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    Blasted Out Of Innocence, Part 2 (Sex Ed in the Early Ages)

    Filed Under current affairs, education, gender, health, heteropatriarchy 

    At one point during the O’Reilly interview, Rev. Haffner brought up the recent Catholic sex abuse settlement case as an example of why children need to learn about their bodies from a young age. O’Reilly seemed to dismiss this on the basis that the victims involved were in their early teens.

    This alarmed me. As Rev. Haffner had pointed out at the beginning, early childhood sex ed is about laying a foundation for future, more comprehensive education. If children aren’t being taught from the get-go that it’s okay to even say certain words, when will they ever develop the comfort level to discuss sexuality? During adolescence - perhaps the most awkward stage of life?

    As a child reared in a very religious home, I never, ever used words like sex or penis. I was in my early 20s before I even pronounced the word rape. I When I would see a news story about a woman being raped, and wanted to talk about that with someone else, I’d say the woman was assaulted, attacked, or - if I was really shaken up - violated. I remember being so embarrassed about sexuality that between the ages of 12 and 15, I didn’t get any new underwear. The ones I had were practically reduced to shreds by washing and drying, but I couldn’t bring myself to let my mother know that I needed *gulp* panties.

    And I didn’t come from a particularly repressive family; I just never had the opportunity to use words expressing sexual concepts at all - in positive or negative contexts.

    Certainly, I didn’t have the vocabulary to tell my parents about the sexual abuse I witnessed happening to some of my friends. When I wanted to avoid going over to one friend’s house in particular because of the things her brother did, I would feign illness or become sullen; my parents, not knowing what was going on, would become irritated with me.

    Are children who are taught sex education from a young age better equipped to protect themselves and advocate for themselves during and after dangerous situations? I’d like to know this. If the evidence says yes, perhaps more parents, teachers and other concerned adults can view sex education as being a matter of physical and mental/emotional health.

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    One Response to “Blasted Out Of Innocence, Part 2 (Sex Ed in the Early Ages)”

    1. Comrade Kevin on July 21st, 2007 6:56 pm

      I agree wholeheartedly with Obama.

      But I remember not all that long ago when Joycelyn Elders suggested that masturbation should be taught in schools and ended up being forced out of her post as Surgeon General.

      I wonder have we really come that far in thirteen years time?

      Talking about childhood sexuality is a thorny, contentious issue. I can say that my Father was good to tell me about sex at a young age because I was a precocious child and naturally inquisitive. By the age of 10, I knew 80% of what I know now. I do know that many parents are squeamish to talk to their kids and I had friends whose parents thrust books into their childrens’ hands and never engaged in “the talk”.

      I don’t tell many people about this because it’s particularly painful, but I was sexually abused as a child by the father of a playmate as well as by his two sons. And I wish I could tell you that I learned how to protect myself better. Actually, I can’t answer the question really at all because I’ve blocked most of the abuse out. That’s common to most children who undergo sexual abuse as children.

      I think most children are naturally trusting and that is sadly to their detriment. Though they might know what is happening to them they still might not be able to protect themselves. Aside from parents being vigilant I don’t know if there’s any way you can teach a child to avoid being exploited. And even then, you never know for sure. My parents tried as best as they could to protect me and the abuse happened anyway.

      Instead of performing damage control, let’s dare to confront the cause rather than treat the effects. We need to start asking serious questions about pedophilia: why it exists, what creates it, and how to stop it.

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