laughter roared on for several minutes.

Zaph · 21-06-2013 01:02AM

I went to a Christian Brothers school. Sex education consisted of maybe two science classes covering the chapter on the reproductive system in 3rd year. We did all the biology chapters up to that one in 2nd year and spent the rest of that year only doing physics and chemistry.

solas111 · 21-06-2013 01:06AM

Foxhound38 wrote: »

Yeah, but why SHOULD they specifically be the ones to teach it? I mean, there's no reason why firefighters or gardai COULDN'T do it either, but they would also be bizarre choices wouldn't they?

No. To be fair, a nun would not be the best choice for teaching sex education. Then again, some teachers and parents would make a dick of it too if you will pardon the expression. Maybe it should be left to a trained health worker but then there could be another can of worms about that person's views not being in agreement with the ethos of the school, parents etc. Maybe the bike shed is the best place to learn after all.

languagenerd · 21-06-2013 01:08AM

LizT wrote: »

I went to a Catholic all girls school, I don't think we ever had sex ed, just an awkward seminar about periods in first year.

My school was the exact same. The awkward talk in 1st year, and then the Reproductive System chapter in JC Science. We were never given any sort of education about contraception or STDs or pregnancy or anything. Might explain why about a fifth of my classmates had kids by the time they were 20!

Esoteric_ · 21-06-2013 01:10AM

the groutch wrote: »

at least it's not the priests teaching it

Sure, that'd be great, give some practical demonstrations and all that!

Senna · 21-06-2013 01:11AM

A fairly young female teacher straight out of college tried to teach sex education to my all male class of 15 year olds, she made it about 5 minutes before she started to cry and walked out of the class after 6 minutes.
The nun would have stood a better chance.

Engine No.9 · 21-06-2013 01:18AM

Senna wrote: »

A fairly young female teacher straight out of college tried to teach sex education to my all male class of 15 year olds, she made it about 5 minutes before she started to cry and walked out of the class after 6 minutes.
The nun would have stood a better chance.

You from Limerick??? Pretty sure I know who you're talkin about if you are!? That poor woman had a total nervous breakdown afterwards. Didn't even last her first yr out of Maynooth. Terrible story. She's a neighbour now.

Nuns teaching sex education

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