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Sex Education
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Following on from the post about the age of consent, Id be interested ot find out what everyone thinks about the shocking state of sex education in this country.
Children, instead of getting good, factual, advice about the consequences, emotionally and physically, of sex, are left to learn about one of the most important parts of their life by themselves. Instead of being taught by the parents and their teachers about how its important to wait, and why it is important to wait, children, especially young boys, get information fropm porn and lads mags, meaning they see sex as something to do to be a man, not as a way of showing love and affection.
I feel its disgusting that parents can opt children out of sex education in school on religious grounds, or that schools can completely fail to offer any sex education on religious grounds. I went to a Catholic school, and the only education I got was "lads, dont"...its hardly wonder that there are six girls in my sisters year who are having, or have had, children already, and that many more have just been plain lucky.
I was lucky in that my parents taught me and my sister about protection and love, but many parents dont bother as they see sex as A Bad Thing. The sooner this attitude in Britain changes, then the sooner that the rate of teen pregnancy will decrease. If boys dont see sex as a rite of passage that has to be passed as soon as possible, and girls dont see getting pregnant as a way to improve their life, then the same problems will come about again and again. And, as usual, it is religion and the appalling attitude to life that it festers, that is to blame.
Children, instead of getting good, factual, advice about the consequences, emotionally and physically, of sex, are left to learn about one of the most important parts of their life by themselves. Instead of being taught by the parents and their teachers about how its important to wait, and why it is important to wait, children, especially young boys, get information fropm porn and lads mags, meaning they see sex as something to do to be a man, not as a way of showing love and affection.
I feel its disgusting that parents can opt children out of sex education in school on religious grounds, or that schools can completely fail to offer any sex education on religious grounds. I went to a Catholic school, and the only education I got was "lads, dont"...its hardly wonder that there are six girls in my sisters year who are having, or have had, children already, and that many more have just been plain lucky.
I was lucky in that my parents taught me and my sister about protection and love, but many parents dont bother as they see sex as A Bad Thing. The sooner this attitude in Britain changes, then the sooner that the rate of teen pregnancy will decrease. If boys dont see sex as a rite of passage that has to be passed as soon as possible, and girls dont see getting pregnant as a way to improve their life, then the same problems will come about again and again. And, as usual, it is religion and the appalling attitude to life that it festers, that is to blame.
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Not this time mate...Im usually all for blaming religion but its not responsible this time. Its only a tiny minority of people who get excused from sex ed for religious reasons..In my school for example, only one kid in my entire year was excused.
Its a problem with peoples attitude to sex, but its not religious. Its also not even a problem with the majority of people. Its usually an attitude held by older people, older people who just happen to be in government and who just happen to run the schools system.
And of course the do-gooders havent done anything to help. They simply added to the problem by teaching the older kids that sex is ok and handing out contraceptives willy nilly...Not that these are used as anything more than a signal that they are allowed to have sex.
Its not just sex ed either, there has been a gradual breakdown of society and values for quite a while.
You should read up on a guy called Thomas Szasz if you're really interested in this issue: he has some seriously interesting points.
For one, just because sexual morality is something that must be learned does not mean that it must also be taught. It simply does not follow.
On what grounds would say it is better to stuff the "it is important to wait" morality down young people's intellectual throats than any particular religious sexual morality? I have to say that I think the whole "true love waits" campaign is wrong, but even so... I also despise the way most religions class sexual pleasure as some kind of sin -- preposterous notion.
Education on the mechanics of sexual reproduction belongs in the biology classroom. The emotional effects are deep and far-reaching, but I maintain that need for learning does not necessarily entail need for teaching. In any case, consider the propensity of young people to rebel against any prohibitions placed on them.
Boys need to know that not all their friends are really "at it" with "Beverley from the Girls' Grammar" In fact, Beverley's probably a sound girl who's great company and done no more than let a boy feel her boobs. But suddenly, she's branded a slut.
It's also important to rid youth culture of those words like slut, slapper, slag etc. A little maturity needs to be encouraged. It takes two and the girls are no more sluts than the boys are. I saw a friend's reputation ruined when I was at school, all because some silly (lying) boys wanted to look good in front of their mates.
I'd also like people to be taught that it's ok to feel that sex is good. It's great in fact and, guess what? Sex can be enjoyed! Like all things in life, sex should be respected and treated in a mature way to get the real benefits from it.
I'd like to see sex education address these issues, among others, cos after all, most ten year olds know where they have to put their willy and what a condom is. What young people don't seem to understand is that they don't have to feel the pressure to have sex nor do they have to have a baby... cos it's easier not to get pregnant.
Although I partly agree with this, ideally what should stop is all the mixed messages. I mean if the schools say 'Wait to have sex' 'It's ok to say no' etc and then the student comes back from school and they turn on the T.V/look in a magazine and see the contents saturated in sex then it's not going to do a lot of good. But I very much doubt people will get consistency, (It would take a hellava lot of co-operation!!) I mean you can use sex to sell anything from a holiday to a paperclip.
The truth is that, if we can't even see breasts before 9pm, an "aroused male" at all, and sex is made as taboo a subject as it is amongst those very people who should be role models for the younger generation, people are going to be embarrassed about sex, not ask anything about it, be too shy to buy condoms, and then ruin 3 lives with one moment of naivety.
I'm afrad that the do-gooders, well-intentioned as they may be, are one of the problems here, blocking anything like free condoms or contraceptive pills for teenagers. Just because a teenager has access to free condoms, doesn't mean that they'll turn into some kind of raging sex maniac who needs to have sex with every woman he finds. It'll make using condoms more socially acceptable, and something that people need not feel embarrassed about asking for in the chemists once they leave school. If someone is intent on having sex, and is as naive as most people, they'll take the chance without protection rather than just not having sex.
I'm a conservative in general, but here I'm siding firmly on the side of the liberals. After all, what's so wrong with safe sex between two legally-aged, consenting persons? Stop Britain being so prudish.
Yes, of course... we need to have someone with total control over all forms of public communication and address to make sure that mixed messages aren't sent to our impressionable children. I mean, what's the world coming to when teachers can say one thing and then magazines and papers go and say another? The government should do something...
Erm yes, and in the sentence after I wrote that I put that it would be impossible to get a consistent message. You know, I do realise we live in a place called the real world. I was speaking in idealistic terms that's why I put down the word 'ideally'. I will make it clearer next time.
Isn't the age of consent in Holland 12? Correct me if I am wrong.
Isn't the age of consent in Holland 12? Correct me if I am wrong.
NETHERLANDS LAWS:
1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 16 for all, sex between an adult and a young person between the ages of 12 and 16 is permitted by law, as long as the young person consents. It may only be prosecuted by complaint from the young person or the young person’s parents. The question remains whether the public prosecutions department would proceed to prosecute if the young person themself had consented and their parents filed the complaint.
Not this time mate...Im usually all for blaming religion but its not responsible this time. Its only a tiny minority of people who get excused from sex ed for religious reasons..In my school for example, only one kid in my entire year was excused.
Its not just sex ed either, there has been a gradual breakdown of society and values for quite a while.
Many public health professionals believe that local, state, and federal governments behaved a lot like the social hygienists of the World War I generation as they continued to ignore or deny the need for public condom education. At this point in the epidemic, 25 percent of all HIV infections occur among teenagers—with rates increasing most quickly for teenage women. Yet most school districts still oppose condom distribution among students.
Yeah, fair enough there has been a "breakdown of society and values" but it's better that it's becoming less of a taboo subject. One of my older friends was talking about his gran growing up in the 30s/40s, and they used to go to dances all the time. When dancing with boys, they would always wonder if they had keys in their pockets, because the girls had never been taught about the male body. I feel that it's at least slightly better than this now.
Oh, and it IS religion based. The taboos originally stem from religious views.
For one, just because sexual morality is something that must be learned does not mean that it must also be taught. It simply does not follow.
Yeah, I agree there. In order to increase sexual morality, we would need to alter the whole structure of society, and its attidute to sex - it's not something that we can accomplish easily.
I've discussed sex ed with some of the teachers at my school. The fact is, that the teachers firstly don't know how to teach it, and secondly don't have up-to-date knowledge on the subject. One teacher seemed shocked to learn that STIs can be transmitted during oral sex. Oral sex is NOT discussed in our classrooms... I was told that this is because the teachers are too embarrassed to stand up and talk about "blow jobs".
Almost everything I know about sex/STIs/the reproductive system, I have taught myself. Ok, so we were given the basis in sex ed class, but no-one really listened, and some of the information wasn't even accurate. Masturbation, especially with regard to girls masturbating, was never touched on. The whole course was a sham, and the teachers never put any effort into research or the teaching of correct information.
Yeah, I read the following sentence, and I understood what you were trying to say. What I was endeavouring to point out was that the price of 'consistency' is so anathema to most people's ideas of freedom and individualism that it hardly qualifies as 'ideal,' let alone desirable.