I have to say, thinking back, my sex education was atrocious. For one thing, my family never gave me the sex talk. Not even in a casual, informal manner, too. It was never discussed. Presumably this has something to do with my family finding out I was bisexual, and probably didn't want to discuss all the 'icky' gay sex I could have. If there was a sex talk, it was about sexuality, not sex. These days, my sexuality is never discussed, which is made all the more tricky being in a relationship.

As for my school, I remember primary school giving me one lesson when I was in year 5, so I must have been about 9 or 10. It was essentially just an applied biology lesson. I do remember the boys and girls being separated and being given tailored gender-specific lessons. Which I always found odd at the time, because I thought a boy should be taught about the menstrual cycle, and so on. I googled it the next day.

Anyway, in secondary school, across all five years there was two lessons, that I can remember. I went to an all boys school, so there was definitely nothing on females. I remember the first lesson being in year 9, I think, and it was the fan favorite "put a condom on a cucumber" test, although for us we got the real analogue deal, a plastic erect penis. Chuckles ensued. The lesson went on about protection and the mechanics of sex, and that was it. The other one was literally all about STIs, in a joint venture brought to us by the science and (weirdly) the P.E department. It was just a slideshow with pictures of diseased penises.

And that was it. Now during most of my secondary school time (age 12-16), I was working in a youth centre, educating others about sex and relationships, and I learned more there than I ever did anywhere else. The crucial element missing from sex education in schools was relationships. There was diddly squat on consent, on what constitutes a healthy relationship, and nothing on alternative sexualities and sex practices.

In sort, sex education could have gone much better. At least I wasn't tripped up by it.