T O P I C R E V I E W
lilkazzy
Member # 7892
posted 04-24-2002 12:58 AM
OK, yesterday i went to a Family Planning Clinic (UK version of Planned Parenthood) to see about going on the pill. I was given two leaflets - one pretty helpful one, about the reliability of different types of birth control, and another called "sex and sexual relationships".The second leaflet was absolutely hopeless. It is written by AVERT, a national AIDS charity. All through the leaflet i felt it was talking down to me. I finished reading, feeling completely patronised and not having learned anything.
Anyway, the reason for writing this post really was to talk about protection during oral sex. In the whole of this leaflet there was only three short paragraphs on oral sex, and only one mentioned protection, but did not push the issue -
quote: Some sexually transmitted infections can be passed on through oral sex. There are flavoured condoms available that you can use when having oral sex. These are to stop any infections which might be passed on. And that was it!Sadly, this is the general feeling in most of the UK. I had never heard of dental dams before visiting ST, and it's not as if i know very little about sexually related issues. Apparently in schools teachers are not allowed to talk about oral sex to classes, so we do not receive any education there about oral.
Another thing that i feel is not mentioned enough in the UK are STDs. They are mentioned, but it is hardly ever shown how easily they can be passed on. Neither are we pushed to get tested. If there are any problems we are told to get tested, but i've never heard anyone say that you and your partner should be tested before having intercourse.
So yeah, it appears the UK is in a sad state of affairs.....
lemming
Member # 33
posted 04-24-2002 01:28 AM
Oh, jeez, hon, it's bad everywhere.I would *never* have known anything about oral sex and condoms or dental dams if not for Scarleteen. Neither I nor my friends had ever heard of such a thing, and we sure as heck didn't get it in Texas from abstinence-only programs.
badly_behaved_badger
Member # 7728
posted 04-24-2002 11:01 AM
Hi, I'm from the UK too! Is that really true about teachers not being allowed to talk about oral sex? I read something today about 1 in 4 teenagers in Britain catch STDs a year. Shocking!!! Britain also has the highest number of teen pregnancies in Europe. Oh the shame. I think sex education in schools is getting better, though. Not so long ago they didn't even bother teaching it. *lotsa hugs from da bajjah*
lilkazzy
Member # 7892
posted 04-25-2002 12:30 AM
Having done some research - The Government sets out guidelines which each school has an obligation to follow, but ultimately the curriculum is made up by HeadTeachers, for each individual school. I'm not so sure about England and Wales, but here, or at least in my school, we are NOT taught about oral sex, because it's not part of the curriculum here, and because the teachers are not really supposed to talk about it.I'm gonna do some more researching before i start writing letters to governments.... Oh, The Family Planning Association estimates that 10% of sexually active teenagers in Britain have Chlamydia.......
insatiablesmiles
Member # 6228
posted 05-13-2002 02:35 PM
hey i'm in the UK too, and since finding Scarleteen have also found out -alot- i didn't know before. on the dental dams front. the only other place i have ever seen them mentioned is in university student union booklets! in a few that i've read they talk about safer sex and mention that they give out free condoms and dental dams, with an explanation of what and why you should use dental dams. my partner, who goes to King's College has got dental dams from there. but they're not easy to find, apart from in some sex shops and online. on the STDs front. yeah. www.guardianunlimited.co.uk - The Guardian's website, has lots of articles about the horrendous STD rates in the UK, which quite shocked me. especially because, as has been said, the emphasis in schools is most definitely on pregnancy, and STDs are hardly ever mentioned. even teen magazines which spend so much time talking about sex seem to view STDs as unimportant, when actually more of us are going to die from STDs than from pregnancy...hm. that was an absurd made up statistic. i mean, more of us are going to catch STDs than are going to get pregnant.
HIV and AIDs was made a big deal out of [rightly so] in the 1980s, so there's a generation who [supposedly] all use condoms, but i read that only 48% of women will insist their partner uses a condom on a one night stand. which is worrying. the government really really needs to re-think its attitude towards sex education, specifically STDs, and not just for those of us who are teenagers - adults in their 20s and 30s really need to be reminded of the importance of Safer Sex, too.
this was a bit ranty and nonsensical...sorry!
-pandora xxo
------------------ - you think you're the only one who's sexually frustrated? - well come on baby , i'm ready!
[ american beauty ]
http://thebitch.mustbehere.com
goblinsoup
Member # 8670
posted 06-24-2002 04:11 PM
I'd never heard of dental dams before now. It's also quite shameful that most people I know here wouldn't use a condom during fellatio. I too think that sex eductaion in the UK does look down on teenagers a lot. We had to take a survey about it last year and the whole time it was so patronising- they should know that they are not going to get their message through to teenagers when they are making us feel like 5 year olds from the start. Also, I have only ever once been shown how to properly put a condom on, when I was about 12, by a silly old dear with a banana... deary me