For Alberta, not bad in the 90’s despite public schools still saying Christian prayers every assembly.

Basic biology and how each set of genitals work.

Went over Puberty and Attraction.

Contraceptive coverage was honest.

Edit: I do recall now that parents were being allowed to opt out unfortunately, but at least the default was in.

USA, Catholic school - Sex Ed was nonexistent

Lots of info about STDs and several instances of putting condoms on a banana. I actually learned more in biology and real life experience than in sex ed.

In Scotland we had a VHS the class watched when we were 9/10 which had a basic diagram of intercourse. The voiceover said, “Note how they fit together, like a jigsaw puzzle.”

Seared into my brain. I remember asking if the sperm from the video “could think” like tadpoles did. Never got a proper answer!

Then secondary school had lessons about the reproductive cycle in mandatory biology class. Slightly later, when we were 14 or so, they had demonstrations about how to put on condoms.

Edit: btw does anyone know if sperm can think? k thanks

In elementary/middle school at a small Catholic school in a progressive major North American city, it was a week or two where we got some workbooks and were separated by sex (this was as gender discussions were beginning to hit the mainstream). They were fine, they were certainly informative and educational and didn’t lie. I do recall them focusing on abstinence but it was mostly about the biology and family planning iirc.

I then went to the largest public high school in my city. Freshman year we had a health class and an entire unit was focused on sexual health. We learned about different contraceptive methods and their efficacy, STIs (had to do group presentations on them), the biology and in/outs of reproduction, sexual and gender orientation (iirc), the legality of things and actions and some stuff about consent (as a kink practitioner and queer person, I would’ve liked more but it’s probably a lot more than most have ever learned about consent), and things along those lines. We were also given resources and our teacher was super nice and helpful about this stuff.

We also learned about drugs, the different types of drugs, their effects, withdrawals, and risks. It was municipally mandated, if not state mandated, educational content so it was standardized at least across the city, but I kinda doubt it’s taught as equitably as it was in my high school. But it was incredibly comprehensive and extremely educational. While I still made a lot of mistakes as a dumb horny teenager, did things i shouldn’t have, and got hurt/hurt people by being a dumb horny teenager (no SA/SH), it prepared me very well for my experiences and set me up to be the safe and respectful person I am today (who knows how to safely disrespect you when you ask nicely <3)

There was a bit at 3rd grade “difference between boys and girls and where babys come from” (no no sex talk)

In 5th grade I was absent in hospital but in 5th grade you learn sexual biologie, contraceptions, menstruation, puberty and i think STDs. When i got back from hospital it was mid way into the lessons about female genitalia and tampons so i didnt learn it from school but from books at home. I dont know if they talked about different sexualitys existing, if not this needs to change.

7th grade has puberty and hormones, genetics, pregnacy and birth.

I dont know what it was in 9th grade but there defenetly was also something that could fall under 'sex ed".

It always was open, no shaming and professional

Germany Bavaria. It is manditory and you cant take your child out of those classes because its part of the regular biologie class

Maryland early 2000s. We had a real health teacher. It was pretty clinical and factual for the most part. The only thing that really stood out was the teacher telling us that peeing killed any sperm left in the urethra and a kid asking if he could “piss in his woman and not wear a condom.” This poor old teacher has to say “Do not piss in your woman.”

Sitting around a table in the school library and trying not to giggle while a catholic priest told us about the dangers of sex, that it was for procreation only and that abortion was evil.

This priest had left that parish a few years earlier but they brought him back to teach sex ed.

It was later learned that he had been molesting children while at the parish.

Religious school taught me nothing, but religious parents gave a surprisingly detailed and good explanation of sex, including mention of gay people. Then they got me a private tutor for biology so I would know the material to pass the exam.

My sex ed was pretty thorough I feel. It was part of our health units in school from grades 5-9. In the earlier grades, the class would be split into boys and girls, but as I got older the entire was part of the lesson.

Most sex ed classes involved: -Showing diagrams of female and male reproductive organs (we had to label each one which I hated doing) -Students being able to ask questions about sex or puberty -Learning about consent -STI and safe sex -Birth control methods

There was also a LGBT/gender portion that was added to the curriculum later on. It covered things like: -Differences between gender and sex -Sexual vs romantic attraction (also covered ace/Aro people I believe)

• What makes a person binary trans people or non binary -Defining different sexualities (gay, lesbians, bi, etc) -Differences between gender identity and gender expression

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with how all this was taught to me.

Me with zero knowledge of anything sexual down to even how to do sexual intercourse or the existence of oral sex, knowing what consent is, anything. No idea.

I was almost a teen and stumbled on an obscure sex forum. It wasn’t pornography, it was all informational. I started reading about stuff, it astounded me, it sounded like fiction. I learned how to masturbate correctly, I learned how to do sexual things, and I learned about consent. As a result, I waited until I was comfy with another person doing that stuff to me. I have never had a bad sexual experience, and I have had every partner tell me about how much they enjoy experiences with me.

I thank that forum for that. I’m very lucky I was taught by the best source I could imagine… and that I was curious enough to read and learn for a long while before actually doing stuff.

Grade 6. Biology classes lasted about an hour or so, every day, for a week or two.

Boys and girls were broken into their own groups. I assume this was to help avoid being embarrassed about things in front of the opposite sex.

We were told if we made jokes or giggled, we failed for the day and had to sit in the hall. We nervously and embarrassingly giggled a bit the first day but after we got into it things were fine.

The classes were very straight forward. Dry. Matter of fact. Covered everything they needed to cover for basic biology, how sex works, body parts and what they do, etc, but didn’t talk about things like birth control.

Mine talked about various contraceptive methods, STDs, and accidental/teen pregnancies. It did focus more on the pregnancy part than the STD part, but they also briefly talked about how condoms are still important even if you’re gay, since they prevent STDs.

I have a cousin I went to highschool with. He grew up in the south, but he finished highschool with me in Minnesota, and he told me his sex ed curriculum down south consisted of a brief talk on how sex is bad and that it is important to eat vegetables. Even though he had health class credits from down south, the school made him take their health class and he was happy to find out it’s much more comprehensive than the south.

Maybe I had a good education? I feel like it equipped me properly to make sound decisions. Gave information of puberty, changes, hormones, STD/STI, protection, pregnancies.

In the moment, the class was just another class. Sure, it was funny (teehee weiner and boobs), but reflecting later in life, I made a few better decisions because of it.

A mysterious brown paper bag was tossed out of a car window aimed to land near me playing in the front yard…

Like god intended.