The politics of sex (education)

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The American College of Pediatrics published a study that concluded that over half of teenagers have engaged in a form of sexting.

Few things remain unchanged over the course of 17 years. Cars are more technologically advanced, as are houses, restaurants and relationships. While many ‘90s kids had cell phones and Facebook in high school, few had it any earlier than that. MediaSmarts released a report last year, which estimated that over 50 per cent of kids in Grade 7 have a cellphone, and 99 per cent of students across all grades have access to the Internet outside of school.

After 17 years of technology changing everything else, Ontario’s sex education curriculum was in desperate need of an overhaul.

The current system falls tragically short of equipping young people with the knowledge to engage in healthy sexual relationships. The revised plan was released in February and is being lauded by health experts and educators across the province for being the modern approach to health and sexuality that is needed.

In the digital world that has become so pervasive, kids are interacting with each other by phone and Facebook as much as they are face-to-face. The official journal of the American College of Pediatrics published a study, which concluded that over half of teenagers have engaged in a form of sexting. Far from demonizing the practice, the report went on to say, “This study extends cross-sectional literature and supports the notion that sexting fits within the context of adolescent sexual development…”

It’s doubtful whether Grade 11 students sending nudes are aware that they’re actively participating in the creation and distribution of child pornography and could be criminally charged for it. Given the proliferation of sexting, it’s crucial for students to be informed about the risks of such behaviour.

Unfortunately, there are still individuals who seem to think that their personal feelings are a better reference point for their children’s sex education than the objective research of experts in childhood development and health.

Current candidate for the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party MPP Monte McNaughton is claiming that the new curriculum was made without properly consulting parents. Although his statement is demonstrably false, frankly parents have failed at “the talk” since the dawn of time. McNaughton isn’t standing up and decrying the education board’s failure to consult parents about the calculus or grammar curriculum, and health education is just as important.

Sex education has always been a hot button issue, which is why former Premier Dalton McGuinty shelved his proposed sex-ed plan in 2010 prior to the provincial election. But what are people really afraid of?

The fear of exposing children to information about sex is actually what has created the paradigm of kids learning about sexual norms from the Internet and their peers. Teaching elementary school children the proper names for their genitalia and the definition of informed consent probably won’t turn them into deranged sex maniacs.

The vast majority of the new health curriculum is actually about nutrition, exercise and healthy relationships. The reality is that sex is part of a healthy intimate relationship, so the only damage that might be done is to the sensibilities of a fringe group who’d like to believe that their kids aren’t doing it anyways.

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