and education

In the world of EarthUnbound, it is illegal for adults to have sex with minors, just as it is in the real world—although the age of consent is sometimes different there than in the real world, just as it varies in different regions in the real world (for instance, in the world of EarthUnbound, the age of consent is sixteen everywhere in the U.S., whereas in the real world it is sixteen in many places, but seventeen or eighteen in others). However, it is not considered illegal for minors to have sex with one another. Thus, while in some real world jurisdictions, two fifteen-year-olds who lose their virginity together could be prosecuted as criminals, in the world of EarthUnbound it is expected that anyone who has reached adolescence is experimenting with sex among their peers, including siblings and similarly-aged cousins. Sexual experimentation as a youth is such a norm, in fact, that an adolescent who has not started to experiment with sex a couple of years after starting adolescence would probably receive a concerned talk from his or her parents, and an only child without close peers might be “set up” with candidate friends, or surrogates, with whom to do their experimenting.

**** is the norm in the world of EarthUnbound. Learning sex with siblings and similarly-aged cousins is the cultural norm, and once a teen reaches the age of consent, it is also considered normal for the teen to try out sex with one or both parents as well as their aunts and/or uncles, depending on the teen’s orientation; and if they’re still young enough and the teen is interested, perhaps some of the grandparents may also have some more mature sexual lessons to offer. Among adults not everyone sleeps with every family member, but there are few who don’t at least occasionally sleep with at least some of the members of their family, and most do so as often as they would any close friend.

No form of **** is illegal in the world of EarthUnbound, although the laws regarding age of consent apply regardless of the participants relationship (which means that a parent having sex with their child who is under the age of consent would be prosecuted for child **** and ****, the same as any other adult). However, conceiving a child with a relative within one degree of blood relationship (parent and child, or brother and sister) is illegal in almost every legal jurisdiction, as it is considered cruel and unjust to knowingly subject any potential child to the **** danger of genetic deformity due to inbreeding.

Thorough sex education is a part of the curriculum in all grades in the world of EarthUnbound. “Reproductive responsibility” is a major focus of sex ed throughout, ensuring that every student becomes intimately familiar with the ways to control pregnancy. Starting in grade 6, birth control (which is provided for free by healthcare systems for everyone) is supplied by the school to any student who hasn’t already started on a regimen from a parent or doctor outside of school, and the sex ed class that year has as its main focus the thorough training in the correct and comprehensive use of a complete birth control regimen, for both sexes.

Practical courses begin in grade 7 (when most students will have recently entered puberty, or be just about to). They are co-ed, nearly always team-taught by male and female teachers, and involve hands-on (figuratively as well as literally) experience learning to have sex. Safe sex, reproductive matters, and biology are taught, reinforcing earlier lessons from the theoretical classes, and setting groundwork for those to follow; but the focus is more on learning to perform well as a sexual partner. Students may elect to engage in activities only with certain genders, but participation in the lessons on all sex acts, on all genders, is strongly encouraged. This promotes orientation flexibility for each student, and also helps to ensure that any students with atypical orientations and/or gender identities don’t feel excluded.