The majority of Scots have this in common: completely inadequate sex education |
This article appears as part of the Lessons to Learn newsletter.
All across the country, and across various generations, people have very different experiences of school, but there is one thing that the vast majority of people in Scotland tend to have in common: completely inadequate sex education.
This is such a standard, accepted reality that we don’t even really bother to talk about it. Almost everyone you meet, regardless of their age, sex or location, will be able to tell you the typical stories, like an embarrassed teacher muddling through a demonstration of how condoms work, or photographs of the effects of sexually transmitted infections.
And to be honest, sometimes those are the better, more informative experiences: there are plenty of people for whom sex education – or Relationship, Sexual Health and Parenting (RSHP) education, to use the formal name – was little more than a half-hearted instruction not to do it or, if you went to the kind of school I attended, a warning that having sex before marriage lies in that category of behaviour that will see you sent to The Bad Fire.
Obviously there are some people who think that this is all fine, and that giving young people information about sex is some sort of crime against morality.........