Sex, Dating and Self-Confidence [Tuesday, Period 2]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene was perched neatly on her desk at the front of the room, smiling at the students as they filed in. "Good morning," she greeted them with a crisp smile, tossing off a little finger wave. "I hope we're all doing well today? I mean, it's only Tuesday. If things are going downhill already, I daresay it's going to be a hell of a week."

See, kids? She was the cool teacher. She swore. On the first day. And she was British.



"Anyway, welcome to Sex, Dating and Self-Confidence. My name's Irene Adler, which -- you know, I didn't go to school for this, so calling me 'professor' would be wildly entertaining but utterly false, I think, so please don't. In any case, I own and operate Dite's Decadent Delights in town, and if you know the sort of place that is, then you know I'm fairly well-suited to teaching this course. If you don't know the sort of place that is -- well. It's a sex shop. There's really no use in being coy about it, because I'm not here to flirt with you."

She smiled, trying for reassuring. "In fact, I find that there's generally entirely too much coyness already in most schools, on the subject of sex and interpersonal relationships. Either you're not educated at all, and that's no good, or you're given the barest basics on how to make a baby or avoid it -- let alone whether you want a baby, or even are attracted to the type of person with whom you could conceive a baby, or even are attracted to people at all. It's an awful lot of pressure at your age, isn't it? You've already got so bloody much to deal with, the very last thing you need is misinformation, or further confusion."

She clapped her hands briskly together. "So that's what we'll be covering in this class -- the first third is sex ed, which will be both comprehensive and, hopefully, not too embarrassing. The second third, we'll talk about dating, which I know is also quite the puzzle for some of you. And the last third, we'll spend on loving yourself, first -- that's the part that won't be summed up at the end of the class, probably. Bit of a lifelong process."

Irene hopped off her desk, going over to pluck up a box wrapped in expensive-looking turquoise paper. "This is a box for questions," she said, holding it up between her manicured hands. "I'd like for this classroom to be considered a space wherein all questions are respected and answered, but I understand that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to sound ignorant in front of your peers. So, if you have something you'd like to ask, but don't want to put a name to it, feel free to drop it in here and I'll answer it at the beginning of the next class."

She set the box aside, then turned back to the class. "Now -- I think introductions are in order, aren't they? We're all going to get to know each other quite well over this term, and my only rule in this class is that the atmosphere please remain respectful. The subject matter may seem silly, or embarrassing, but we're here to learn, right? And giggling at each other isn't going to help a damn thing."

She paused, and added, "Giggling is welcome in general, though. I mean, we're going to be talking about genitals, and if you don't giggle at least a little, I'll be very concerned."

Irene waved a hand at her own tangent. "Anyway. Introductions. Name, class, and why you're here." She curved a smile, and added, "You can pass on that last, if you're not comfortable giving specifics. And by all means, if there's something you'd like to cover, let me know and I'll work it into the syllabus. Oh! And if you'd like to be my teacher's assistant. I've always wanted one. At least, for as long as I've been a teacher."

Comments

Sign in [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Like you just realized you signed up for sex ed with a dominatrix.

Re: Sign in [08/26]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy Li

Re: Sign in [08/26]

[stacyexperiment]

Gwen Stacy

Listen to the lecture [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Perhaps admire the shiny box that Irene has for you to use, if you are afraid of raising your hand!

Re: Listen to the lecture [08/26]

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor eyed the box, wondering if she had any questions to put it in this time.

The last time she'd asked a question in a sex ed class, it had been a very simple "how do you flirt," and she had seemingly figured that one out.

She was certain she'd have further use for the box in the future, though.

Re: Listen to the lecture [08/26]

[notamascot]

Kaylin? Was just horrified. Simply horrified. What had they been thinking when they signed her up for this class???

Introductions! [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Name, class, why you're here, if you're looking to learn anything specific....

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She wished she were better at lying so she could answer 'paperwork error' when she had to explain why she was there.

"Hi," she said awkwardly when it was her turn to introduce herself. "I'm Kathy Li, I'm a junior, and I'm here because I'd like to get less embarrassed about sex? I guess I'm sex-positive intellectually, but when it comes to actually talking about it or...or whatever...I just tense up and freeze."

Of only the world worked like Tumblr!

"And I'd really like to know how to flirt. And how to tell if I'm being flirted with?"

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Kathy," Irene said, smiling at her. "I can't promise you won't still be embarrassed by the end, I'm afraid -- it's a rather personal thing, you know. But what we're going to try to do here is give you the tools to be informed, which should rather help. A lot of time, lack of knowledge about sex can be a huge factor in being embarrassed about it."

She tilted her head, and added, "And flirting -- we can definitely work on that. Again, it's a touch personal and is going to vary a degree, but there are certain universal clues we'll be learning to look out for, because believe me, so many people don't realize they're being flirted with." So many.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[stacyexperiment]

Classes did introductions here. Okay. Gwen had thought you got to skip out on that sort of thing when everyone was starting the first day of school, but guess not. Then again, she'd also thought she'd have classes every day, so.

"I'm Gwen Stacy and I'm a junior, and I didn't sign up for any of my own classes." She shrugged.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene shrugged back with an easy smile. "Hi, Gwen. I'll do my best to make sure your randomly-assigned class is an enjoyable one. I'd rather you felt like you won a lottery than that you got stuck somewhere, yeah?"

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"My name's Eleanor Lamb, and I'm a junior," she said. She was carefully not looking around the room, because it was somewhat embarrassing that her own boyfriend was taking this class. if Joker's there no modding "I ... understand the mechanics but not the emotions, I suppose. I'd like to have a better understanding of ... intimacy, and interpersonal relationships."

She sounded like a bloody anthropologist there, studying humans like they were an unknown species. Well, that was half the problem, wasn't it?

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[ultimatehottie.livejournal.com]

"My name is Johnny Storm. I'm a junior," Johnny said. "And I'm here because this class sounded awesome."

"Also, if anyone is interested in studying the material outside of class, I am very willing to go over notes, do group work, really get this topic figured out so that we can be better prepared for class."

Apparently he was partially here to advertise.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"Hello..." Oh, this was going to be painfully awkward. "I'm Elsa, and a junior. And me being in this class is a bit of a paperwork mix-up, I think, but I'm on the roster and I'm willing to... to learn. These are things anybody ought to know."

There was a long pause, and then she glanced downwards and spoke even more quietly, blushing furiously.

"It was the self-confidence part of the class name that prompted me to stay."

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I'm Barry, I'm a senior and apparently somebody in the school office thought this would be a funny joke," Barry said in a huff.

Of course Barry needed help but he'd never admit that. Even to himself.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[tigerundercover]

Raven waved and smiled. "I'm Raven Darkholme. I'm fairly certain I'm a junior, but I always lose track and I'm here because I've taken sex-ed classes before, but I'm learning my era is actually pretty repressed, and I always end up wanting to know more."

And because she was really looking forward to the "self-confidence" bit of the class, because she never, ever felt entirely comfortable in whatever skin she was showing the world.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

Ichabod was blushing brightly. However, he had good manners and so he said:

"My name is Ichabod Crane and I am a senior. I understand I am not the only one who find myself here by some sort of accident, but I will do my best to listen and learn."

It could not be any worse than Navaan's class. In fact, he did find the topic quite interesting, just not very easy to talk about. Perhaps that needed mentioning.

"As I have learnt that in this time these matters are spoken more freely of than where I am from, I might just find some topics a little explicit."

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[justwantedfriends]

Oh god oh god it was her turn, wasn't it?

"I'm Kira Yukimura, I'm a sophomore, and I don't know why I'm here because my mom picked all my classes which is never ever happening again. No offense."

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[voiceoverdue]

"Hi!" Cecil waved. "I'm Cecil Palmer, I'm a sophomore now, and I sort of figured," he shrugged, "well, you can never get too much dating advice, right?" He thought about it for a moment. "Mostly if you have any advice on how to drag a boyfriend away from science, that would be great." He rolled his eyes. "Oh, and maybe phone sex?"

Hey, his voice was almost changed again now! Sometimes. ♥Carlos♥ couldn't argue against phone sex with a grown-up voice, right?

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[notamascot]

"I am Kaylin Neya and I am a freshman. Someone signed me up for this class without my knowledge and really, I do not wish to learn anything at all," Kaylin said, still looking rather horrified. "Er... thank you."

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[gal-wednesday.livejournal.com]

"I'm Felicity Smoak, and I'm a sophomore," she said. "And I'm here 'cause this whole thing sounds interesting even though I'm not doing any of it at the moment."

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[fly-so-serious.livejournal.com]

Joker gave Ms. Adler a big, confident grin. "Jeff Moreau, senior. I like to go by 'Joker'; it makes me feel all sexy. I'm here for the easy A, and to give these lovely ladies someone of caliber to practice on. Nothing extracurricular, though -- I'm taken."

He was also, apparently, here to try to one-up Johnny Storm.

Re: Introductions! [08/26]

[not_a_moonie]

"I'm Alana, another junior," Alana volunteered, stretching out her legs. "And I'm here because I think sex is nifty and I'd like to know more about it."

What? It was true!

"Also, I kind of want to know more about how to make a relationship work. I don't have a ton of good role models on that one."

Talk to Irene [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

She is here for you!

OOC [08/26]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying the hell that is the week before school goes back in session at work, so it will be SP from me for most of the day. SORRY, GUYS.

Also please do feel free to use the question box!