ABSTRACT
Young people learn about sex from the day they are born and from a wide range of often unacknowledged sources. The methods of learning along with the type of information available are controlled by a number of powerful institutions. The issue of who should teach sex education and where it should be provided is one of continued controversy. The church, media, friends, family, parents and school have been seen as the major imparters of information in this area and it is true to say that all of these have had and continue to have varying influence over what young people learn about sex. In relation to the use of friends as a source of information, gender differences are important, for males are more likely to name friends as an actual source of information than are females. Young women were more likely than young men to name a parent as both an actual and a preferred sauce of information.
