1+1=3

Arianne, Chris, Josh, Katharine Ann and I went to New Orleans this past weekend and stayed with Arianne's brother and his roommates (pictured above after dinner Friday night.) It was very cool, lots of good food and drinking and quality hang-out time.

Anyway, back to work Monday, where we're hanging out with a bunch of kids who are all targeted, and I use that word deliberately, by an abstinence-only campaign with the slogan "1+1=3?"

Our survey asks

Was the sex education you received in school worthwhile?
... I have not had sex education in school
... No
... Yes

Occasionally, I'll be reading to a particularly talkative bunch of kids who will have a few comments to make every question or so. One time, I had a kid ask "What's sex education?" and his friend answered, "It's the 1+1=3 people." The kid who had asked the question then marked that the sex ed was useful. Next question:

Have you ever had sexual intercourse? 'Sexual intercourse' means having sex with the male penis inside the female vagina. This is sometimes called 'going all the way.'
... No
... Yes

I swear, that's how the question reads. The same kid who didn't know that the 1+1+3ers were sex education didn't know what sex is. How useful is sex ed when kids come out of it not knowing what sex is? Well, he didn't know what "male penis inside the female vagina" is, but he's not a virgin. He answered that he usually does use a condom when he has sex and that his girlfriend is on birth control. You could probably argue that the kid was fucking with me, just acting like he didn't know, but I'm pretty certain from talking with him that afternoon that that wasn't the case.

To be fair, there are a lot of various reasons why the kid might have been unaware of what sexual intercourse means. But does the mysterious add-on that happens when 1+1 have to be guilt or regret? How about 1+1+love= 3, or even 1+1+orgasm=3? No?


Yikes.