Does “Sex Education” Match Your High School Experience?

I’m currently in the middle of the first and only season of a fairly new Netflix show called “Sex Education.” The core idea is that a high school student who happens to be the son of a sex therapist decides (for various reasons) to serve as a sex therapist himself for his fellow students.

The setting is a beautiful high school in England–it’s out in the middle of nowhere, yet it’s very well attended. And the student population is extremely sexual. As in, they’re actively having sex all over the school grounds. And at home. And everywhere else.

I appreciate the sex-positive tone of the show, though it’s a bit hard to relate to, as it’s so different than my high school experience (both personally and my perception of what other students were doing). Granted, I went to a nerdy magnet school with only about 120 students in my class, and I’m pretty sure most of us were quite horny…I just didn’t get the sense that we were doing much about it. I certainly wasn’t, at least not much beyond kissing the girls I dated.

Looking back, the only times I recall that some students ventured into sexual territory were when we weren’t on school grounds (the opposite of Sex Education). Like, at Model UN conferences and post-graduation beach week.

However, that was 20 years ago. Perhaps high school has changed quite a bit since then. Or maybe other high schools in other areas were different.

What’s your gauge on how your high school compared to the school in Sex Education? Like, if Sex Education is a 10 on a scale of “most sexual high school experiences,” where would you rate your high school? I’d go with a 2 for mine.

4 thoughts on “Does “Sex Education” Match Your High School Experience?”

  1. I grew up in Northern Canada and I felt the same way. In my high school, there were a few stories floating around about a couple people who’d had sex or whatever, but generally people just dated and made out.

    Reply
    • Oh, how times have changed! I don’t think (hardly?) anybody had sex in the Pittsburgh high school I attended, not even during the 1945 celebrations that accompanied the end of WWII, at least I don’t recall anybody getting pregnant. So, I guess the rating for the high school would be 0.

      And, at the women’s college I attended—IF I remember correctly—getting pregnant, or even married, was grounds for expulsion (aka “dismissal”); there was a rumor that one student “dropped out” because she had gotten married.

      Reply
  2. As a fellow magnet high schooler, I would gauge my experience at about a 1.5. Things for me changed in college but I didn’t start my university years until I was 23, having worked as a realtor and in the title insurance business for about a half-decade. Later, the experience was more like a 6-7.

    Reply
  3. Hmmm maybe a 6 for my high school? (not me, but the school overall) I would also offer, having just binged that show, that it’s not a 10. There are plenty of people not having sex, including many of the main characters, but much of the show is focused on the ones that are. I think I’d give the high school in the show a 7 or 8, maybe? It does seem more openly discussed in the show than anything I can remember, but that might be generational on some level, as sex is becoming more normalized and less taboo to discuss?

    Reply

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