Do You Yak to Your Siblings About Sex?

by Logan Sachon

This post is brought to you by Hulu’s Original series Casual. Join the conversation; check out the latest episode of Casual on Hulu.com! New Episodes Wednesdays.

In celebration of and homage to the new Hulu show Casual, wherein a divorced mom, her teen daughter, and her bachelor brother all find themselves living and dating under the same roof, we asked several people with siblings whether they talk to those siblings about sex and dating. Here are their (horrified) replies:

“My brother and I have never acknowledged the existence of sex to one another in any way, shape, or form, and we probably never will. We do sometimes talk about dating, but that’s pretty unavoidable, since he’s been with his girlfriend for seven years now. Even still, I hear much more about what’s going on between them from my parents than I ever do directly from him. We’re practicing Jews, but this extreme emotional closeting is how you know that on my mom’s side of the family we are descended from WASPs.” — Gillian, 28

“My sister tells me everything, I wish she’d tell me less. I begrudgingly answer all of her questions, but she really has to work for it to get any information out of me. I don’t think our brother has ever given anything up.” — Tina, 32

“I don’t talk with my older brother about it very much. He lives in Europe so it’s not really an option. We email once in a while about someone we are dating once in a while though, and he was the probably the coolest and most supportive person in my family when I mentioned I was dating women, not only men.” — Chloe, 29

“I tell my sister everything to the point that it’s gross, and I literally don’t talk to my brother ever about anything. But not because of gender norms — they’re just like that I guess.” — Aimee, 36

“Sex? Good god never no. We are virginal siblings, pure as morning’s first dew.” — May, 30

“The first I heard of my brother’s girlfriend was when she became his fiancé, if that answers your question. We are not close. My dad, on the other hand, wants to know everything. — Neil, 26

“It’s different with each of them. My younger brother was the first person I told when I lost my virginity, and we’ve had a few conversations about sex and relationships, normally around the time one of us was going through a breakup. It’s not a normal topic of conversation for us, but I do feel that I can talk to him about anything if I need to. My older brother and I do not talk about any of it at all, besides me asking about his girlfriends. He doesn’t want to hear about it!” — Diana, 31

“I have younger sisters, and I tell them nothing, and they tell me nothing. That’s not true. I ask if they are being treated right, and they say yes. Though to be honest, this seems more of a ritual than any actual information being exchanged.” — Tom, 33

“We definitely don’t talk about it. I think it maybe gets inferred, that we’re dating someone, when we text what we’re doing, oh I’m watching a movie with so-and-so, so many of those and we pick up on it. But nothing explicit, no. No announcements or proclamations or probing questions. We’re quite proper.” — Fiona, 29

“Uh, no, my brother and I do not talk about sex and dating. God. No. He doesn’t want to know! I don’t want to know! I think it’s best to just … not think of your siblings as sexual beings at all. Like pets.” — Gemma, 29