By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Apr 24, 2008 at 11:55 AM

Earlier this week, I posted an article about “The Midwest Teen Sex Show,” a funny and brutally honest podcast providing info for teens about many aspects of sexuality. The podcast is controversial because of its unconventional, tell-all nature, but for some kids, this is what really works. And I was one of those kids.

Writing the article inspired me to reflect on my own sex education, and it turns out, I remember very little. Probably because most of it was really boring.

I recall in fourth grade the boys were separated from the girls, and a health teacher handed out a pamphlet on menstruation called something like, "What Every Girl Should Know."

Also, I  vaguely remember that in fifth grade, there was a “sex question” box in the corner of the room that kids could write anonymous questions for the teacher to answer. Unfortunately, everyone was too embarrassed to be seen actually putting a question in the box. (I did, however, finally break down and write one. I was so nervous about writing it and dropping it in the box, that I wrote it way too fast. This caused the teacher to misread my sloppy handwritten question which was “What is porking?” as “What is parking?” She went on to explain that sometimes people kiss in cars which I already knew and had to wait until sixth grade to find out the definition of this non-kosher euphemism.)

However, what I vividly remember from my sex education is when the health teacher -- who was actually a social studies teacher that must have lost a bet -- dressed up as various forms of contraception. One day she came dressed in a garbage-bag-based “condom costume,” anther day she was “Diana Diaphragm” and later she wore a white, round sandwich board type thing embossed with the name “Polly Pill.”

This experience was way less sophisticated then “Midwest Teen Sex Show” -- and nowhere near as funny  -- but it made a lasting impression on me. It was outlandish first and informational second, and it really worked.


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.