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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Lifestyle
Mona Chalabi and Mae Ryan

It’s not just about sex: the Vagina Dispatches' fourth (and final) episode

Vagina Dispatches
Vagina Dispatches episode four: what you didn’t learn in sex ed Illustration: Laura Callaghan

Hello!

Cast your mind back (maybe weeks, maybe years) to when you got your sex education. Was the information useful? For me and Mae, it kind of ... wasn’t.

Both of us learned about the female reproductive system and the risks of STIs, which is all valuable information. But there’s so much more to our bodies than just sex – so why is the education only about sex?

We should understand things like how urinary tract infections happen and how to avoid them. We should know not to use douches. And maybe childbirth and menopause wouldn’t be so scary if we had the right information.

So we made this last episode of Vagina Dispatches all about sex education. We wanted to discuss some of the things that are missing from the syllabus, and also figure out why we don’t know what we should. To do it, we sat down with some sex educators, some friends and our moms(!).

Vagina Dispatches: what you didn’t learn in sex ed

Thank you so much for all of your support throughout this series. We received over 200 emails from people all around the world who connected with the videos and helped us understand ways to make them better. We’re so grateful that you came on this journey with us!

Especially because we think this conversation is more important than ever.

And on that point, one final time: if you agree, please support our work by contributing or becoming a member.

Yours,

Mona and Mae

Got more to say? Email us at vagina.dispatches@theguardian.com.

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