Polar Embassy is growing fast! This year we launched puzzles, postcards, coloring books, workbooks, CAD files for board games, and now sex education question cards for families with teens! We are so proud to publish this inclusive work by Other Nature, a queer-feminist, sex-positive vegan sex shop here in Berlin Kreuzberg.
The card deck A Little Less Awkward is a set of 100 questions to make it easier for teens and their families to discuss sex and relationships. There are no answers - but don’t worry! Helping show young adults how to look up reliable information is an important skill this question set is meant to help model.
We started this project almost a full year ago. After reading Sex in Echt by Nadine Beck and Rosa Schilling of Fuck Yeah Sex Shop in Hamburg (one of our favorite retailers). After reading it, we started asking what Polar Embassy could do to help support parents, educators, and teens, navigate these heavy, complex, awkward conversations.
In researching the status and standards of sex education in Germany, we read this interesting overview (in German), “Sexualaufklärung in der Schule” from 2021 from the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA, the German Federal Center for Health Education). The biggest surprise was that parents are still key sources of information on sex ed for kids - well, mothers are. Fathers seem to be strikingly poor sources of information for daughters. This is what weaponised ignorance looks like, folks!
Polar Embassy is a games company and whatever we made needed to be cheeky, sex-positive, inclusive, and fun. So we turned to the team of sex educators, including parents and psychotherapy practitioners, from one of our other favorite retailers to help us develop this deck. Over a year, we developed the questions together, and tested with generous families all around Germany and the US. Here are our drafts and prototypes:
Each of the 50 cards in the deck has two questions for the Caregiver or Teen to ask the other, or to find out together. Topics include:
- Bodies
- Relationships
- Gender & Identity
- Safer Sex & STIs
- Desire & Pleasure
- Culture & Media (& porn)
- Communication & Consent
The deck is available in German, and we have digital versions in German and English for you to print at home. French and Spanish translations are in the pipeline, and we’d ove to translate the deck into Russian, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Dutch as well. If you’re a translator with experience or interest in queer-feminist and sex-positive educational materials (or know of one!) please reach out to us here.
Frequently asked questions about sex education in Germany:
When to start sex education?
As a parent or caretakers, you know when you child is ready to discuss complex topics like sex and relationships.
Many of our questions require critical reflection and self-awareness, so we recommend using the deck from ages 14+.
Why is sex education important?
Sex education is health education. Our kids need to learn (when they're ready!) how to take care of themselves and others.
Sex education in school
Sexual education is compulsory in Germany, but conversations at home are still very important for the sex education of young adults in Germany. According to the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA), over half of young people polled stated that parents were the most important people when it comes to sex education.
For what ages is A Little Less Awkward?
You know when your young adult is ready to talk about sex and relationships. The deck was designed for families with teens 14+.
How to play A Little Less Awkward?
This is not a game you can win or lose. "I don't know" and "I don't want to answer that" are valid answers. Communicating about boundaries is such an important skill! Here are some of our suggestions on how to use the sex education question cards:
- Set a timer and take turns asking and answering questions for the agreed period
- Ask one another 1 card each every evening for a week
- Each go through the deck and select 5 questions you’re most interested in. Let the other player know which cards you’ve chosen and agree on a good time to talk about them.
- Set up a weekly date to ask 3 questions each
- Play one-to-one, with more than one parent/caregiver, or with more than one young adult
- Talk over the questions on a walk, or leave one another voice notes
Feel free to add some incentives or silliness to keep things fun! For example:
- Whenever it’s your turn to answer, you get to eat a treat (chewing gives you thinking time!)
- Have a veto = dance party option and dance together for 60 seconds anytime someone doesn't want to answer a question.
- Hide cards for one another around the house and spend a few moments reflecting on the question each time you find one