Sex Education

A friend of mine was at an event where a church group of late teenagers were being given a talk about sex, by a guest speaker. The problem was, there was only really one question being addressed - sex before marriage. Now 25 years ago, this was probably about right, but the world has moved on. There are a whole lot of issues and questions that need to be addresses these days - of course, the young people did not actually raise these. What is more the session was very clearly putting the point that sex before marriage is wrong, rather than giving the young people some tools to think through the questions involved, and enable them to come to their own conclusions.

So I thought I would list my starting point on the questions I think should have been asked and discussed, along with where the answers should be directed.

Sex before marriage. Saving yourself is good.So is not judging others who go down a different route. Or yourself, if you get it wrong. Everyone gets stuff wrong, don't beat yourself up.

Sex outside marriage. Just don't. You have made promises and commitments, so stick by them. Otherwise it hurts people, badly.

Is giving head sex? Yes. It involves sexual stimulation, so it counts. Don't try to pretend that it doesn't count just because you want to give it a try.

What about anal sex? If you want to experiment, then do, But make sure that it is Safe, Sane and Consensual.And making sure that it really is consensual, not just acceptable. If it isn't then it is abuse or rape, or possibly both, so don't.

Is homosexuality acceptable? I am putting a whole new post together on this. So cover the topic as best you can in the time.

What about masturbation? I have no idea, but cover it, and get some views.

I am not saying that I have all of the answers. Or even all of the right questions - I would like to include something on STD and contraception in the chat around it. It just seems that a chance was lost to give some good rounded education on the area.

Now some people will argue that we don't need to open our young people up to all of this stuff. But I would bet that every issue on this list will be met by someone in the group - or any ordinary group - this year. Not by them personally on the whole, but by their friends, and they need to know that they can give answers. And for many of them - the older ones especially - it will be for them in the next 18+ months.

The problem is - and my core concern in this post - is that if we don't talk about these areas with our young people, then someone else will. If we do not address them, we pass over our chance to have a say. I am not prepared to do that.