Unfortunately for me as a gay man, anal sex was on my radar, or I should say more accurately, when I was 18 it was on the radar of a couple of my intimate friends.

I was perfectly happy not to think about it, because it just wasn’t something I had ever fantasized about or considered important. (This surprises people who think anal sex is the be-all end-all of the gay sex experience, but that’s another story.)

Anyway, to make a long story short, my friends were no more sexually experienced or educated than I was, and I ended up in serious pain and absolutely hating the idea of anal sex.

A lot of years past before I got over that trauma and learned how to enrich my sexual repertoire.

It’s easy to think things are better today for young people and I’m sure they are in some respects. But if sex education for straight kids is tough to come by, it’s pretty much non-existent for gay kids.

Porn is a complete disaster. “Wham bam, stab ya man,” is entertaining and hot if you’re watching for pleasure, but if you actually try that in real life it’s probably going to produce shouts of, “Ouch, get off me!”

Lots of work to do with good sex education!