Awkward Moments in Science Class

I think this is a unique experience only for science teachers, maybe for health teachers also, but it seems that every year there has been this awkward series of questioning that students ask along the lines of sexually explicit gender issues.

Let me paint the classroom picture... We are discussing reproductive isolation in class where animals may isolate themselves based on their behavior or whatever physical attributes they have or lack.  So if a blue-footed booby has blue feet, it will mate with other boobies that have blue feet (no love for the red-footed boobies).  All of a sudden, hands start going up.  One of my students, who happens to be pregnant, has a question. "How does it feel for a woman to nut?"

Now as a male teacher, I have a tough time thinking about where to begin answering this. This is not a student who asks questions to waste time so it's an authentic question about her sexual experiences.  I started off by saying that I couldn't possibly begin to describe what a woman should experience because I am a male, and so on.

As teachers we are the first people that students go to with questions about random things that pop into their little heads but it is a unique experience as a health or science teacher to have a student ask a question of this nature in a classroom (especially in front of their peers)...

If you've ever watched me in the classroom, you'd observe that I'm a pretty animated speaker and I make a lot of facial expressions in response to students.  I can only imagine how red my face turned after she had asked that question.

I don't know how this compares to the experiences of other educators in my position, but I can only guess that it's not that common.  I have to wonder though, if these sorts of questions are directed at me for a reason since it seems to happen every year... What sort of vibes do I send out that draws these questions out of students?!   Maybe I don't want to know the answer to that...