Several people said they also learned about sex from partners and personal experience.
Sex Education in School
When it comes to sex education in school, most of our readers (56%) got some sex education in public school. That sounds promising, but the details about the kind of sex ed readers received is a bit more troubling. For example, 61% of respondents said they were never taught about sex being pleasurable.
Most respondents' sex education began when they were between 7 and 12 years old (52.94%); 35% of respondents didn't receive sex education until they were between 13 and 17 years old.
Most people also failed to learn anything about self pleasure.
As for condom use, nearly half of respondents said they never learned how to apply a condom as part of sex ed. Research suggests this is a huge knowledge gap with major repercussions; most condom failures occur as a result of improper use.
That said, some respondents reported getting to practice applying condoms to bananas, vegetables, anatomical models and, in one instance, the school nurse's head ...
The Sticky Issues: Consent, Abortion
Consent is a key issue in sexual health discussions. Unfortunately, 58% of respondents didn't hear a word about it as part of their sex education. Interesting, 16% of respondents learned that it was OK to say no to sexual coercion, while only 4% were taught that they shouldn't coerce others. As for abortion, 63% of respondents say it was never mentioned as part of sex education; the 13% who did hear about it learned that it isn't "a morally acceptable option."
