Sex Ed Hysteria

A couple of weeks ago, I received a troll comment containing a screed about what’s supposedly going on with sex education. The reason I consider it a “troll” comment is that it was completely off-topic from the post, mentioned backup graphics that weren’t in evidence, and had that breathless quality that says “I’ve been passing this around for months!”

I didn’t publish it, as I said, it had nothing to do with the post, but I still wanted to take a look under the hood and give it a thorough examination.

Here’s the comment in its full raging glory (name edited, although it was surely an alias):

Read in full here or see below to go bit by bit.

“When the Sex Education in Public Schools Debates started, the normal people stated this would be a slippery slope… the Left said they were being silly…”

Ah, the Slippery Slope argument, one of the weakest of all rhetorical devices. They usually call for a series of highly unlikely actions to get to where they want us to fear going. Normal people don’t rely on Slippery Slope arguments, people with weak arguments do.

“We just want to teach biology to the kids to help prevent unwanted pregnancy…”

100% True

"Well, They Were Lying…of Course.”

Of course? Not hardly. There are no liberal committees devoted to turning the nation’s children into raging sex addicts, regardless of what the sex-averse and incel Right allege. And if there are, I’m pretty pissed about missing the meetings. Someone should have called me on the Blue Leftie Bat Phone we all have.

“The basic Sex Education curriculum is no longer “Basic”… it is now about Every Weird Sexual Fetish that those Leftist Lunatics can come up with…”

Oh really? That’s an awfully broad brush. I mean, there’s a huge difference between sex/health studies from, say, first grade vs. middle school, vs high school. Different levels should get a different level of detail. I wonder what they consider a “Weird Sexual Fetish? Probably just being gay. While they’re painting recognition of same-sex relationships as “grooming,” they might as well add some sizzle.

“Doubt me?”

 Every word.

“The following is graphic………but it is part of the curriculum the left wants to teach your children….. you need to know what they are doing….”

And here’s where we get to the missing graphic, which is no doubt as salacious as it is fake and misleading.

“Just take a look at what was given by a Planned Parenthood Sex Educator–Planned Parenthood is one of the providers that commonly helps schools teach sex ed in schools, and it provides a lot of curricular material that is used by “educators”–to 9th graders at a school in Saskatchewan. It is an ABC book to teach Sexual terms.”

I would love to have a look at it, and I’d also like to know the audience for whom it was actually created. Look how the writer mealy-mouths the allegations… Here’s their gist:

·         It was created by Planned Parenthood,

·         Planned Parenthood  also helps guide school curriculums, (news to me, I doubt it, but OK for argument’s sake)

·         Therefore that makes this graphic an actual schooling tool.

The author claims, without evidence or proof, that this was used with a 9th-grade class in Saskatchewan. Is she sure it wasn’t Timbuktu? WTF? But even if true, any teacher in any area is capable of doing something unusual at any time. But that doesn’t make it a national or universal truth.

And what the bloody hell is wrong with learning terminology? Ninth graders should be literate on biological and sexual terms. Like it or not, they’re capable of fucking, so they might as well learn the lingo.

“The left does not rest, they do not stop....they do not forgive, they do not forget.....there is no compassion or Mercy in them.”

You heard it… The Left is the Terminator! “Come vit me if you want to fuck!”

“The Left will teach your children anything they wish about sex, and you are powerless to stop them.”

And there it is, with Sex Ed as it is with any “ed.” The right wants people ignorant. If only we could somehow explain, in simple words, that knowledge of an action does not imply intent to engage in it. And with sex, ignorance kills. Study after study has shown that depriving kids of sex ed and information on contraception does not keep them from having sex, it just makes it more likely for them to get pregnant when doing so.

“Then if your child wants to become the other sex or want an abortion, the state will hide these facts from you and take over parental rights to your child to "take care of it".

I ask, when does a person have the right to self-determination? Not all parents are Ozzie and Harriet. Some are quite awful, ignorant, bigoted, violent, and controlling. Sometimes the State needs to assert control, when the parents are lacking in parenting fundamentals. Sometimes “hiding these facts” will save a child’s life. While I think that last snippet is overwrought hysteria, every situation is unique. Sometimes outside influence is necessary, and sometimes it’s not. There’s a lot of wiggle room and nothing is served well when surrounded in such hyperbole.

“Again, you are legally powerless to stop them, not by the Constitution, but by the post-Constitutional government in place today.”

One hundred percent bullshit. There is no “post-Constitutional government” in place today, just one that is opposed by a bunch of sore losers and reality deniers.

***

I feel the only answer is age-appropriate and comprehensive Sex Ed classes in school.  Parents can feel free to supplement the classes with their own moral bent, but depriving information is never the way to go.  Because with a lack of hard-core, factual information, kids will get the dirt elsewhere: from TV, movies, their idiot friends, and Internet porn.  That information is guaranteed to be rife with rumors, innuendo, and misinformation that can potentially be fatal.  Is that really a good alternative?

I remember when I was in 6th grade and we were all gathered together for assembly with the boys in one session and the girls in another. Our principal, a tall, lean, dour, bi-spectacled man, led us through the biology of fertilization, culminating in the mysterious statement that “the man’s sperm then goes from the penis into the woman’s vagina.” Then he asked if we had any questions.

By this time, my little head was swimming. We were supposed to do that? With girls?? I was WAAAY too shy to even consider doing something like that, no matter how far into the future that would be.  And all of our parents, grandparents, neighbors and such did THAT? Gross! But still, one thing puzzled me even more, so I put up my hand. The principal called on me.

I stood up and asked my question: “How does the man know when the sperms are going to come out?”

The principal coughed a few times, looked around furtively, and said, “Um, you’ll know.”

Well, that was no help! I didn’t know. I looked around and none of my friends knew. Hmm. I’d have to watch that.  I could be running around on the playground one day and bang! Stuff would be coming out and I’d have to hurry up and find a vagina to put it into.

See, there was so little context regarding the entire situation, our big Sex Ed Speech made everything an even greater mystery. 

(I bet my principal told that story for years. He ought to owe me a royalty.)

As it turned out, we 6^th graders got most of our practical information from another classroom source: The Encyclopedia. Seriously. After lunch, before the teacher would get back to the classroom, one of the kids would do a “reading from the Good Book,” meaning the encyclopedia entry for “Sex” or Reproduction.”

I was still pretty sure the encyclopedia had it wrong. There was no way that was how babies were made. It was just too icky.

I’m sure kids today are far hipper to such things, but still, they’re kids. Without proper context, it’s no wonder young people have so many misconceptions about sex. If we’re going to do something about curtailing abortions in this country, we can’t just preach “no sex” and then put the screws to young adults or troubled couples when something goes horribly wrong. And no matter what grade level, we can’t have schools pretending that gay people don’t exist. Imagine the damage being done to the kids of gay parents in Florida right now. Kids are liable to bring up any topic in the classroom. Teachers need to be able to deal with it with sensitivity and acceptance, without fearing for their jobs.

The world is just not the same as it was when today’s parents were kids themselves. Standards change, details change, and cultural moods change. We owe it to The Children to teach them openly and honestly about all facets of sex.