The sex education debate is as old as the sexual revolution itself and a product of it.

Rewriting the social norms surrounding teen sex

by Carolyn Moynihan

"Proponents of sexual restraint could be on the cusp of rewriting the social norms surrounding teen sex." We have to make that hope come true.

The sex education debate is as old as the sexual revolution itself and a product of it. The idea that the sexual drive should not be inhibited and that a technical solution can be found for any adverse consequences has shaped relations between the sexes for at least 40 years, and the results have been universally destructive. One of the worst is the undermining of childhood innocence and adolescent idealism through explicit and ideologically loaded school programmes. If you are not au fait with the trend, take a look at the opening paragraph of Ada Slivinski's article about a highly controversial Ontario curriculum.

One might guess that such horrible ideas are the product of a younger generation who grew up not knowing any better. But the sight of ageing baby boomers waving these documents around and shaping their content puts paid to that excuse. One of the experts on the Ontario programme is a 63-year-old man convicted this week of child pornography and encouraging sexual abuse of a child.

But the whole decadent trend goes back much further, as Valerie Huber's overview of the history of sex-ed shows, beginning with some eye-popping statistics about the sexual health of the men who went to fight in the First World War. The arrival of AIDS in the 1980s became a reason, and an excuse for today's repulsive programmes.

But here's the good news: the most recent US government report on adolescent sexual health says that "75 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds have never had sex, and the majority have had no sexual contact at all," reports Ms Huber. "Proponents of sexual restraint could be on the cusp of rewriting the social norms surrounding teen sex." We have to make that hope come true.


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School sex ed: how yesterday’s extremists shaped the agenda Valerie Huber | FEATURES | 12 March 2015 An STD epidemic after World War I launched public sex education in America. Read more...

 

School sex ed: a fair and democratic proposal Ada Slivinski | FEATURES | 12 March 2015 Can parents push back against Ontario's "one-size-fits-all" sex ed programme? Read more... Read more: www.mercatornet.com