Sex Education of the Female Cycle

Understanding the female cycle is an important part of sex education. As a new egg starts to develop and estrogen is produced the basal lining of the endometrium again starts to develop and this process repeats itself about every 28-30 days in normally ovulating women.

Understanding the female menstrual and ovarian cycle is key to understanding reproductive physiology and being able to teach this to your children. It helps to think of the two functions both separately, and then see how they relate to each other.

Each month the ovaries start to produce several eggs, but by about day 6 of the cycle one turn into dominant and the others revert. The ovary produces estrogen, but very little progesterone during this time. By about 14-16 days on average after the last menses the egg is mature and ovulation occurs. The ovary starts to produce progesterone from the area where the egg developed, and if no pregnancy occurs this progesterone stops being produced after 13-14 days. Another set of eggs starts to develop at that time. All of this information will usually be covered in a sex education class in middle school and high school.