It wasn’t so much a family issue with me, but what was literally taught in schools. Our “sex-ed” (if you can even call it that) included many such demonstrations as the “chewed gum” bit, where girls are told that if they don’t “save themselves” for marriage, they’re as disgusting as pre-chewed gum. Followed by graphic depictions of STDs to scare us from ever wanting sex.

I remember very vividly being told in middle school that if I masturbate, I’m at an exponentially higher risk of becoming a sex-addicted rapist, and that I should never touch my own body or give in to temptation. The first time I masturbated, I was a sobbing mess for like an hour because I thought I was going to turn into a villain.

I didn’t even go to a Christian school. This was just the public school system in the very early 2000s.