NEMO Science Center: Teen Facts

I could not imagine the reaction, if an American Science museum were to have a section that dealt with sex as honestly and explicitly as the NEMO science center. From French Kissing displays, to novelty condoms, to pictures of insect genitalia, to dolls in a wide variety of sexual positions… there was plenty of heart-attack inducing material for members of the religious right, but for normal people, this was a very amusing series of exhibits.

Cartoon About Hormones

My favorite of these exhibits by far was a cartoon on hormonal changes in teenagers, where a boy and a girl are put into chambers and a narrator explains everything that’s happening to their bodies. The photo above is a frame from this exhibit, where the young boy is experiencing his first ejaculation. I found the cartoon online, and you can watch the above animation here, and ask yourself whether we’d see this kind of educational material here in America.

Is this kind of education a good or bad thing? How does it compare to our American-brand, “Abstinence Only” education? Vicky did some research on Amsterdam teen pregnancy and abortion rates, and found the following empirical data:

Source: 2001 Unicef Report

The conclusion I can’t help but draw from this data is that people who aren’t educated tend to exhibit uneducated behaviors.

See the complete flickr set here. I’m curious if some of these photos, which I consider innocent enough, get flagged.