I ' m coming from a highly conservative and highly Christian state of the puritanical , t h i n k s b o d i e s a r enastyandonlyleadyoutosin variety , and mileage certainly does vary from state to state and even region to region within a state , so please bear this in mind with my response . For actual sex education , we were separated by what the state perceived to be our gender . I can tell you the girls were shown pictures of only diseased and only female genitals and then it was nothing beyond the vulva . The only subject matter covered boiled down to If you have sex , you will almost certainly get a horrible , lifethreatening disease andor pregnant . The full extent of what we learned about the male body was that there was sperm and if you so much as look at the wrong way Okay , that one is an exaggeration , but really , not by much . , you will get pregnant and your entire life will certainly be ruined actual stated consequence , not an exaggeration . By the end of it , I think I would have willingly licked a public toilet seat rather than think about sex . Birth control methods were not covered . The only idea we had that such methods existed was extrapolated from the statement , Abstinence is the only 100 % effective way of preventing pregnancy and STD ' s . I am suddenly realizing the irony of such a statement in a room full of people that believed in a virgin birth . Logically , there had to be other partially effective methods if she said that . I also had the benefit of having had to take birth control to stop a monthlong period from hell when I was younger , so I was better off than most of the people in that room . Actual sexual acts of any kind whatsoever were not covered . Not even masturbation . Basic female anatomy was not covered . The school provided no instruction whatsoever on any internal organs or ovulation and menstruation or even hormones until the not required anatomy class a few years later , and that was strictly colored pencil drawings in the book . Male anatomy was almost completely ignored . I ' m not even sure the word penis was said . Again , covered only in anatomy class . I ' m sure the thought that all people don ' t fall into the two boxes of man attracted only to women and woman attracted only to men was not even a glimmer in the instructor ' s brain . Abortion was absolutely not covered . Even with all of this , the school was fanatical about making sure the parents knew they could opt their kids out of the class . I don ' t actually know what the boys ' class covered , but from what I understand when we all managed to start talking to each other again , it was essentially the same except they got to see diseased male genitals instead , and I don ' t think they talked about the abstract horrors of pregnancy and how it ruins your life , but I might be mistaken . This education took place roughly ten to twelve years ago , and I ' d almost bet money it hasn ' t changed . TLDR Where I ' m from , they really should call it Sex You Will Get Pregnant and Die rather than Sex Ed .