SHIFT NC

The Wrongest Things We Thought About Sex - APPCNC Staff Edition

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Note: In May 2015, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina (APPCNC) became SHIFT NC (Sexual Health Initiatives For Teens).

In a hilarious post making the Facebook rounds, BuzzFeed asked their staffers to share “the wrongest thing they thought about sex.” We thought it would be amazing to do the same thing with our staff!

Each year we train hundreds of sex educators in North Carolina. One of our most popular trainings is called Awkward to Awesome – a bootcamp on how to teach sex ed. It covers everything from basic reproductive anatomy to a primer on birth control methods to how to answer the craziest question a 7th-grader can lob.

So, in part, BuzzFeed’s viral post looks a lot like our day-to-day. We grew up with similar misconceptions, but we became the trainers of teachers. Those teachers grew up with myths, but they now have to provide medically accurate sex ed. And a whole new generation of young people is walking around with some of their own wrongest ideas.

In part, believing funny falsehoods about sex - later to learn otherwise - is just part of growing up. But how can you process how a condom works if you think a man ejaculates for the duration of sex? Why would you use birth control if peeing after sex prevents a pregnancy? Our job is to build up a North Carolina that can help young people replace their myths with safe, accurate, helpful information about sex, reproduction, and their bodies.

So, here are the wrongest things APPCNC staffers believed about sex (and now obviously know better)!

1. Sex is a laying down hug between two people

2. I thought sex happened “hot dog in a bun” style


3. You could see a boy’s penis moving around inside your stomach during sex

4. If you pee after you have sex, you can’t get pregnant. (Also, sex standing up = no babies!) 

5. Sex only happens on wedding nights

6. We (females) only have two holes

7. Friends told me a penis looks like a ponytail

8. I thought tampons would get lost in my vagina if I pushed too far

9. I thought if I went swimming on my period it would stop the flow

10. When I was very young, I thought maxi pads were designed to write cool stuff on and stick on your wall – and then pull them off. (Clearly I had older sisters.)

11. Wearing a maxi pad would make you get your first period. Maxi pads are really perplexing to kids. 

12. I was the only girl curious about sex. Sexual curiosity was just for boys. 

13. If I didn’t “think gay thoughts” – then it meant that I wasn’t gay.

14. I thought female orgasms were just something "Cosmo" made up – like flat abs in 4 days.

 

And just to cap it off... Here are 5 questions we've gotten from young people this month. Proof that young people still - even in the age of Google - need a lot of help getting accurate info about sex.   

I can't get pregnant if I have sex in a hot tub.

You can contract ‘blue waffle disease’ as an STD.

I’m only in puberty from 10 to 12 – right?

I can’t get an STD if I have unprotected anal sex and I’m a woman.

Can I get pregnant if I pee after sex? 

Comments

  1. Angela Brown's avatar
    Angela Brown
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    I believe the reason for using controceptives is very important, because women need to have a choice of having protective sex and the reproductive right to have children. This decision should go for everyone and everywhere, including teenagers. A child does not have the ability to decide whether she is able to have children, but it is a choice whether she decides to raise a child. Most children are not able to support a child at an early age. Teenagers should be taught abstinence and celibacy as well as protective sex; especially to prevent aids. People with unprotected sex is liable to get a desease or implications in pregnacy. Some females are raped and feel uncomfortable being a victim of assult. Most females do not want children born with infectious deseases due to gay, lesbian and bisexual unprotetive sex. A female should decide when she is ready to conceive child. All women should be aware of how many children they produce would effect their economy, even in third world countries. Most American women know how many children they can afford to support as single and married women. A child who is born in poverty will not have the resources and education to be successful in life. These children risk being raised in poverty to go to prison, drop out of school, being malnutritioned, steal amongst having other mental or physical health problems. The use of controceptives helps prevent unwanted pregnancies. Having a child is one of the best gifts and blessings from God. If every women around the world used condoms, birth control and practiced safe sex fewer women would have unwanted pregnancies and sustain healthier lives. Waiting to have sex by practicing abstinence and celibacy will enable a couple to have planned better relationships as a couple and having a planned pregnancy as a couple willing to take the responsibility to raise their child. America is a county that is bountiful, but even in America, women have a choice in how many children they can produce in considerations to their economic status. There are couples who believe that they want to raise as many children as they can if they can afford to give it the happy home they can provide. Angela Brown
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