Health: Growth and Development

She's delighted. There's only one student excused from the unit. The rest of the class seems mildly impressed as well by this statistic. I'm horrified. As sophomores, this is our last year of health, and parents are excusing their children? I cannot imagine what they possibly hope to accomplish by pretending sex still doesn't exist.

And of course, it begins so predictably, I can nearly mouth the words along with her, "Remember, knowledge is power. Learning about protection doesn't give you permission. Abstinence is the best choice. Abstinence will not give you an STD. Abstinence will not result in unwanted pregnancy. " Briefly, she introduces the unit, using terms like, "intimate contact" and "the inside plumbing of your private parts." The word "sex" is utterly avoided. And of course, we'll learn from videos.

The lights dim, the screen is pulled down, and the video begins to load. Briefly, she mutters about her amazement of the number of contraceptives it covers. Confused, a girl in the back pipes up, "Wait. You mean there's more then the pill?"
At this point, I lay my head on my desk, desperately trying to escape the horrific and dangerous ignorance. My friend leans over, snickering, as the awkward and hollow answer is given. "This is why I'm not going to have sex."

Why? Why not?
How terribly horribly awful would it be to stand up and scream that sex is fantastic, a wonderful, impassioned, marvelous sharing?

The video begins, monotonously under the awkward, stifled giggles. A shy boy raises his hand. The hand is ignored. He asks a question anyway. The question is not answered, instead sludged over vaguely, and no one is offended. The video continues. We are taught the "8 types of intimacy", and told that "many of us had already discovered what we want in a relationship". The video is paused, and the teacher corrects it, "Hopefully, you have not." The video resumes. We are taught not to insert our penises into foreign objects.

End of Day 1.