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Sex education in schools
I was reading the following article and the comments, and thought it would start a very interesting conversation here. So:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...article1542267/
I think this is brilliant. People are absolutely daft if they think that their children don't have access to information, most of which is mis-information. As for the people who yell "that's the parents job blah blah blah", 1. why is it the schools job to teach everything else about the human anatomy, but not the sexual organs? 2. Not all parents are knowledgeable enough to actually teach their children about sexuality (they got worse education than we did), 3. A lot of parents will never speak to their children about sex because it's 'wrong'. Perhaps in your ideal world, parents would bestow all the needed information about sexuality to their children, but the reality is, it doesn't happen. Not to mention that in the cases in which it does happen, mis-information is often re-told, and a lot of the important things are omitted.
We teach our children about everything else, but not something as fundamental and basic as sex? Something that everyone but Nou does in their lifetime?! It doesn't make any sense, especially in a time when sexuality is very present in media, and the consequences of ignorance can be dire.
I went to a catholic school growing up, and I honestly didn't know a damn thing about the male reproductive system, or even my own until I did my own research in high school. I had my period for probably 3 or 4 years before I actually understood what was happening. Had I not done my own research, I probably wouldn't have ever learned anything about it. I also know that I am far more knowledgeable about it than my mother, so she would have been very little help in teaching me about STD's etc.
Personally, I think we need to stop stigmatizing sexuality and just accept it as a normal thing (because it is a fucking normal thing!!) We need to stop shoving our kids heads in the sand and pretending that they are going to be perfect little angels who will never have sex and will never be exposed to information about sex. The sooner, the better too, because kids are coming into contact with this information far sooner than we did as kids. Information is power, and there is nothing harmful in educating our children. It gives them the ability to make smart decision about their sexuality, helps them protect themselves from abuse, promotes healthy sexual lifestyles, and it promotes tolerance of people who are different than you.
Edit:
c0r version - the article talks about how schools in Ontario, Canada are going to have a mandatory sex ed. curriculum. People are freaking out about it, saying its wrong blah blah blah. I think it's great! What do you think?
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