Sex/puberty/online safety education in schools

I'll go first:

When I was in primary school, I missed the year 6 sex education ( the year they go through the mechanics of heterosexual procreation) because I was being sent to extra maths classes at another school. I often joke this is a reflection of the rest of my life, it's not entirely inaccurate. 

I wasn't given any information around acceptable levels of nudity/people it was okay to undress in front of, and in hindsight I was extremely vulnerable to predators in my primary school years. I remember being very confused about the (in my memory seemingly instant) transition of changing for PE with boys and girls in the same room, and all stripping off (year 2), to boys in the corridor, girls in the room, and everyone insisting you had to attempt to try and cover yourself while you did so (Year 3). 

It didn't get much better at secondary school, as I said in a previous chat, it was largely around metaphors. All of my sex education was heterosexual and was primarily based around not getting pregnant, with even barely any mention of STDs. One of the more memorable metaphors was the nurse handing around a bunch of items which were suppos

ed to represent things people thought would prevent pregnancy but didn't. These were not explained. Two such items were a medal and an empty can of coke. I came to find out through questioning my peers later (they were very uncomfortable about it) these were supposed to represent it being your first time, and being drunk. 

Even online safety stuff was metaphor based, including one about a person coming into your house, and looking at all your things. 

I think making things metaphor based purely because teachers are uncomfortable with saying them outright is dangerous for your autistic students. You can't assume that they'll 'pick it up in the playground' because A. autistic students may not, and B. why on earth would you want their main form of education to be in the playground?! That's the basis of so many misconceptions!

The consequence is you'll have a bunch of students who will already struggle socially with forming relationships, but who are now also unprepared for the sexual side of it, leaving them even more vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Knowledge is power, and without it how are they to challenge the partner that they're already extremely glad to even have who is telling them that condoms aren't necessary. 

Some solutions: A more prescriptive sex education in schools for a start. Also for parents of autistic children to be prepared that they are not necessarily just going to 'pick things up' and a more direct approach needs to be taken. My mother gave me two books. They were very useful. There were diagrams. I'm a big fan of diagrams, they're pretty unambiguous. 

Looking to hear about others experiences and thoughts.

I'll go first:

When I was in primary school, I missed the year 6 sex education ( the year they go through the mechanics of heterosexual procreation) because I was being sent to extra maths classes at another school. I often joke this is a reflection of the rest of my life, it's not entirely inaccurate. 

I wasn't given any information around acceptable levels of nudity/people it was okay to undress in front of, and in hindsight I was extremely vulnerable to predators in my primary school years. I remember being very confused about the (in my memory seemingly instant) transition of changing for PE with boys and girls in the same room, and all stripping off (year 2), to boys in the corridor, girls in the room, and everyone insisting you had to attempt to try and cover yourself while you did so (Year 3). 

It didn't get much better at secondary school, as I said in a previous chat, it was largely around metaphors. All of my sex education was heterosexual and was primarily based around not getting pregnant, with even barely any mention of STDs. One of the more memorable metaphors was the nurse handing around a bunch of items which were suppos

ed to represent things people thought would prevent pregnancy but didn't. These were not explained. Two such items were a medal and an empty can of coke. I came to find out through questioning my peers later (they were very uncomfortable about it) these were supposed to represent it being your first time, and being drunk. 

Even online safety stuff was metaphor based, including one about a person coming into your house, and looking at all your things. 

I think making things metaphor based purely because teachers are uncomfortable with saying them outright is dangerous for your autistic students. You can't assume that they'll 'pick it up in the playground' because A. autistic students may not, and B. why on earth would you want their main form of education to be in the playground?! That's the basis of so many misconceptions!

The consequence is you'll have a bunch of students who will already struggle socially with forming relationships, but who are now also unprepared for the sexual side of it, leaving them even more vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Knowledge is power, and without it how are they to challenge the partner that they're already extremely glad to even have who is telling them that condoms aren't necessary. 

Some solutions: A more prescriptive sex education in schools for a start. Also for parents of autistic children to be prepared that they are not necessarily just going to 'pick things up' and a more direct approach needs to be taken. My mother gave me two books. They were very useful. There were diagrams. I'm a big fan of diagrams, they're pretty unambiguous. 

Looking to hear about others experiences and thoughts.