The keyword for parents this year is better . We need to do sexual education better than our parents did. This article is a guide for teaching both boys and girls—together, in many cases—about the changes of puberty, not just as a biological event, but as a psychological and social turning point.
Let’s face it, parents. For most of us who grew up in the 1970s and early 80s, “sexual education” was either a half-hour film about a perspiring cartoon character named “Bobby” who suddenly needed a razor, or a mortifying classroom lecture where boys and girls were separated like rival sports teams. In 1991, the landscape is different. We are living in the shadow of the AIDS crisis, the crackdown on teen pregnancy, and a rising awareness that saying “don’t do it” simply isn’t working.
In 1991, many schools still segregate sex ed (boys watch the ejaculation film; girls watch the ovulation film). This is a mistake. When we separate them, we create mythology. Boys think periods are blue liquid that comes out on command; girls think erections happen only at night.
Before we look at the specific changes for boys and girls, we must address the context of 1991. In the Reagan/Bush era, “Just Say No” worked for drugs, but it has proven less effective for hormones. According to a 1990 CDC report, the average age of first menstruation (menarche) for girls is now 12.5 years, down from 14 in the 1960s. Boys are showing secondary sexual characteristics (voice changes, hair growth) as early as 11.
Growing Up Right: A Parent’s Guide to Puberty and Sexual Education for Boys and Girls in 1991
