Leah Francis : Finding the Way contents

Who Needs Sex Education

The opposite sex. Sex. Relationships, esp with opposite sex. list and detail them.

It wasn't always easy to distinguish little boys' voices from those of little girls, but their hair was also short, and as they grew their voices became easier to differentiate. They weren't as compatible as girls, but gender wasn't really important. Not until we were about ten, that is.

Then Alfy Winfield told me how we were different. "Put your hand under the table," he said, and I'll show you. There in his trousers I found a trembling thing, like a finger but softer. It didn't interest me much. Alfy could have found nothing to interest him in me, either. Just clothes down there.

When the hormones crept into our consciousness, we used many ploys to get close to each other. "Truth or dare"? – Kiss the girl sitting opposite you. "Spin the knife" - "Go outside in the dark with the person the knife points to," and so on.

My first love was big and physical and vital. He knew where to touch and how to excite, and he had a great sense of timing and a knack for seizing opportunity. His voice was deep and strong, enhanced by his quick humour. Quite sexy, he was.

One night at boarding-school he arranged to meet me in the girls' playground. I received my first long, powerful, thrilling kiss. When we pulled apart to sneak back to our dormitories, I could not speak, could not stop trembling. I lay on my bed in ecstasy, in shock.

How rare such moments were in my single days. I wish, even now, that my glimpses of physical delight and emotional excitement could have absorbed more of my young life, and I am saddened by the thought that so many young women must wait so long for fulfilment, or that their indulgences must be marred by guilt and fear.

My first fiance was quite a guy. He was generous, sensitive, loving, and even good-looking, but he was stubborn and I was full of myself, despite my lack of confidence.

My first real boyfriends were blind, but I had few relationships with men than my seeing girlfriends.

As an adult I have many close men friends. Men attract me. I enjoy the sexual contrast and the marriage of our minds is stimulating and satisfying.

My marriage has passed through many phases, but it is lasting well, and has sufficient ripples to keep us sensitive to our relationship.

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