donnaimmaculata | Question to native speakers, preferably Brits

I wrote a Dudley/Aunt Marge fic last night. Before you run off, screaming with disgust: It's only PG-13. No graphic action. After all, Dudley is only ten.

And that brings me to my question: How would a 10-years-old Dudley Dursley refer to his penis? I bet Petunia and Vernon are not very articulate on the subject of sex, and I've no idea how advanced sex ed classes are at a school Dudley is likely to go to. How much is he likely to know on the matter of sex? And how would he refer to breasts?

Yes, I'm taking the project seriously.

ETA: Just because it amuses me: I've just consulted my slang dictionary and found a plethora of slang expressions and euphemisms for 'penis' from throughout the ages: red-cap (Lupin's DADA lessons appear in an entirely different light), dribbling dart of love, lamp of life, flip-flap, marrow-bone-and-cleaver, nooney, lucy, tantrum (rather appropriate for Dudley), thingamabob, yum-yum, dork (adds a whole lot of new implications to 'mood: dorky'), husbandman of nature, gentle-tittler,...

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as far I remember, it is compulsatory

That is so amazingly cool. I don't know how other states handle it (and know some painfully ignorant people in Illinois), but in Detroit, Michigan, fifth graders (10 and 11-year-olds) are given an afternoon run down on the "changes they're going through." However, only kids whose parents signed the permission form were in on the discussion. A few were sent to the library instead. After that, I think the next time anything came up was in high school biology, and again, that involved permision forms.

Oddly enough, the best sex-ed class I was subjected to was the one held at my parents' church. Two days of mortified 11 to 13-year-old kids having everything they ever wanted to know (as well as an awful lot we didn't) about human anatomy, sex, contraception, pregnancy, diseases and the lot explained in great detail. We even had to prove we took notes.

On second thought - I might be wrong about the 'compulsatory'. It is quite probable that parents are allowed to not let their children participate. I'm thinking especially of religious fundamentalists, who don't want their kids to have anything to do with sex education. But in any case, this is the exception rather than the rule.

In secondary school, we had sex ed classes at least twice, because I remember two different teachers. The first time was in the fifth or sixth grade and was more or less the repetition of basic anatomy facts. At the age of 15 or 16, we received more thorough lessons, focusing on contraception, pregnancy and sexual diseases. I remember our teacher saying at some point, 'Please pay attention now. I don't want you to complain in cases of unwanted pregnancy that your biology teacher didn't explain it well enough.'

as well as an awful lot we didn't

*g* Ah yes, I can see that. Matters of sexual education are probably horribly stressful for both, educators and children.

Question to native speakers, preferably Brits

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