Or is it even imperative?
At what point do parents talk about sex with their children?
I’ll be honest, mine never did. I was not allowed to take Sex Ed and took a science course instead.
Re: At What Point Is Sex Education Imperative?
Growing up in the Middle East, we didn't really have any sex-ed or whatever. Neither did our parents discuss sex with because we ended up studying it in biology and that was that. I think if you aren't a basement dweller, you'll learn about sex; its a given in this day and age. I mean we got by so I'm not sure if it really is that important.
What is awfully important and should happen is that kids should be taught the 'Good Touch' and 'Bad Touch'. This helps to protect and bring to light potential abuse. Our parents actually discussed this with us and I think that helped us stay aware.
P.S. Ofcourse I speak from the religious/cultural POV when I say its not that important. Because you know, we survived didn't we?
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I do agree with GDISA (to a certain extent). I grew up in the Middle East too and we didn’t get any sex ed. I dropped Bio midway through the ninth grade and that was the only time I ever heard a teacher mention sexual intercourse. Even that was more like a comment in passing: “Human reproduction is of course different from plant reproduction wherethemaleinsertspenisinavaginareleasingspermthatfertiliseseggs.” I dropped the subject before she actually got round to teaching the chapter but it would’ve made for an interesting lecture.
However I do feel that sex education should maybe have been a bit earlier, in 7th grade perhaps. Because that is when I learned and most kids between grades 7 and 9 had a great interest in porn (owing to a mixture of curiosity and raging hormones). The kid who told me about sex only had about half the details right, the rest came from my research in the school library 
By 8th grade I was giving sex education to kids who still hadn’t managed to figure it out.
But as GDISA said we did get by so it is not THAT important. The important thing is that parents do discuss what sexual relations mean in Islam and teach their kids to distinguish between right and wrong. They won’t necessarily do that at school going age but these lessons usually reinforce themselves as the kid grows older and more mature.
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Good one Rizla!
The important thing is that parents do discuss what sexual relations mean in Islam and teach their kids to distinguish between right and wrong. They won't necessarily do that at school going age but these lessons usually reinforce themselves as the kid grows older and more mature.
Yeah, pretty much got that knowledge ingrained as we were growing up.
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I also grew up in the Middle East....and I remember that in the 5th grade the girls were taught about menstruation by the school nurse...and a little bit of very poorly explained sex ed, lol. I vaguely remember the school nurse saying "One kiss can get you pregnant"...they were elderly Caucasian women dressed in a doctor's coat....funny. Then in junior high school...we learned about reproduction in biology class and health class which was taught by the PE teacher. I think ....can't remember clearly....a bit of sex ed was taught in health class. In some public schools....sex ed is taught starting in middle school (so, 6th grade) and parents are given the option to either allow or not allow their child to attend it. At the school I'm teaching at now......there is no sex ed. Since I teach 5th grade and also have to teach PE....I had the menstruation talk with the female students...and only one parent had issues about that, which was unreasonable. They'll learn about reproduction in greater detail in middle school. The language arts teacher in middle school was a sex ed teacher at another place....so maybe the school might get her to educate the students. I think it's important....and parents do need to talk about it with their kids in the light of Islam.
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Also GDISA you’re absolutely right about parents explaining the ‘good/bad touch’.
My parents never explained the ‘good touch’/‘bad touch’ to me. Maybe they felt that it wasn’t needed in a conservative Saudi society where as kids we did not really get exposed to too many strange men. However a ‘bad touch’ incident did happen with me once, it was at this popular fried chicken chain, I was around 9 or 10. It gets really crowded in their takeaway place, I was standing at the counter waiting for the order and there were a lot of people behind me and around me with hardly any space to move. This big fat Pakistani guy in a shalwar kameez came up right behind me and I remember feeling uncomfortable and wondering why he was so close up against me. Soon after the guy left the place in a hurry and the worker behind the counter had this enraged look on his face and asked me if I saw where that guy went, then went out the back and I don’t know if anything else happened. It was only as I grew older that I realised that Pakistani guy was probably a pedo trying to get a high grinding against my ass 
Anyway moral of the story is this was probably one part of my upbringing that I feel was an oversight on my parents part, and it is absolutely essential that when something like this happens, a kid is able to identify abuse and alert his parents to the danger.
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^Rizla, that's terrible!
To offer a juxtaposition to the Middle East education, in inner city London we were made to put condoms on bananas. I'd missed the first part of the class so spent a while wondering what was going on, until things clicked.
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Bro, this **** happens all over the world. Sucks that arsehole tried that with you. I mean this is kinda what I spoke about like kids don't even know sometimes whats happening to them.
I was out with Jaanwar and Khumar and we were actually discussing this particular issue. I told them about this taxi driver trying to get it on with my buddy when we were in school. He was lucky, he jumped the taxi and ran away. There's couple of other incidents that come to mind too. So its definitely common in this part of the world too.
I think you need to be extra careful in a conservative society because of the whole taboo associated with sex. People in such society will resort to picking out targets that aren't as well guarded (Children pretty much) because going-out or sleeping around or whatever is 'difficult' for them. Twats!
P.S. I had an Emarati auntie try to get it on with me when I was a teen. I just pretended I didn't know what good touch/bad touch was. :p
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^LMAO 
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Haha El Topo, I know about those. That's just way too much but I'm talking from my perspective.
Re: At What Point Is Sex Education Imperative?
Bro, this **** happens all over the world. Sucks that arsehole tried that with you. I mean this is kinda what I spoke about like kids don't even know sometimes whats happening to them.
I was out with Jaanwar and Khumar and we were actually discussing this particular issue. I told them about this taxi driver trying to get it on with my buddy when we were in school. He was lucky, he jumped the taxi and ran away. There's couple of other incidents that come to mind too. So its definitely common in this part of the world too.
I think you need to be extra careful in a conservative society because of the whole taboo associated with sex. People in such society will resort to picking out targets that aren't as well guarded (Children pretty much) because going-out or sleeping around or whatever is 'difficult' for them. Twats!
P.S. I had an Emarati auntie try to get it on with me when I was a teen. I just pretended I didn't know what good touch/bad touch was. :p
Exactly, you hear about this sort of thing happen all the time and with people you least expect, like teachers and qari sahabs. And LOL I wish it were an Emirati lady in my case too!
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Serioulsy?
I vaguely remember the girls in junior high school yelling at one of the girls…the annoying stupid ones…who had asked where the condom goes. The PE teacher shoulda used bananas…to help clear up that confusion for her.
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^Yup, seriously.
There are boroughs where the teenage pregnancy rate is pretty high, so they take the view that if kids are going to do it regardless, then they should have an understanding of protection.
For us it was almost pointless, because it was Tower Hamlets* - in that entire school I was the sole Pakistani, there was one gora, and the rest were all Bengalis. The only protection we needed to know about was the rolling pin and the beating it would dish out if we ever touched/or was touched by anyone.
*Borough in London, home to mostly Bengali immigrants and Brick Lane.
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el topo - hahaha bananas!? we got plastic penis models...and a step by step on how to actually take a condom out of its pack.
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Sheesh…
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I bet they got stolen all the time.
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el topo - hahaha bananas!? we got plastic penis models...and a step by step on how to actually take a condom out of its pack.
Ha! Our school was too poor for that! We even had only just the one goalpost.
So unfair we didn't get the plastic models! :(
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what got stolen the plastic penis models or the condoms?
in our high school they gave free condom samples after the sex ed classes
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what got stolen the plastic penis models or the condoms?
in our high school they gave free condom samples after the sex ed classes
Lets play Pros and Cons.
An Unused Condom - Still need a penis for it to be any use.
A Plastic Penis- Don't need anything but your imagination.
/dodgypost
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^Ha! Brilliant.
Another pro: the plastic penis' (peni?) could work as lightsabers. Kind of. Without the light. Um.