While reading chapter one of Shalit's "A Return to Modesty" I began to ask myself questions: "how did I learn about sex?" and "was I comfortable with it at the time?" If I remember correctly the first time I was ever formaly taught about sex was in the 5th grade. However, I do believe I was fully aware of what sex was before that uncomfortable SexEd class. I was a curious child like many are and if there was something out there that wanted to know about then there was no stopping me in finding out what it was all about. I learned from sisters, friends, tv, radio, magazines, you name it and I probably learned about some aspect of sex from it. It's everywhere! If I was discontent with my knowledge of sexuality then who or what would I blame? I certainly wouldn't blame SexEd class; I learned nothing new that day.
I have always agreed that knowledge is power and therefore the more you know about sex then the better equipped you are to make appropriate decisions. Shalit seems to believe that SexEd is actually doing more harm than good to children. If anything I believe that I should have had SexEd class earlier in my life, then maybe I wouldn't have gotten in so much trouble for snooping. No matter what is taught in SexEd class or when it is taught, I feel that it is only an extremely small portion of my overall sexual knowledge. This is the sexual knowledge that I use to make my appropriate decisions. Maybe I wasn't an average child though (wouldn't surprise me) and therefore I ask could Shalit's beliefs towards SexEd class be valid?
3 comments:
My encounter with sex was almost completely the opposite. I led a very sheltered life when I was young. The first i heard of sex was when i was on a camping trip with some of my friends and our dads; we left them and went to a beach close by and started talking about sex and i felt very uncomfortable because i had no idea what they were talking about. I think my first sex-ed class was in third grade and it was very awkward. They separated the boys and the girls into separate rooms and explained what parts you had and what they were for. The next class we had was in fourth grade when they explained what the opposite gender had and what those parts were for; and finally in fifth grade they explained things about the after math of sex (babies and birth). They didn't get to STD's and those things till middle school.
I agree that they should teach sex-ed in schools to children that young because I think it is important for children to know what it is and the impact that it could have on their lives if they are not careful about it. I know that there are some families out there (mine included) that do not talk about sex or anything even close to it. If they didn't teach sex-ed it would have taken me a lot longer to learn about it.
I agree that sex ed was not my first encounter with sex. I learned about sex at an earlier age from friends, tv, and magazines. I remember being in third grade and being confused about sex. I had the general idea of what it was, but at the same time I would have preferred to just believe in the stork. I had sex ed in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. We had it separately in fourth and fifth grade. In fourth grade they explained about hygiene and natural body processes. Fifth and sixth grade we actually learned about sex. It is sad that we have to explain sex to children when they are 10 years old, but the changes their bodies are going through make it necessary for sex to be brought up.
Although I felt disgusted when I learned about sex, there was a feeling of relief. I was glad to no longer be confused. I would go so far as to say that America makes too big a deal out of sex. Yes, it should be considered sacred and not be taken lightly, but it should be nothing to be embarrassed about. Although sex is in all our forms of mass media, there is still an underlying religious taboo to talk about it. I think if our country was more open about sex, children wouldn't be so embarrassed and uncomfortable learning about sex.
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