Clitoris

[Perfect28]

The correct and full terminology for female genitalia is not taught in school. The closest we get to it, as far as I am aware, is the now statutory conversation about FGM. Why is this, and why isn't this a bigger conversation?

Wow. I was totally not expected to be attacked. Called a creep over and over. Read the thread. I wasn't teaching about reproduction.

You have just given the BBC bitesize page on human reproduction as your example!

Existential my point is one of concern that teaching the full anatomical names for all parts of the genitalia does not feature at all on the school curriculum at any level.

Hangonsnoopy do you want to try reading the full thread here?

I think equality is a very weird concept to apply to sexual pleasure. It's great for people to enjoy sex if they are going to have it, but not because it's an equality issue!

The fact is that men's and women's bodies are different and they may never have "equality" in this are, just like they won't have height equality.

Adults can look for any number of resources if they feel the need to improve their sex lives. In fact if anything they are likely to find too much information. It's really not necessary to address that at school and in any case likely would not do much good anyway in the abstract.

I covered a brief session on 'puberty' this morning for ks3

what subject do you normally teach @Perfect28 ? Liberating as you might have been in going off piste with your hand drawn diagrams there are strict guidelines on what to cover, especially in yr7, and the parents would be justified to complain if they wanted to.

I do agree women need the manual but lower secondary school really is not the place.

The 'School of Sexuality Education' have been in the news a lot the last couple of weeks for their involvement with the 'Family Sex Show'. Here is Milli Hill writing about them in her recent blog post 'Safeguarding children is not 'moral panic'
Thoughts on the 'Family Sex Show' and the blurring of boundaries' (it was suggested they be brought in as 'sensitivity readers' to vet one of her books):

'After they were put forward, I went to their website for a look around and immediately found one of their most recent blog posts, entitled, “Why is everyone being mean to JKRowling? A comprehensive guide to understanding and arguing against trans exclusive arguments”.
I highly recommend you read the whole thing but just to give you a flavour, they state, “Psychological and scientific academia has widely proved that gender, and sex, are socially constructed”, and that, “Even the link we’ve made between penis and male sex (and vagina and female sex) is constructed.” The whole article is an absolute hot-bed of inaccuracy and misinformation on everything from biology to women’s refuges to sports, but perhaps one of the most worrying statements, given that the piece is aimed at teens and young people, is that surgery to make the penis into a vagina is a '“really cool medical procedure”.
The piece is no longer on their site (the above link is to the archived version), but this group, funded by the Lottery and several others, is leading RSE workshops in schools across the UK, and according to their website have so far reached 67332 young people."

OK so if it is about correct labelling then I think most people are in agreement, no?

I got confused when it got in to orgasm gaps and pleasure!

I have read the full thread. You haven't actually explained what was being covered in the lesson beyond puberty, which is more than one lesson, or why it was particularly necessary to draw a clitoris. So people are having to speculate.

agreed, the puberty lesson is xyz bits get bigger, hairier, sweatier.

I mean, are there really teens in the UK, or any western country, who have not been over-exposed to the idea that sex is the be all and end all? There may be a few but they must be massive outliers.

I think this is as basic as 'these are your eyes, they are for seeing' and anyone who thinks it's more than that is weird. I'm so sorry that I believe in teaching children factual information. If the conversations in your classrooms go that way you should work on your behaviour management.

Are you a teacher @Perfect28 ? You’re not a science teacher, so what is your subject?

If the conversations in your classrooms go that way you should work on your behaviour management.

bless your heart. Ever stood up and taught teens about inserting an erect penis into a lubricated vagina? I don’t think you have. It comes across that you’ve done one pre-prepared lesson on puberty and now you’re an expert.

But they literally discuss it with the penis. I know it seems awkward at first but it’s definitely there and being ignored.

But the clitoris isn't actually for anything. It is just a homologous body part to the penis, unless you are referring to the possible evolutionary advantage of the contractions during orgasm.

KS3 children are mostly well aware of sex being pleasurable and will be getting curious at that age, surely it is better that a safe adult is explaining why sex can be pleasurable, while also explaining the importance of safety, boundaries and consent than it is for them to learn half truths from the playground and seek answers from the Internet. (Which will generally come up with links to porn!) Humans have sex for recreational as well as reproductive purposes because it can be pleasurable, that is a fact and it serves us well as a species. I don't see anything wrong with naming a body part and it's function, that doesn't mean students are being taught how to masturbate, it just means they know their body parts and what they do.

I do think from a biological point of view the correct terminology should be taught to children. Lots think urine comes out of the same hole as periods, and get the vulva and vagina mixed-up ffs. I don't remember male pleasure being taught at school beyond when a man ejaculates blah blah egg and pregnancy though and don't see a school setting as being appropriate to talk about sexual pleasure really.

Thr description of male pleasure goes as far as he’s stimulated and ejaculates, sperm goes off to find the egg. It’s a fairly fundamental step in sexual reproduction.

Will nobody think of the children! Imagine being 13 and your fat, 50 something teacher is talking about sexual pleasure.

We cover porn, as do
many schools as part of PSHE. It covers the concept that sex is not like that. It goes hand I hand with lessons on consent etc.

The fact that organ is there for pleasure is just a fact. I think we need to take a lot of the hot air out of this. It is just a biological fact. I don't much mind if it's taught in PSHE or reproduction or both or on a seperate anatomy course but it should be taught.

Most of the hot air has come from you though. You’ve just been challenged by people who’ve actually taught the whole syllabus, and not answered any of the legitimate concerns around safeguarding or how teachers would be expected to deliver this.

Exactly. Some parents would not be happy with the graphic details... some one think it's not a teachers place to deliver this info!!!

Also why do we live in a generation where children MUST be exposed to everything? Little people should not know big peoples business.. I'm not surprised the kids are confused.... trans, bi and all the rest it's too much choice. Not referring to people as he or she I mean FGS

I'd be interested what the biology books say. I agree it could be a dodgy area but handled right it could be OK. If you're going to label it, kids are going to ask what it's for. Maybe explaining it's super sensitive could be a way of describing it without the 'pleasure' aspect.

And that was only discovered a few years ago. (Not a joke)