The New Road

Sex Ed

I got a solid education in the facts of sex in my middle school. It was presented by my family doctor who presented slides and answered questions to a co-ed group in my biology class. It was straightfoward and simple, and I learned a lot.

Now there is a movement to do "abstinence only" education. So I looked around at it. I found a system called Sex Respect. Which is a Catholic woman's initiative to have kids follow Christ and his anti-sex teachings (?).

What's interesting to me is that there is no education in her sex education. She says this:

"Sexuality is more than a physical act; it is a combination of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs. Teaching kids about sexuality is more than passing on facts. It’s passing on attitudes and values."

Which assumes that she actually passes on any facts, but she doesn't. If I search the site for penis, vagina or masturbation I find nothing. And when I look for conception the only place I find it says that kids don't need to know about it. In fact, the site, and the approach, is more about ignorance than education. Knowledge of this stuff appears to be wrong.

So my question is, if kids don't know what a penis is, or what a vagina is, then they will make up their own strange ideas. I know I did. Kids are interested in sex. That is natural. You kinda need to know what sex is before you can understand how not to do it.

Actually I have no problem with teaching kids the value of abstinence. It's true that an easy way to avoid teen pregnancy and STDs are simply to avoid sex. I certainly don't need a lot of dogma about Christ, Jesus, Mary, and the rest of them to convince me of what is an anatomical fact. But there it is, there is a lot of information on faith, Jesus, Christ and the church.

Here is the sites answers to the question of whether or not such information is required:

The SEX RESPECT program on abstinence education offers a positive alternative to sex education courses that focus primarily on anatomy and physiology.

Principal Jo Jean Morris observes, “We have known that the kids are sexually aware. We felt it was inadequate to just say to them, “this is what a man looks like; this is what a woman looks like.”

“We felt like what we were doing wasn’t the answer,” said Bob Galore, health teacher. Galore said the classes had formerly consisted of biology and anatomy and discussing family planning and family life. “That part of it isn’t necessary when we’re talking about the emotional and psychological effect.”

So it starts off by saying that the biology information is in itself inadequate. And then goes on to say that it's even unneccesary.

The answer to whether this is religously based or not receives another non-sensical answer.

Is your chastity message some church-related or religious drive?

This program has been used in both public and parochial schools. Ms. Jo Jean Morris, a principal, observed that she “could find nothing in the SEX RESPECT program that any parent, depending on their own choice of lifestyle, would be offended by. “I don’t see how anyone could object to it.” This program has been carefully developed to reflect a public health perspective and to show that sexual self-control can bring freedom, maturity, confidence, and good health. That sounds like good sense, not “religious drive.”

First she says, in answer to a question about the religious fundamental of the program that nobody would object to it. I know I would, but that wasn't the question. Then, in perhaps the strangest answer, she says that it's good sense. Which then then appears to say is the opposite (?) of "religious drive".

Ok, I'm confused. As with all of this stuff. Because the dogma is so arbitrary and wrapped up and results from people's own personal phobias that they project on others, it all devolves into a mass of illogical silliness quickly.

The really sad part about all of this is that the government is now taking sides on this and siding with kooks like this. Why can't we just provide information based on the facts. Here is how a frog copulates, a snake, and a human. Here are the results. The leave the dogma for the home.