EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S LETTER
Mysex education at school happened over two rather rubbish experiences. The first saw the girls taken into a room and told about making babies, while the boys went on an extended lunch break to go kick a ball around the playground.
A couple of years later, in secondary school, the boys were shown a functional image on a slide projector of male and female anatomies, while a red-faced biology teacher explained what each should be used for. It was a Roman Catholic secondary school, so obviously this was conducted under the shadow of marriage, procreating, and eternal damnation if the path to ejaculation ever strayed from a one-way ticket to conception.
I was born into a Greek Orthodox family (I don’t know how my parents blagged me into St Joseph’s of Norwood in south London), so I thought maybe the rules for burning in hell might differ, but a Greek priest firmly informed me that despite worshipping a different god from my Catholic friends, I was still on a direct trajectory to meet the devil if I continued my homosexual ‘lifestyle’.
By that point, I’d already discovered London’s gay scene and sinned enough to earn my place in the homo hall of fame next to other damned gays including Freddie Mercury, George Michael and SpongeBob SquarePants (when he eventually pops his clogs and goes to cartoon afterlife).
Looking back now as a ‘mature’ queer adult, the impact of less than satisfactory sex education at school resonated throughout my life. The pitfalls of having to discover my sexual identity without understanding it through the perspective of consent put me in some dangerous situations. Never mind framing sex outside of shame and learning to enjoy – and respect – my body as a source of pleasure, not just a machine made solely for procreation.
While successive staid governments and declining religious institutions have forever held onto fading ideas, television has been at the forefront of progress when it comes to visibility and better reflecting young people’s progressive attitudes – from gay representation in EastEnders in the ’80s and Queer as Folk in the ’90s, through to the impact of It’s a Sin earlier this year.
Just as influential is Netflix’s outstanding teen comedy-drama Sex Education, whose return we are celebrating this issue with a super-exclusive Attitude special featuring the actors who play the queer cast of a show that places diversity and inclusivity at its heart. Enjoy!
“A priest informed me I was on a direct trajectory to meet the devil if I continued my ‘lifestyle’”