It's a sexual world out there!

Sandra L. Caron is a professor of Family Relations and Human Sexuality at the University of Maine.
Her main focus on human sexuality is that of social-sexual development of young people, with an emphasis on sexual decision-making, safe sex, sex education, and cross-cultural perspectives.

I feel like I'm looking in a mirror!

Her book Sex around the World: Cross-cultural perspectives on Human Sexuality was just staring at me in the library, so I HAD to pick it up! Very interesting.

Caron (2007) lays out her book statistically, listing countries and their views of Sexual Activity, Contraception, Abortion, Sex Education, STIs and HIV, Sexual Orientation, Prostitution, and Pornography.

I took a specific interest in Canada's statistics, but I am going to share with you some interesting facts from around the world. Canada will be a separate blog post (soooo much to say).

Interestingly so...

In Greece, there is no sex education in schools. According to Caron's (2007) findings, ***Greece is one of the few countries in Europe to have yet to adopt a liberal embrace of sex ed***

In Denmark, sex ed has been compulsory since 1970. Sex ed has been a long standing tradition. ALSO, Denmark was the first country to allow contraceptive availability to youth without parental consent. This began in 1966.

Like Denmark, in Poland, sex ed has been compulsory since 1972, but there is still a strong church influence.

Intriguingly, in Finland, when an adolescent turns 16, they are sent a package with information about STI/HIV, general sexuality, and condoms. Cool? Yes! Sex ed is also very prominent in Finland.

Who takes the cake?
In Sweden, sex ed has been compulsory since 1955!!!!! Also, when an adolescent decides to go on the pill, the first three months are free. WHAAAAT? Like subscribing to a cable company! YAY Sweden. I'm moving there tomorrow...

Along with Denmark, Poland, Finland, and Sweden among others, the Netherlands too has a very positive sex education curriculum with an abundance of contraceptive availability. Using contraceptive is just normal and seems to be done by most. :)

Weird...
In Romania, sex education was removed from the school system in the 1980s. I wonder why...

Honestly, this book is delicious. Sandra L. Caron has written other books that centre around cross-cultural patterns in sexuality. It is really neat to see that even though we live in a big, crazy, different world... there are loads of similarities when it comes to sex ed. AS THERE SHOULD BE. We are all the same anatomically... and that's just the beginning.

Canada and the US to follow. There are some JUICY stats there my friends. Some I didn't even know!

Save your Cherry... or Banana!

Says Chapter 5 of my new favourite novel. LAID is a book about "young people's experiences with sex in an easy-access culture". It is brilliant.

The book opens with some goals, expectations, and questions. In short, read this book!

Every experience imaginable is illustrated in this book. Its stories are positive, negative, and neutral in nature. The audience is straight, gay, bi, trans, black, white, orange, female, male, s/he... it's a glorious world of diversity in sex.

I'd like to think of this book as Chicken Soup for the Sexually Charged Person's Soul.

Shannon T. Boodram (2009) does an excellent job of selecting realistic stories, poems, and tales about first, last, and in between sexual experiences. This book is a HUGE asset to anyone with sexual questions who wants a "for example..."

In between the chapters, Boodram (2009) beautifully articulates the introductions and conclusions to each section in the book. She also addresses a series of questions which she and the author of the story answer. BEAUTIFUL!

I am not finished the book yet. I want to bask in its glory some more. I checked it out of the library, but this should be a permanent book on my shelf. AND YOURS! Whether you are a teen, a parent of a teen, a sexuality enthusiast (like me), or a person with a sexual organ (guessing that's 99.9% of readers, give or take a few), put this gorgeous piece of work on your shelf... beside the rest of your chicken soup books. (I love Chicken Soup for the Soul).

More on this sexual merriment to come! I am not finished with this book yet.

http://laidthebook.com/