# A Lawyer Says Abstinence Should Not Be Taught in School? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 6, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337 "2000-12-06T18:22:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/281 "2001-01-03T17:03:04Z")
Hey, **I** ’m not squeamish! After reading the descriptions of the other fexual terms above, rimming doesn’t even remotely make me go ewww. 😉 I just didn’t think **grienspace** would want to know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/282 "2001-01-03T18:54:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gaudere \* > So, Bill, you can avoid having the school teach your child about rimming, but you better teach them about it yourself, and not just “don’t do it”–they must know what it is and the risks involved and how to ameliorate those risks if possible. Dogsbody, thankyou, I thought it might have been a term to describe tonguing the rim of the glans, a pleasurable experience with no risks to ameliorate at all. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/283 "2001-01-03T19:13:30Z")
Evidence right here as to why we need comprehensive sex ed in school, IMHO. Just saying “rimming is risky becuase of such-and-so” doesn’t do a damn bit of good unless they actually know exactly what rimming is. And greinspace, I wouldn’t say “tonguing the rim of the glans” is 100% risk-free. You can probably get herpes from that if either has an open outbreak, or genital warts. Aside from that, it likely has the same risks as anyother sort of non-ejaculative (if on a male) oral sex. There may be some ingestion of sexual fluids from any pre-cum. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/284 "2001-01-04T20:13:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gaudere \* > Evidence right here as to why we need comprehensive sex ed in school, IMHO. Just saying “rimming is risky becuase of such-and-so” doesn’t do a damn bit of good unless they actually know exactly what rimming is. Yes and no. You’re right that saying why rimming is risky without saying what it is would be a problem. But explaining that any practice that involves oral-anal contact (whether you call it rimming, analingus, or something else) involves certain risks is what’s actually necessary. I don’t see that Bill’s daughters (for example) need to know any particular _name_ for the practice - they just need to know how to evaluate risks in general. If the “sex test” that they had to pass wanted them to answer “Rimming is completely safe. True or False?”, there would be a test design problem, not an education problem. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/285 "2001-01-05T01:39:12Z")
I have to disagree there; I think they should be taught the most common euphemisms of various sex acts. Picture this: Naive Girl and Boyfriend making out. “I don’t want to have sex,” she says. “It’s OK,” he says, “I’m just going to go down on you.” She has no clue what this means, and assumes he’s simply going to move his mouth from her lips “down” to her neck or somesuch. Then, “hey! What are you doing! I said I didn’t want that!” I think it’s worthwhile to teach both the clinical descriptions and also mention the most commonly used terms. Certainly the teacher should use the term “fellatio” in class rather than “blow job”, but I think it should be made clear that fellatio and a “blow job” are the same thing. What would be the point of keeping them ignorant of the term they’re most likely to hear in sexual situations, anyhow? It takes up scant space in the textbook to mention the euphemisms, and will make things much clearer for the student–who has likely only heard the slang term for many acts, and isn’t entirely sure what they are and probably has some of misinformation regarding them. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337/286 "2001-01-05T04:45:23Z")
And once they get over the giggles, the kids really will take it seriously. I could never keep from laughing at the dorky cop who talked to us about “reefer” and “wacky weed.” Puh-leeze. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lawyer-says-abstinence-should-not-be-taught-in-school/44337.md?page=14)