Sex Ed With Barbie and GI Joe
by Julie Britt As soon as I discovered that nasty thing the grownups called “sexuality,” I just knew it would get me in a lot of trouble some day—with Jesus, my parents and some yucky boy—so I hid it. But my Mama and Daddy noticed my sinful sexiness way before I knew I had it, not to mention what I was supposed to do with it. I was only 10—too young to be thinking about boys, sex and chastity, a real important and mysterious word they talked about in church all the time. One night I was filling the tub when I realized we were out of bubble bath. I turned off the faucet and briefly considered taking a bath in plain old water. No. That wouldn’t be good enough. It was summer, and I had spent most of the afternoon playing in the woods with Josh, my pesky little brother. I needed the extra clean that only Mr. Bubble could bring. I figured Mama had a fresh box in the pantry. “Mama!” I called through the bathroom door. No answer. Daddy probably had turned up the TV so he could hear his western above the racket from the kitchen, where Mama was busy preparing our