People Reveal What They Wish They'd Been Taught About Sex

'That it's totally normal.'

For most adults, memories of sex education at school can be summed up in three words: unhelpful, brief, and awkward.

Now people on Reddit have been sharing the things they’d actually been taught about the birds and the bees.

1. Basic Hygiene 

“How genitalia function on a day-to-day basis, what is normal vs what is abnormal. Things like, vaginal discharge exists and is normal, you haven’t somehow gotten an STD without having sex like some sort of reverse Virgin Mary. Or genitalia vary widely in appearance. you’re not a freak. Or here is a basic cleanliness checklist, how to wash your genitals, what not to use to clean them, tips on not getting UTIs.”

2. How STDs Work

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Shutterstock / marekuliasz

3. That Sex Isn’t All About Babies 

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

4. Oral Sex 

“Oral sex and its existence. The old ‘went to Catholic school’ here. I thought that the word ‘oral sex’ is a one way thing only; that it refers to a woman giving a blowjob to a man. Never crossed my mind that a man can, and should, give their woman some licking down there. That exists?”

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Deux via Getty Images

5. Gay Relationships 

“Gay students complained that sex ed classes left them ‘on the outside looking in’ on straight sex. There was no effort made to include them - especially regarding oral and anal sex or guidance with gay relationships.”

6. No Means No

“Consent. I really wish they’d talked about consent.”

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Voyagerix via Getty Images

7. Hymens Aren’t All They’re Cracked Up To Be 

“The hymen isn’t always supposed to break when a girl loses her virginity. That’s a very very old, persistent myth that still causes a lot of trouble when people believe it for all kinds of reasons.”

8. An Anatomical Map 

“Wish they would have pointed out where the clit is. Young me wasted a lot of girls’ time figuring that out.”