我的生理卫生课
During my school years in China, I had never had any sex education.
在中国，性一直是一个禁忌话题，公开谈论性会让人感到羞耻和尴尬。当时中国的性教育基本为零。青春期来临，学校安排了一个讲授人类生殖系统基本知识的课程。这门课称为”生理卫生课”。
Sex was taboo in China and talking about sex in public was considered shameful and embarrassment. Sex education was next to zero and we only had one puberty course that offered some basic knowledge on the human reproductive system. The course was called Hygienic Physiology (HP).
据我们当时所了解，教授这门课程的老师是一个从未结过婚的老处女。
The course was taught by a woman who, as we learned, was an old virgin—who had never married.
当她迈进课堂之际，我的同桌对我轻声耳语道：“相信吗！只有老处女才会教这种课程。”
“Only a virgin deserved to teach such a thing,” my classmate whispered to my ear as the teacher was walking into the classroom.
在我瞥了一眼她挂在黑板上的人体解剖图后，我立即明白了同桌所指。在中国，老处女意味着没人愿意要，而生理卫生课则是没人愿意上的课。显然，只有不怎么样的人才会教这种令人讨厌的课程。
I quickly drew the connections from her words as I casted a glance at the picture of human body she hung on the board. In China, an old virgin was a woman who wasn’t wanted by anyone, and HP was a course that no one wanted to take. Apparently, only a loser deserved to teach such a sickening course.
记得她当时站在讲台上用教鞭指着人体解剖图上的生殖器官高声宣布道：“所有女生都会来月经，男生会梦遗！”
“All girls will have a period once a month. Boys have wet dreams!” she barked in front of a class as her teaching stick pointed to the human’s reproductive organs on the picture.
她话音尚未落定，全班40多个男生和女生就爆发出哄堂大笑。接着课堂陷入一片混乱，男生不断敲击课桌，女生相互交头接耳。教些什么鬼东西，简直是搭错了筋！在一个以数学和科学为至尊的学术年代，谁要学这些鬼东西？！
Before her words tapered off, the class of over 40 boys and girls erupted into a sudden laughter. Chaos ensued as the boys drummed on the desks and the girls exchanged their disgust with each other. What was she talking about and what a crazy subject! Who would need to learn this crap in an academic world that was dominated by math and science?!
毫无疑问，课堂教学无法再继续下去。看到老师卷起“下流的教材”，满脸通红地离开教室，全班同学兴奋不已。
Unsurprisingly, the class wasn’t able to go on any further. We were thrilled to see the teacher wrapped up her “dirty materials” and left the classroom blushing.
我们都为赶走了教变态课程的老处女而自豪!但是我们的自豪感并未持续多久。就在我们抵抗生理卫生课几周后，我们惊讶地得知班上一个女生和我们的体育老师有染并怀孕了。结果，体育老师被学校开除，这名女生也被停学。
And we were all proud of what we did -- we kicked an old virgin out of a pervert class! But our pride didn’t last long. Just weeks after the class, we learned that one of the girls in our class got pregnant by our gym teacher. As a result, the teacher was expelled and the girl suspended.
怎么会发生这种事情？我们对此深感困惑和不解。尽管当时已有涉及生殖健康知识的书本，但我们羞愧和尴尬却阻止我们对相关知识的追求。
How did that happen? We were baffled and clueless. Despite that there were books on reproduction that were available at the time, the thought of shame and embarrassment had stopped us from pursuing that knowledge.
但是，荷尔蒙却在无知背后蠢蠢欲动，难以抑制的性冲动令年青一代受着不断的骚扰和伤害。更多男生和女生因为怀孕丑闻而被处罚，使大家都不禁陷入了深深的恐惧和困惑之中。有些学生甚至因此失去大学学历而被迫返回老家，令事业和前途从此毁于一旦。那时候我们才意识到如果我们掌握一定的性知识，本可以避免此类悲剧。但是，这一醒悟却为时已晚。
But hormones were lurking behind the ignorance and constantly played havoc among the young and the restless. Fear and confusion gripped us as we witnessed more boys and girls being punished after pregnancies were exposed. Some even lost their privileged university degree and back to their hometowns that destroyed their career and future. By the time we realized that had we been equipped with sex knowledge, this type of disaster could have been avoided. However, that realization came too late.
几十年后的今天，性禁忌仍然困扰着族裔社区的许多家长。和许多同龄人一样，我也从未和自己的孩子谈论过性话题。但我欣慰地发现，他们已经从学校获取了足够的性知识，并全面地掌握了如何保护自己以避免意外怀孕和性疾病的知识。
Decades later, sex taboos still haunts us parents in the ethnic communities. Like many of my peers, I have never ever discussed anything about sex with my children. But I am grateful to find that they have gained that knowledge from school, and that they are perfectly aware of how to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.
让儿童了解性知识是否会导致学生提前发生性行为？我个人经历无法为此问题提供答案。但我确信剥夺了孩子们的性知识却不会防止他们性行为甚至意外怀孕。
Would the knowledge about sex at young age lead school children into earlier sexual activities? My personal experience could not provide an answer. However, what I do know is that depriving children of sexual knowledge certainly does not prevent sexual activities or even unwanted pregnancies.
在反对性教育大纲的抗议浪潮席卷安省之际，我希望相关抗议活动不会阻止学生，尤其是族裔社区的学生从学校获取性知识，因为像我这样的族裔家长们是不大可能向他们传授性教育的。
Amid this widespread protest against sexual education curriculum, I hope that the protest would not prevent students – especially those in the ethnic communities --from gaining the sexual knowledge at school, as they are unlikely to get it from parent like myself.