I learned about sex at about 9 years of age.

Though we had Playboy and Penthouse magazines in our house, I ironically did not learn about sex through those magazines. At my time, there were no pictures of men and women in coital positions. These magazines had nude pictures of voluptuous women, with Penthouse being raunchier than Playboy.

I also did not learn sex from my parents. Not even from my siblings. They were always out of the house---my parents were working; my siblings were out with their own friends.

I actually learned about sex from the dogs that are outside my house. In one late afternoon, while peering through the bedroom window, I glanced one stray, mixed-breed street dog have a go at it with another street dog. Dog-style, naturally. It was that pumping motion that fascinated me. Plus that happy, satisfied, tongue-panting look on both dogs. They truly must be having fun.

Then I realized the pleasures of masturbation. It happened one evening when I had a raging erection. The tip of my penis was extremely sensitive. I discovered that stroking it was extremely pleasureable. At first, when I would feel the oncoming orgasm, I stopped, worried of the results. Something seemed aching to burst out and I was frightened of what I would see. Curiosity got the best of me and, nights later, I decided to take the action to fruition. And when that white, sticky, chlorox-scented goo shot out, then, with the shock of revelation, I knew that was how babies were made.

I tell this incident in the light of CFC's ongoing battle against formalized sex education. In my experience, boys do not learn sex from their parents. They learn it from what they see in life. Parents at best only fill in the gaps.