Mommy, where do babies come from? (2)

Name: Andorf Olsen (pseudonym)

Age: 32

Origin: Norway, Oslo

Occupation: Architect

Lives: Andingmen

When I was about 10 my mother sat me down and tried to talk about sexual relations with women. She said, "Sometimes you have a good voice in your head and sometimes you have a bad voice in your head. It's okay to listen to both but you should be conscious of what the consequences are for both voices should you take advice from one." As I got older, I came to think that it was great advice for a young man.

But she never mentioned sex explicitly. When we were young, and I've spoken to many Scandinavians who have had the same experience, we actually went into the woods to find porn. People would leave magazines under rocks and by tree stumps and that's how we learned about sex, by finding these porn magazines in the woods. We went as groups but also individually. I remember taking the magazines home. They were always really shabby and the pages stuck together. That's how my mom found out. That's why she gave me the talk about the voices in my head. But that's how I really learned about the female anatomy."


Name: Dudley Wigglesworth (pseudonym)

Age: 45

Origin: Canada

Occupation: Author

Lives: Dongzhimen

My mother told me when she was pregnant with my sister that my father provided tools from his penis, sent them to her eggs when they were in bed and that's how my sister was born. I was still quite young at the time so I imagined tiny versions of the Seven Dwarfs whistling while they worked and carrying tools like shovels and hammers, walking from my father to my mother.


Name: Ameena Sumita (pseudonym)

Age: 22

Origin: Nepal

Occupation: Communications Student

Lives: Sihui

"Belly button."


Name: Anna Allabert

Age: 36

Origin: Russia

Occupation: CRI Russian Service

Lives: Haidian

When I asked my parents they just ignored the question. But my son, whose father is Chinese, once asked me, "Mum, how did I appear?" We were in a queue waiting for a vaccination with lots of people around.

As we speak Chinese to each other, I was mortified that he would ask such a question in front of so many people.

He said that his friend at school said his parents had told him that he was "found." I told him his friend might have been adopted. "No, they found him!" he insisted. I then just simply said, "Mum and Dad had sex." He never asked me what sex was and he has never asked since.