Sex talk

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day. I hope you do your best to educate yourself and others about this epidemic. (See www.amfar.org for good info.) Terrance and Drew, the two men with whom I co-teach seventh period decided to teach their lessons about HIV/AIDS in honor of this day. Tuesday was an intro with bios of people affected by AIDS and today kids presented reports on those people and then we opened it up to questions. And oh the questions...remember this class is made up of 12-14 year old boys (some of whom are sexually active and some of whom still think girls are kind of gross):

Actual things I said:
"No, you can't get HIV from saliva."
"Not from sweat either."
"Yes. I know someone with HIV. Statistics tell us that, by the time you're my age, you will too."
"Yes, you have to use a condom."
"Yes, I'm serious. Use one. Every time."
"I don't care what she says. Use a condom."
"No really, I mean it."
"And don't keep a condom in your wallet."
"Seriously. It's the worst possible place to keep one."
"No, I'm not making that up. You keep your wallet in your back pocket so your body heat breaks down the latex in the condom and makes it more likely to fail."
"What do you mean, 'What do I do if I don't have a condom?' Find one or don't have sex."

The most awkward moment for us all came when a student asked a clarifying question about vaginal fluid. Thank G-d it was wam in the room and my face was already flushed.

Terrance and Drew hung in there for awhile, but once I spoke up with a clarification about the difference between HIV/AIDS the trainer in me kicked in. Plus a lot of our kids have been raised by their moms so, in a lot of ways, they're more comfortable asking me.

My job is awesome. Seriously.