How 10 Women With Abstinence-Only Sex Educations Learned About Sex
You already know that abstinence-only sex education can be kind of bonkers. While when and how you have sex is a personal choice, those who want to will find out how to do it (whether it's in their syllabus or not). For women who had abstinence-only education, that meant turning to other sources to get the scoop. Cosmopolitan.com spoke to 10 of those women and asked them what they used to get the info that was left out of their textbooks.
1. "Monica Lewinsky on the news, and asking at a young age what the big deal was; What to Expect When You're Expecting, thanks to my ever-pregnant mother leaving it around; reading East of Eden at 13; and finally, erotica online, thanks to an unfortunate homeschooler moment when I Googled 'Baby It's Cold Outside' (having never heard the song before, thanks to homeschooling) and instead of finding the song I found a short story erotica piece as the first hit." -Hattie*, 27
2. "Talking to peers on the bus home from school. Everyone knew everything on the bus apparently." -Megan*, 21
3. "Porn. And, like, boys talking at camp. Or wait, let me think ... no, yeah, I think porn." -Penny*, 23
4. "I honestly don't remember learning anything about sex. I don't remember being taught! I think, to be honest, just movies and my friends." -Emily*, 28
5. "My dad awkwardly told me." - Amy*, 24
6. "The thing that taught me most about sex was listening to all the girls in my dorm my freshman year of college. My high school friends and I had giggled incessantly over Cosmo back in the day, but that was the extent of my exposure to sex. But freshman year of college was a huge wake-up call. The girls on my floor seemed so cool and experienced to me. I eventually just started taking all of their stories and put them to practice myself." -Kelly*, 22
7. "I half learned from peers and half from erotic 'literature' (not books, just websites where anyone could post)." -Lily*, 21
8. "I was really into Harry Potter fan fiction and one day, I accidentally clicked on a story that was rated 'mature.' It was surprising at first, but I didn't click away because I was obviously curious and had no other way of learning about it. I ended up reading a bunch because I knew it was there and could tell me things about sex that everyone else was too uncomfortable to." -Claire*, 23
9. "Mostly I have memories of sitting around a lantern at camp at age 11 while one girl explained to all of us what a 'blow job' was. Still not sure to this day if our counselors were secretly in their rooms lol-ing at us or not." -Olivia*, 23
10. "I learned about it from that American doll book where you get to look at different women's boobs. And a girl on a tire swing during recess. She asked me if I knew where babies came from, and then she explained how her mom and dad would sit on the floor and try and fit their privates together, and I went home and cried." -Elaine*, 23
*Names have been changed
Follow Kathryn on Twitter.
