Sex Ed Books Don't “Groom” Kids and Teens. They Protect Them

https://bookriot.com/sex-ed-books-protect-kids/

by Anon84 • 3 years ago

26 28 3 years ago

bookriot.com

pyuser5833• 3 years ago

This is an issue that’s very context specific. The content matters. The age matters.

There are videos on social media of books that are very much “NC-17” given to kids in middle school.

jfengel• 3 years ago

I would be inherently suspicious of videos. They are poor ways to engage critically with something. They can engage in exaggeration, misrepresentation, and outright lies, and you can't easily check them.

It would be so much more believable to just provide a link to the publisher or Amazon. But it's so easy to make a video and have people repeat the accusation.

pyuser5833• 3 years ago

You can’t link to part of a book.

birdyrooster• 3 years ago

I don't think a book can be rated NC-17.

laratied2• 3 years ago

The alternative though is pornhub. I see a study from 2017

"Study on Australians ages 15-29 found that 100% of the men (82% of women) had viewed porn."

No shocker there but:

"Also, 69 percent of males and 23 percent of females first viewed porn at age 13 or younger."

Just one of those things that makes me love being child free. No clue what you do in this situation.

pyuser5833• 3 years ago

Age inappropriate instructional materials don’t serve as a shield against harm from pornography.

Is there any research that increasing the level of explicitness and detail for younger ages increases benefit or mitigates harm?

potsandpans• 3 years ago

proof.

subjectsigma2• 3 years ago

Completely uncritical partisan drivel which doesn’t engage with any other viewpoints at all. “I’m right because my team is better than yours so you’re wrong,” etc.

hotpotamus2• 3 years ago

I've never really understood the point of lying to children about sexual reproduction. Or trying to hide its existence I suppose.

kgwxd• 3 years ago

Because it makes immature adults, who were raised by immature adults, uncomfortable.

blacksmith_tb• 3 years ago

I assume lying has only even been a possibility since (most) children now grow up without being around livestock of various kinds. And while I don't have any use for paranoia about 'grooming' I think it's not absurd to consider developmental stages - we don't let children drive, drink alcohol, vote, etc. because we don't consider them fully able to understand the consequences yet. So sex ed needs to be taught in a way that's understandable and useful, if not actionable, yet.

JoeAltmaier• 3 years ago

Ad-Hominem attacks do little to advance the discussion.

subjectsigma2• 3 years ago

When they write a better article I’ll write a better comment

erulabs3• 3 years ago

It’s particularly underhanded to start by talking about a book in the 90s, conflating it with books today, lauding the book from the 90s and then concluding everyone who has any criticism of what their children is being taught at all is a bigot. “Heather has two mommies” is not germane to what is happening currently.

Yes, lots and lots of idiots have banned perfectly good books. No, we shouldn’t hide sex education from children. But should 5 year olds be told that if they’re not feeling normal, they might not a boy or a girl, but something else?

I don’t have an answer to that question - but I have to say as a parent I had to stop reading when parent rights were put in scare-quotes. As if participating in your own children’s education is backwards.

Obviously this is all a million shades of grey, I’m not making any blanket accusations, and I’m not trying to ban any book. But parents should be involved in their children’s educations, full stop.

mxkopy2• 3 years ago

But parents should be involved in their children’s educations, full stop.

They already are by being at home with them, at least in theory.

But should 5 year olds be told that if they’re not feeling normal, they might not a boy or a girl, but something else?

School is supposed to expose children to the myriad of possibilities that constitute reality and being trans should not be discounted as one of them.

iinnPP• 3 years ago

I agree. When I was 5 I really wanted to work on algebra and was never allowed. Schools should teach that starting in the first grade as well.

There's no /s here, since I understand it may seem that way.

Kye4• 3 years ago

> "Yes, lots and lots of idiots have banned perfectly good books. No, we shouldn’t hide sex education from children. But should 5 year olds be told that if they’re not feeling normal, they might not a boy or a girl, but something else?"

It would have helped me avoid a lot of confusion, conflict, and awkwardness growing up. I was always nonbinary. I just didn't have the language to talk about how I was feeling. Finally encountering other people whose specific experience matched mine in the 2010s was eye-opening.

Not only can you be something other than two possibilities, there's a whole space of possibilities inside, outside, and around them! Amazing. I needed that when I was 5.

n4alre• 3 years ago

Everyone is non-binary. The culture-bound stereotypes that are attached to and imposed upon female and male aren't enacted fully by anyone. One does not need an additional identity outside of woman or man to do this.

europeanNyan• 3 years ago

This is missing any semblance of nuance. When the article makes a point that "the wrong side" is using children to push their beliefs and does the same at the end of the text (think of the kids!), you know that it isn't worth the (digital) paper it was written on.

mxkopy2• 3 years ago

Not everything has to be nuanced. Some people want everyone to know being trans is a possibility, and some people don't. It's really cut-and-dry.

akomtu• 3 years ago

Here is a simple litmus test of whether a book is any good. When you go to someone's birthday with kids present, think about casually mentioning something from that book. If you can reasonably expect to be kicked out from the party, the book is no good.

laratied2• 3 years ago

I remember getting a sex ed book sent home in 6th grade. It sat around with my parents not wanting to touch the subject and I threw it in the garbage one day when they weren't home. They never said a word about what happened to the book.

To me that sums up the problem. So many parents are just too shy about sex to educate their kids.

Ignoring sex ed and at nearly the same age giving a kid a phone to take to bed with unlimited porn is utterly insane.

Sex Ed Books Don't “Groom” Kids and Teens. They Protect Them

Related Stories