Sex Education, 1950s Style
Growing Up Catholic in the 1950s was Quite an Experience
In 1958 I was a seventh grader at an all-girls Catholic school in upstate New York. Back then phone numbers had only three digits, TVs didn’t have remotes and the main news sources were daily newspapers. To find out information about anything you either had to look it up in an encyclopedia if you were lucky enough to have a set, or go to the library.
At our school seventh and eighth graders were taught in the same room. The eighth graders had the good side because they could stare out the windows at the trees and pond. All we could see was the back of their heads.
This was the year the good nuns decided we should be introduced to the concept of being “chaste.”
One of the nuns, Sister Mercedes, in full black habit and clicking rosary beads, taught religion. Her eyebrows would disappear under the starched white wimple when she stressed something important. When she’d move on to another subject the eyebrows would settle slowly back into place. Sometimes a priest would do a religion class, but it was mostly the nuns’ domain, which they ruled with iron wills and stern looks.
Previously, the only references to chastity were about the Virgin Mary’s unusual circumstances. It was emphasized repeatedly that Joseph…
