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Biology - sex education
"...the whole thing was presented as a
piece of Science and I was still ignorant by the
end of it..."
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"I remember a
supply teacher who
was pregnant. We
weren't familiar
with this. We knew
really what it was,
but at the same time
we didn’t
know. Women in those
days dressed to hide
their
pregnancies."
From a 1920s
pupil
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"At Hinton
Ampner the elderly
white-haired Canon
Milner often spoke
from the pulpit
about ‘carnal
desires of the
flesh.’ We
were mystified but
made
guesses."
From a 1940s
pupil
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"We had one
lesson in UIII. But
it wasn’t
about adults. It was
more about, birds
and bees, innuendo.
We learnt more from
a book, '‘The
Technique of
Sex’. S
borrowed it from her
brother."
From a 1940s
pupil
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"All girls
learn the basic
facts of
reproduction in
their first year in
school as part of a
study of the
universe and living
things."
From a psa
meeting,
1949
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"...S fainting
under the bench in
the biology lab when
being taught the
facts of
life..."
From a 1960s
pupil
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Many teenage girls
were quite ignorant
about the facts of
life until the
period of greater
sexual freedom
starting in the
1950s. It was not
unusual for girls to
enter marriage in a
state of ignorance,
and, of course,
before contraception
became widely
available, sex
before marriage was
the exception rather
than the norm.
Schools were not
expected to provide
sex education. That
was the role of the
mother.
Girls learn human
physiology in their
biology lessons,
with a discussion of
reproduction only as
an extension of that
of the animal
kingdom in general -
'the birds and
bees'.
The school gradually
began to provide
some instruction
from the 1950s,
keeping the
physiology lessons
for the first year,
and introducing
moral discussions in
the UV -
"all kinds
of problems
relating to sex
are openly
discussed. Girls
may post
questions if
they are too shy
to ask
openly."
This did not meet
with universal
approval, and
occasionally parents
wrote in to complain
that their daughters
had been upset by
the discussions and
by explicit material
shown. This led to a
PSA event, an
arranged talk for
parents - 'Is there
a place for sex
education in
schools?’
With the advent of
AIDS in the 1980s,
all schools were
expected to provide
a great deal more in
the way of practical
advice. and, with
the understanding
that young people
may become sexually
active at a
younger
age, sex education
lessons formed part
of the
newly-instituted
PSHE
course in the 1990s.
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"Miss Thorn
said that parents
should be ready to
deal with the moral
side of it –
with questions about
marriage and sexual
intercourse –
if they did not feel
capable their
daughter, when
thinking of
marriage, should be
sent to some
qualified third
person for this
instruction."
From a psa
meeting,
1949
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"What we had
was this daft film
about this girl and
how she went
swimming or
couldn’t go
swimming."
From a 1950s
pupil
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"Red Cross
activities included
a film on childbirth
from the National
Childbirth Trust. We
felt this was of
general interest so
anyone from UV
upwards could
attend…"
From the 1972
school
magazine
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"I feel that
the school is making
a good effort to get
to grips with the
somewhat difficult
aspects of sexual
education. The girls
frequently meet
explicit or
suggestive material
freely available in
magazines and books
and from the
television, and
often acquire a
half-digested
knowledge."
From a letter
to parents, 1991
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