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Women Are Sharing The Most Ridiculous Things About Periods And Sex That They Learned Due To Poor Sex-Ed
We’ve all experienced a sex education class at school. It probably came with the whole teen angst package—rolling eyes, blushing, and quiet cringes. Silence pierced the classroom when the teacher asked if anyone had questions. Around this time, many of us realized that periods are real, and there’s no black magic. Life went on and it was ready to give us yet another pubescent surprise.
It turns out this wasn’t the case for Julie Mannell, a young woman who grew up in Ontario Catholic School in the 90s. “I thought women had their periods forever.” So, when her period stopped for a brief moment, it all came down on her. Julie was convinced she got pregnant after petting a neighbor’s dog. Tune in for the hard-to-believe story below and share your opinions about the subject matter in the comments.
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Julie Mannell, an author of fiction, turned to Twitter to share the episode from her pubescent years
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Women got on board to share the period myths they used to believe
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Julie was not the only ‘success story’ from Catholic school sex education classes
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What do you think ?
Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
My conclusion after reading all these: wow, I certainly grew up in a rational open minded society. I grew up with 3 sisters and nothing was a mystical secret regarding female's health. My mother wasn't shy about it either, and at school, we learned about it during biology classes as the most normal thing. So, I never understood the ignorance any time I'd encounter it in a, for example, magazine for teens, in the letters from the audience section. I thought those were some kind of jokes, I never believed someone would really think such nonsense. Now I know I was a lucky one.
chi-wei shen 5 years ago
When I grew up in the 1970s in Austria we learned about it in school and a lot from a widely distributed German magazine for teenagers (I think it was a weekly magazine). Twelve-year-old I knew pretty much all technical details and the boys and girls I went to school with were on my level, even though different parents used very different ways to approach this topic and some parents didn't approach it at all. Stories like the above were simply unthinkable.
Load More Replies...
Random Panda 5 years ago
All of this is so dystopian to me. We learned all about the reproductive system, sex and everything related during biology class. By that time I and most of my classmates knew the basics of it, usually learned from our parents. I don't remember the conversation, but I do remember it was my dad who told me about periods instead of my mom. The two of us were watching a historical drama, I asked a dumb question and my dad was like "well, actually....". I was about 10 maybe. But no one really spoke about such things to my little brother, so when I got my period the same night he privately asked me, absolutely terrified, if he was going to bleed too. The poor thing, I laughed so much.
Laugh or not 5 years ago
I would laugh, if I weren't so angry at a society that mis-educates (I don't care if it's not a word, it should be) and alienate our own bodies from us. People die from such ignorance. When I had my first period, I knew what it was, I knew what to so - kind of, turns out there are pads and panty liners,- when my parents came in the evening, I just told them I had my period. No drama, no panic.
tuzdayschild 5 years ago
When my grandma was about 10 or 12 (born in 1904), she remembered all the girls in her neighborhood gathered together to see a stillborn baby born to a girl who hasn't married. They were told this is what happens when you have a baby and no husband.
elfin 5 years ago
I completely agree that girls needed to educated about their bodies, including all the sexual bits. But girls and boys both should be educated not only about their bodies, but about those of the other gender and the fact that not everybody fits into those two categories. Perhaps if all this were taught openly people wouldn't be so nuts about it.
Ben Steinberg 5 years ago
A big shout out to "Jennifer" above who showed that the conservative stereotype that teaching Sex-Ed only encourages kids to have sex is NOT true. Thank you!!!
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
I went to Catholic school. The nuns were quite forthright, and what they didn't cover in detail, my mother *did*. Frankly, I think calm, detailed education about reproductive systems and reproduction and diseases, etc., is necessary by age 12 or 13 at latest. I say this b/c I was 10 when Mom sat me down, and did so b/c the pamphlet my older sister got was so vague and so full of euphemisms that my sister (who already had her period) had no idea that it was meant to discuss her period!
Melissa Hudson 5 years ago
My takeaway from this is that there were a lot of parents not preparing their children for puberty. They totally dropped the ball. Thank God for my honest mom. She gave me "the talk" when I was 8. When I had sex ed in 6th grade it was old news.
Load More Replies...
Lara Verne 5 years ago (edited)
Please tell me these horror stories are not true! My grandma once told me how she had her first period,. She she had no idea what's going on, because she never heard of period, and her mother only told her: It's in the wardrobe. "It" were menstrual pads. But it happened back in the 1950's! I grew up in 1990s and early 2000s, and I knew how periods work long before I got my first. So it was no surprise, no panicking. But I never went to the catholic school...
deanna woods 5 years ago
My sister and I have been blessed to have very progressive and open minded parents. They told us all we needed to know about sex education. I was the first girl in my 4th grade class to get my period and several of the girls looked at me like I was crazy. Then all the girls had to watch that video about menstruation and body changes and after that all the girls apologized to me because they realized that what was happening to me was natural and would happen to them too. I think that schools should teach sex education, but the most important lessons need to come from parents. I understand that it is embarrassing, but it's important that kids learn these things from the people they trust the most.
Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
My conclusion after reading all these: wow, I certainly grew up in a rational open minded society. I grew up with 3 sisters and nothing was a mystical secret regarding female's health. My mother wasn't shy about it either, and at school, we learned about it during biology classes as the most normal thing. So, I never understood the ignorance any time I'd encounter it in a, for example, magazine for teens, in the letters from the audience section. I thought those were some kind of jokes, I never believed someone would really think such nonsense. Now I know I was a lucky one.
chi-wei shen 5 years ago
When I grew up in the 1970s in Austria we learned about it in school and a lot from a widely distributed German magazine for teenagers (I think it was a weekly magazine). Twelve-year-old I knew pretty much all technical details and the boys and girls I went to school with were on my level, even though different parents used very different ways to approach this topic and some parents didn't approach it at all. Stories like the above were simply unthinkable.
Load More Replies... Random Panda 5 years ago
All of this is so dystopian to me. We learned all about the reproductive system, sex and everything related during biology class. By that time I and most of my classmates knew the basics of it, usually learned from our parents. I don't remember the conversation, but I do remember it was my dad who told me about periods instead of my mom. The two of us were watching a historical drama, I asked a dumb question and my dad was like "well, actually....". I was about 10 maybe. But no one really spoke about such things to my little brother, so when I got my period the same night he privately asked me, absolutely terrified, if he was going to bleed too. The poor thing, I laughed so much.
Laugh or not 5 years ago
I would laugh, if I weren't so angry at a society that mis-educates (I don't care if it's not a word, it should be) and alienate our own bodies from us. People die from such ignorance. When I had my first period, I knew what it was, I knew what to so - kind of, turns out there are pads and panty liners,- when my parents came in the evening, I just told them I had my period. No drama, no panic.
tuzdayschild 5 years ago
When my grandma was about 10 or 12 (born in 1904), she remembered all the girls in her neighborhood gathered together to see a stillborn baby born to a girl who hasn't married. They were told this is what happens when you have a baby and no husband.
elfin 5 years ago
I completely agree that girls needed to educated about their bodies, including all the sexual bits. But girls and boys both should be educated not only about their bodies, but about those of the other gender and the fact that not everybody fits into those two categories. Perhaps if all this were taught openly people wouldn't be so nuts about it.
Ben Steinberg 5 years ago
A big shout out to "Jennifer" above who showed that the conservative stereotype that teaching Sex-Ed only encourages kids to have sex is NOT true. Thank you!!!
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
I went to Catholic school. The nuns were quite forthright, and what they didn't cover in detail, my mother *did*. Frankly, I think calm, detailed education about reproductive systems and reproduction and diseases, etc., is necessary by age 12 or 13 at latest. I say this b/c I was 10 when Mom sat me down, and did so b/c the pamphlet my older sister got was so vague and so full of euphemisms that my sister (who already had her period) had no idea that it was meant to discuss her period!
Melissa Hudson 5 years ago
My takeaway from this is that there were a lot of parents not preparing their children for puberty. They totally dropped the ball. Thank God for my honest mom. She gave me "the talk" when I was 8. When I had sex ed in 6th grade it was old news.
Load More Replies... Lara Verne 5 years ago (edited)
Please tell me these horror stories are not true! My grandma once told me how she had her first period,. She she had no idea what's going on, because she never heard of period, and her mother only told her: It's in the wardrobe. "It" were menstrual pads. But it happened back in the 1950's! I grew up in 1990s and early 2000s, and I knew how periods work long before I got my first. So it was no surprise, no panicking. But I never went to the catholic school...
deanna woods 5 years ago
My sister and I have been blessed to have very progressive and open minded parents. They told us all we needed to know about sex education. I was the first girl in my 4th grade class to get my period and several of the girls looked at me like I was crazy. Then all the girls had to watch that video about menstruation and body changes and after that all the girls apologized to me because they realized that what was happening to me was natural and would happen to them too. I think that schools should teach sex education, but the most important lessons need to come from parents. I understand that it is embarrassing, but it's important that kids learn these things from the people they trust the most.
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