People Are Sharing The Awkward, Honest, And Surprising Ways Their Parents Taught Them About Sex

Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community how their parents taught them astir sex. Some had informative, adjuvant conversations, portion others hardly (or never) got the speech astatine all, leaving them to larn elsewhere — from friends, relatives, oregon adjacent porn.

Here's however 34 radical said they learned astir sex.

Note: Some entries person been edited for length/clarity.

1. "They ne'er did. I learned astir it astatine school, wherever they taught us…. Basically thing but not to person enactment due to the fact that you WILL get pregnant."

2. "I was astir 4. My sister, who was 6, had heard the connection 'sex' connected a amusement and asked what it meant. Our ma looked done bookstores for the adjacent respective months until she recovered a publication that explained it for kids our age. We besides were ne'er censored from movies astatine a young property (within reason, of course) due to the fact that our parents truly wanted america to consciousness similar we could inquire questions astir worldly if it made america uncomfortable oregon curious."

—39, F

3. "My ma ne'er taught maine anything, and besides did not motion the enactment ed support gaffe erstwhile I was successful mediate school. My dada compared erections to drawbridges, and aft I got married, arsenic we were leaving for our honeymoon, each helium said to america was 'The cattle indispensable deterioration a raincoat earlier entering the barn.' It was truthful disconnected the partition and without context, it took maine a infinitesimal to fig retired what connected world helium was talking about. Needless to say, I person ensured my kids cognize everything they request to for their ages. Sheltered and ignorant did not assistance me, and I won't person the aforesaid for my kids."

—40, F, Texas

4. "I was possibly 6 and my member 5. My ma was a teacher and precise unfastened with opus astir everything (as parents should be!). She explained precisely however babies were made. When she was done, seemingly I said 'EW!' and my member said 'Hmmmmm.' 😂😂😂😂"

—56, F, Upstate New York

5. "My parents were kids of the 60s and teens of the 70s, truthful they were precise wide and open-minded particularly astir nudity and sexuality. My ma was besides a guardian advertisement litem and had helped a batch kids who were survivors of abuse. So they often talked to maine astir my body, however antheral and pistillate bodies were antithetic and thing to beryllium ashamed of, and however gestation and commencement worked. They ever kept it age-appropriate but were honorable and accurate. They besides taught maine astir antithetic situations surrounding your assemblage and consent and however you speech astir your body, which was truly smart."

6. "My ma didn't speech to me. And erstwhile I mislaid my virginity and coiled up large astatine 19, she threw herself connected the level and screamed, 'WHY GOD WHYYYYYY?'"

—47, F, Texas

7. "I was handed a anserine publication with dorky pictures and atrocious drawings. It was useless."

—67, M, Texas

8. "My parents ne'er talked to maine astir sex. My sister was 3 years older and joined astatine 18. When she got location from the honeymoon, the archetypal clip we were unsocial together, I said, 'Tell maine everything with each the details.'"

9. "My mum is simply a precise logical idiosyncratic and thinks successful a technological way. When I was 5, I asked her however babies are made. Instead of a cutesy communicative to enactment my tiny caput astatine ease, she drew a diagram of the uterus and fallopian tubes. She past explained the process of the ovum being released from the ovaries, the sperm from the antheral travelling from the vagina to the uterus and fertilizing the egg. What she neglected to archer maine was that determination needed to beryllium enactment from the participants. So I, terrified, pictured a cartoonish sperm crawling retired of a man’s pants, erstwhile he's asleep, into a woman’s pants erstwhile she was asleep. It freaked maine out, and I was frightened of being impregnated successful my slumber from that time until immoderate movie oregon TV amusement explained the awake part!"

—28, F, London

10. "When I was 15, my ma sat maine down for the talk, and alternatively of teaching maine that my virginity was a precious acquisition and should beryllium saved, she simply said, 'If you get pregnant, conscionable archer maine close away, and I'll assistance you get escaped of it.'"

—Anonymous

11. "My dada had 'the talk' with some my member and maine erstwhile we were astir 10 years old. It was identical aft we compared notes aboriginal successful life… helium simply told america that to person sex… 'You person to enactment your worm successful the hole.'"

12. "My ma ne'er told maine thing astir sex. She didn't adjacent speech to maine astir my period, but I got yelled astatine erstwhile I archetypal started due to the fact that she saw humor successful my underwear erstwhile she was doing laundry."

—54, F, Utah

13. "I was 15 oregon 16 and already having sex, already connected commencement control. In passing, portion successful the laundry room, my ma says to me, 'Don't get large and don't drawback immoderate diseases.' Can I accidental highly lacking? My 11-year-old has mode much info connected enactment from maine now!"

—62, F, California

14. "My ma told me, 'Don't fto boys get excessively adjacent to you oregon you could get pregnant. (I had visions of sperm racing down my sound leg, past racing crossed the floor, and past racing up my leg. I thought to myself, I’ll conscionable stomp connected the sperm portion it’s connected the floor. (I was successful Catholic school, determination was nary enactment acquisition backmost successful the 1960s.)"

15. "My dada was a azygous parent. As a 15-year-old girl, my dada simply told me, 'Women request a crushed for sex, men conscionable request a place, truthful don’t beryllium stupid.'"

—Anonymous

16. "My dada said, 'You are not shooting blanks anymore, truthful beryllium cautious wherever you purpose your pistol.' Super helpful, Dad."

—47, M, USA

17. "My parents ne'er truly talked to maine astir it. They fto the schools grip the enactment acquisition and past would periodically cheque successful with maine to marque definite I wasn't masturbating."

18. "It was the summertime earlier my elder twelvemonth of precocious school. My ma had ne'er had 'the talk' with maine — it conscionable wasn't done. My dada said I was 'old capable to cognize however these things went' (that's however helium really enactment it), truthful helium popped a porn video successful the VCR (this was mode earlier the days of streaming and Blu-ray), pressed play, and near the room. That's however I learned what enactment really entailed. TRAU-MA-TIZED."

—50, F, Illinois

19. "My ma explained it to maine explicitly erstwhile I was successful the 2nd grade. She kept it age-appropriate but was precise wide and concise. Women person vaginas, men person penises, enactment is erstwhile a antheral puts his penis successful a woman's vagina, and it tin pb to gestation and babies. She was studying to beryllium a teacher, truthful she knew kids commencement talking astir and processing misunderstandings astir enactment arsenic aboriginal arsenic simple school, and didn't privation maine to acquisition immoderate disorder oregon judge immoderate inaccurate information, particularly being a girl."

—30, F, USA

20. "Dad was leaving for Vietnam and told me, 1) Don't interaction girls, and 2) Don't interaction yourself."

21. "My ma said, 'When men get excited, their penis gets arsenic hard arsenic a rock.' My dada said, 'Boys conscionable privation to get successful your knickers' and 'You entered this location arsenic a virgin, you volition permission arsenic one.' That’s astir it. Wound up preggo astatine 19."

—49, F, Virginia

22. "My dada conscionable enactment 2 powerfulness cords unneurotic and said these don't work, and you can't enactment the 2 partition outlets together, and they won't work.. I conjecture that was the don't beryllium cheery talk. I got large astatine 14 lol."

—39, F, Florida

23. "I was astir apt 9 oregon 10, and my ma took maine to the promenade for dinner. Back then, determination was a Chick-fil-A connected the crushed level. Man, everything was fuckin awesome… the mall, chickenhearted nugs, sittin' successful the nutrient tribunal filled with people. I adjacent got a caller cassette portion with my kids' meal. Right there, successful beforehand of everyone, portion I was chewing connected a mug, my ma says, 'SO DO YOU KNOW WHAT SEX IS??' I blushed fiercely and said, 'Like kissing and stuff,' and past she proceeded to archer maine astir enactment successful detail. Thanks, Mom, for the precise Christian repast to archer maine astir however enactment was atrocious and here's however to bash it, but don't bash it ever. (I'm present joined with a kid and inactive person occupation taking enactment lightly due to the fact that my interior kid inactive thinks it volition nonstop maine to hell.)"

24. "When I was 12, I wanted to work the Twilight series. When I got astir halfway done Breaking Dawn, my parent said, 'Do you person immoderate questions astir what happened aft the wedding?' I said no. That was it."

—25, F, Ohio

25. "I had already known astir enactment astatine that constituent from Googling it with my champion friend, but erstwhile I was 11, that aforesaid champion person stole a dildo from her mom's country and gave it to me. I ne'er utilized it. It was much of conscionable immoderate dumb pre-teen gag crap than anything. But I was spending the play astatine my dad's location arsenic I did connected an each different play schedule, and erstwhile I got location that Sunday afternoon, I realized the pencil container connected my table wherever I had the dildo was nary longer there. My ma came into my country a spot aboriginal and told maine my 4-year-old nephew had gone into my room, opened the bag, and brought it to his ma (my sister), who past told my mom. My ma past sat maine down connected my furniture and told maine however babies are made and each that comes with sex. It was similar 20 minutes of axenic awkwardness. And that each came from immoderate anserine ass gag I had with my bestie. 🤦🏼‍♀️"

—19, F, Pennsylvania

26. "My parents were separated. One night, astir property 11/12, my begetter came downstairs and conscionable turned connected the TV and took maine done each these websites astir the antithetic types of sex, protection, and STDs. He past quizzed maine connected it and wouldn’t permission maine unsocial until I answered each question. We yet finished talking astir it by similar 11, and past helium sent maine to bed. He didn't archer my ma oregon (step)dad astir his plans to explicate this to me. Idk it was conscionable weird, and TBH, I don't retrieve overmuch of it, which is fine. I'm not acceptable for enactment anyhow lol."

27. "They didn’t thatch maine anything. They were ultra spiritual — successful fact, my ma was specified a prude that she chopped atrocious words and articles retired of magazines. My dada chopped our TV cord and overmuch more! I recovered retired connected my wedding nighttime astatine 21."

—Anonymous

28. "At 14 years old, my steelworker begetter walked into the chamber that I shared with my two-year-older member and casually tossed a twelve condoms connected my bed. Stunned, and not adjacent definite what the condoms were, my begetter firmly said if my member and I 'were to get a miss pregnant, you are marrying her.' Such was my 'sex education' successful 1969."

29. "I was astir 8, and a person astatine schoolhouse decided to archer maine astir her parents 'mating,' with 1 connected apical of the other. I was picturing 2 people, stiff arsenic boards, conscionable lying still. I asked my ma what it meant erstwhile I got successful the car with the carpool pack of younger kids aboriginal that day, and she told maine she'd explicate later. So that night, she and my begetter sat maine down and tried to explicate without really saying that it was enactment oregon what its intent was—something on the lines of animals interacting, probably. My eyes glazed implicit from boredom, and I asked if I could spell to bed, and some of them enthusiastically told maine yes. That was virtually the 1 and lone clip I received immoderate mentation of 'the talk' from them, adjacent aft I was older and realized I was precise overmuch uninformed. So I did my ain research—where my wattpad educated girlies at?!"

30. "My parent gave maine 'the talk' erstwhile I was 7. She told maine that a antheral puts his penis wrong a woman's vagina and shoots retired sperm, 'which looks similar a portion of snot to me,' and it connects to the egg, and that's however babies are made. That was it. That was my talk. For years, I was terrified of a lad attacking maine with his snot."

—46, F, South Carolina

31. "They didn't truly thatch me. When I was astir 10, my relative and I were watching Disney Channel, and immoderate cute dude was connected TV, and she said, 'I privation to person enactment with him.' We some didn't truly cognize what that meant, but I was ever told it was bad. A week later, I couldn't support it successful anymore, and I told my parents. They told my aunt and uncle, and we went to their house, and they sat my relative and maine down connected the sofa and told america that's what mom's and dad's do, and that's however babies are made, and we can't bash it until we're married. Glad my sophomore twelvemonth wellness teacher was mode much thorough."

—Anonymous

32. "My begetter was a biology professor. When I was a small kid, we got a pistillate cat. My dada didn't get it spayed close distant and allowed her to get large (this was backmost successful the 1960s; plentifulness of unfixed antheral cats were roaming our neighborhood). We made up a peculiar container for her, and she gave commencement to 5 kittens. My begetter explained however the feline got pregnant, what nursing was, and what the placentas were. I ever thought it was a alternatively ingenious mode to present a small lad to the facts of life; I was perfectly fascinated by the kittens and however they came to be. After the kittens were each fixed away, my dada instantly got the feline spayed!"

33. "They didn't. They were precise old-school Asian Catholic, didn't buss connected the lips, and said enactment was lone for procreation. Thank God for 'Family Life' successful the Catholic School program that started successful 5th grade, which taught america enactment education. Also, convey you to Planned Parenthood for supplying maine with commencement power erstwhile I was 17."

—40, F, San Francisco

34. "They didn't. And they didn't thatch maine astir menstruation, either. I learned it each from TV oregon from my friends. I americium present a joined pistillate successful my 40s, and arsenic acold arsenic my parents know, I inactive don’t cognize the archetypal happening astir either topic."

—43, female, Massachusetts

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