The actual content of sexual education and health classes has varied a lot over the years and across the nation, but for the most part, adults can agree it seems lacking. Many schools offer little more than "birds and the bees" type stuff, and the basic physiology of what part goes where, and how you shouldn't do that anyway because you'll get pregnant, gonorrhea, or both.

Where's all the nitty-gritty? The day-to-day, in-the-moment, what-sex-is-actually-like kind of stuff? The following Redditors threw out their suggestions on what they wish sex ed classes, in a perfect world, would teach.


1. But teachers have to follow the curriculum saying sex is a horrific death spiral, longducdong.

Ours wouldn't give me a straight answer on whether you could get an STD if neither of you had an STD but you had sex. I know it's a very silly question but I was just a kid and I didn't know. Saying, "any unprotected sex is unsafe," is not the correct answer. It was bullshit how weird they were about giving the correct answers.


2. Well, the intent is pleasure, cyanocittaetprocyon. Individual experiences may vary.

That most sex is for pleasure, and that only a very small percentage is for procreation.

3. Shameaccount26 is getting douche chills.

The cleanliness thing would have saved me some grief. I always thought women were supposed to douche. Sat around thinking how I should buy one because I thought I needed to. I read some things online and found that it was unnecessary and could leave one worse off.


4. User rahyveshachr thinks human biology should be taught like it's some kind of science or something.

Exactly how conception and early pregnancy works. This was the only area I was grossly misinformed about. I learned way too much about it thanks to an interest in IVF.

  • The egg is fertilized in the fallopian tube, not the uterus.
  • Sperm can live inside you for up to 6 days so you can conceive a few days after having sex.
  • It takes about five days for a fertilized egg to go from that tiny 1-cell to when it has so many cells inside that it literally bursts the wall of the egg open (called hatching).
  • 5 days is also how long it takes for an egg to travel through the fallopian tube and arrive at the uterus. Once it "hatches" then it begins to implant into the uterine lining.
  • Your baby's gestational age starts with cycle day 1, also known as when your last period started. So technically, you're 2 weeks further gestationally than the amount of time that tiny embryo has been actually created and abiding inside you.
  • A pregnancy test will only have a slight chance of being positive afterthe embryo has been implanted for a couple days. Waiting until the day of your period will give that hormone enough time to accumulate enough to get a positive.
  • The day of your missed period you are four weeks pregnant, not two weeks pregnant.

I had so much stupid when I first got married and started having sex, convinced I was pregnant after 2 days and wanting a pregnancy test. Plus now I know why the urgent care doc rolled his eyes when I told him I was "probably 3 or 4 weeks pregnant."


5. Tampoonie doesn't want you to say Y-E-S to a U-T-I.

That you should always pee after sex, to help avoid getting a UTI. I still can't believe that it was never mentioned.

6. Ktm6891 has their finger on the button.

Wish they would have pointed out where the clit is

7. See previous suggestion, VeganBuzzard421

That 2/3 of women do not orgasm from penetration alone.


8. Yes, gay_for_sunchips, actual helpful information could be a good thing to teach in school.

(okay please don't make fun of me for listing these) The colors and meanings of vaginal discharge, how to clean a vagina, stuff and facts about menstruation, men can have vaginas too (pre op transgender men), actual safety sex, having sex and the vagina bleeding is not supposed to be normal,consent. that sort of thing.

9. User Formaldehyd3 never leaves a dry remark.

The importance of lube.


10. EmmyFluff conceived a really great idea here.

That the egg is only good for about 24-48 hours after ovulation, and that ovulation generally occurs about a week after the period ends. Though sperm can live up to a week, so the week before ovulation and right after is the window for getting pregnant. We were generally just taught that any unprotected sex can get you pregnant at any time. So I ended up assuming the safest time for sex would be right after the period ends, because you just got rid of the last egg, and the most likely time to get pregnant would be right before your period starts, because the egg is much closer. Now I know it's the other way around. While this fortunately never caused any problems for me, because unprotected sex would be dumb anyway, if I still believed this in the furture when I want kids, I imagine it would've made conception harder. The only one I have to thank for teaching me exactly how the female monthly cycle works is my period tracker phone app. When I'm ready to be a mom, I'll thank my smartphone.


11. Just think of England, JiggyBorn.

How to last longer than 2 minutes in action.

12. The Reddit thread had a whole rash of comments like this one from GenericPenName.

Latex allergies are common, and what the symptoms are.

13. RAGE-RAGE-RAGE points out that there are wide swaths of the population completely left out of the conversation, such as homosexuals. And women.


That gay sex exists. That women can receive oral. That it is okay to say no at any point when anything you don't like is happening. That it's okay as a girl to want sex.


14. This one from jennijenn21 is in, like, advanced sex ed (which doesn't exist).

That you poop yourself in a room full of strangers when you have a baby. SO wouldn't have gotten preggo at 18 if I knew that shit o.O


15. But if they told you "why," PM_ME_UR_SEX_TIPS, you'd want to do it, and scaring you away from it is the whole point of sex ed.

We were taught about anatomy and to use protection and all that stuff in sex ed at an early age, but the one question that totally puzzled us was why someone would want to do such a thing. In the end we asked a friends parents and they explained (during lunch) that the main reason is for pleasure. So maybe they could have mentioned that in sex ed in school.


16. The answer to Swagmasta419 was circumcised from the textbooks.

How to retract foreskin they didn't even cover it


17. GhostOfBarron is on the ball with this one.

How to spot the difference between injury and cancer when it comes to men and testicles. I had testicular cancer for probably 4-5 months before I went to the doctor because I just though I injured myself somehow.


18. Azogthedefilero is a realist.

That porn is utter garbage

19. ElMachoGrande has the crazy notion of teaching sexuality for what it is: vast and complicated.

Basically, just talk about it like it's any other subject. Don't have some embarrassed teacher talk through the mechanics of it, have someone who can speak openly about the joy of sex in all its variations, and answer any questions without shame.