Sex Ed

     One of the staff members at my college saw this article and thought of me, it's about a really comprehensive sex ed course offered at a high school in Philadelphia which is taught the way I think all sex ed should be taught. It also offers a little on the progression of sex ed throughout the last few decades in the U.S. and how what we perceive to be progressive now, really anything more involved than abstinence only, isn't something new, but something that has been done before and was polarized by diverging politics. 
     There is an argument to be made for teaching kids about sex in a truthful manner. If you think about it, childhood is one of those things that has been socially constructed. Twelve year olds used to be married and work all day, but at some point society decided  we had to protect children, partially having to do with extended life spans, but really a huge variety of factors played into the development of "childhood". It became a much larger issue on the Western scene in Victorian England with the development of child labor laws. Somewhere along this journey childhood sexuality became taboo and any information or instruction regarding sex, puberty, genitals, and masturbation became "inappropriate" and "corrupting" for children. I blame Freud... partially. Mostly I just hate Freud (and the fact that people believed the shit he spouted).
     In my opinion there is never a point at which a human being (having genitals) is not curious about the sensations of their own body. Sexuality and sexual pleasure are things that are learned and given specific meanings later in life. Why not start this learning process in conjunction with the developing body. Teaching female bodied children the correct names for their genitals, teaching all children how their bodies work, and answering their questions to do with sex and sexuality honestly can create a person who is comfortable in their bodies and will later make more responsible, informed decisions. I'm not saying parents should sit their four year olds down and teach them how to masturbate, but allowing for open communication about sex, bodies, and pleasures will allow more children to feel unashamed of their desires and bodies, enabling them to handle these things in a mature way. 
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