Sex Education

I posted the following elsewhere in response to another person's post. Although it was started in response to her post, I think you'll get the gist if you start in the middle of our discussion here.

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It isn't a liberal vs. conservative debate though judging from the viewpoints of the participants it could be seen as such. The misperception of the real problem is what gets people thinking about this issue dogmatically and myopically and therefore debating about it from a very weak position. They simply don't wish to give the other side the credibility they deserve. And that's just plain stupid.

To wit, the "conservatives" rightly claim through much of their diatribe that the responsibility for educating kids about sex lies with the parents. And they decry those who would usurp their ability or right to do so. I wholly agree with that premise. The problem is, most parents, especially conservatives, don't or won't teach their kids about sex. If they talk about it at all, it's very frequently on a minimus level and it's couched as an embarrassing topic, if not in the words chosen during discussions, then definitely by the tone of voice and the body language of the parent squirming like a bug stuck on a pin. It's a supreme form of hypocrisy. So, to qualify the credit given a second ago, I agree with the thought and the principle of parents teaching their kids about sex and their responsibility to do so but the reality is, most parents . . . . Okay, I'm repeating myself.

Which demands, by the necessity created by chicken-shit parents, public sex education. Here's where the "liberals" get it right. Kids are going to have sex as soon as they learn about it or the moment they hit puberty, whichever comes first. Who's going to stop them? Parents aren't home most of the time and kids have a lot of unsupervised time, more than ever and earlier and earlier in their lives. To wit, it used to be that kids didn't have sex until they could drive a car, now they have a key to the house at age 11 for when they come home from school for three hours of alone time before momma comes home from work. Hell, kids have been having sex throughout all history even when they WERE being watched every minute of every day by their parents. Does anyone think they're going to stop now when by comparison, they have very little supervision?

Not a chance.

So, if we know they're going to have sex, let's teach them how to do it right. No, I'm not talking about breaking out the Kama Sutra for their ultimate pleasure though it could easily be debated that such is a good thing, especially for kids new at sex. What I'm talking about is teaching kids how NOT to fuck up their lives with sex. (Now there's a double-take!) Because you're not going to stop kids from having sex.

At least teach them how to prevent pregnancy and WHY preventing pregnancy at their age is a good thing. Teach them how to minimize their chances of disease so they don't go around spreading it if they have it or getting it if they don't have it. It's very simple: you're not going to stop kids from having sex.

I'm not a proponent of abortion as birth control, necessarily but I am a proponent of birth control as abortion prevention. This is the only territory where it becomes a legitimate liberal vs. conservative argument. But one of the many ways in which conservatives kick themselves in the nuts is they forget that abortions are primarily caused by irresponsible sex. Read that: Uneducated irresponsible sexual practices. Kids who get pregnant "by mistake" did it because they didn't know about any form of birth-control because their shy, embarrassed (selfish) parents didn't teach them about it. But the same people who are against abortion aren't doing their jobs to prevent it, ie., teaching their kids how not to get pregnane when they have sex because dammit, As much as you might like to, you're not going to stop them from having sex.

Why do I say selfish? Because the parents are more interested in preserving their so-called dignity or privacy or whatever they don't even consider the harm which could be caused by their kids not learning about sexual responsibility. But they don't want anyone else teaching their kids about it either. Utterly insane.

As I alluded to at the beginning of this post, it shouldn't be about politics. It's a life debate. And the prevention of one of life's disasters. Or more importantly, about taking one of life's greatest pleasures and keeping it from becoming one of life's greatest disasters. Here is an issue which should be the MOST non-political of them all and yet, it tends to be one of the most political. All the more reason to believe both sides are badly weakened by their own dogma on this issue.

So, all you antagonists of Sex Ed, bring on ANY objection which can be raised about prevention of sex education, public or private, and I'll blast you with my keyboard bazooka over it.

'Cause prevention of Sex Ed at any level is the prevention of life itself.

--Wag--

P.S. I should mention that I, myself, do not have kids, originally not by choice but as time has passed, we're actually glad we don't. Having said that, one might ask, "How the hell does he know anything about what it's like to have to teach a kid about sex?" Look, stupid, I was a kid once and dang. Wouldn't you know it? I was screwed up by my own anal retentive parents and it would sure be nice if I knew that someone else were being spared that fate.