Friday, October 08, 2004
Epidemic Proportions
Okay, I've been trying to be good, but this is now the third time I've read this quote, and it needs to be shared:
- From Dr. Phil, to President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. (I was going to call her "First Lady Bush" but after the oral sex quote, I couldn't bring myself to do it.)
Okay, first of all, how do we know this? Who are we asking? How are we sure we believe them? Are we sure they know what oral sex is? I cite Dan Savage as evidence of recently post-pubescent kids being totally positive they know about sex and being totally wrong.
That's the first point. The second point is, while I understand the impulse to freak out, I sort of think this isn't a new thing. Everyone with kids, or who has been around people with kids, or has ever been a kid, knows of some story that involves the fascination with genitalia. I don't think that changes when we get older, we just get better at pretending that it doesn't happen. Example: In my cousin's kindergarten class, the teacher had them draw self portraits to hang on the wall for Back To School Night for parents. My aunt attended BTSN, and was distressed to note that her son's picture was not on the wall, so she asked the teacher. The teacher gave my aunt the picture, and it was immediately clear why it had been banned. When drawing a self-portrait, my cousin had included all the important parts: arms, legs, 10 fingers, 10 toes...and a penis.
I do think that if middle school kids are actually running around having sex with each other, that is a problem, but not exactly for moral reasons. It's dangerous, because I don't think they know what they are doing, or the possible dangers associated with that kind of behavior. When you're 13, you now know that boys don't have cooties; you don't know that they could have something much worse than cooties that a rhyme and a mark on your arm won't prevent.
And I don't think the answer is to tell kids that behavior is bad, unless there's a ring on your finger, and even then you should be careful not to enjoy it too much. Sociology and religion obviously have quite a lot to do with the choices we make, but I firmly, firmly believe that education makes all choices better.
We've got epidemic levels of oral sex in the middle schools.
- From Dr. Phil, to President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. (I was going to call her "First Lady Bush" but after the oral sex quote, I couldn't bring myself to do it.)
Okay, first of all, how do we know this? Who are we asking? How are we sure we believe them? Are we sure they know what oral sex is? I cite Dan Savage as evidence of recently post-pubescent kids being totally positive they know about sex and being totally wrong.
That's the first point. The second point is, while I understand the impulse to freak out, I sort of think this isn't a new thing. Everyone with kids, or who has been around people with kids, or has ever been a kid, knows of some story that involves the fascination with genitalia. I don't think that changes when we get older, we just get better at pretending that it doesn't happen. Example: In my cousin's kindergarten class, the teacher had them draw self portraits to hang on the wall for Back To School Night for parents. My aunt attended BTSN, and was distressed to note that her son's picture was not on the wall, so she asked the teacher. The teacher gave my aunt the picture, and it was immediately clear why it had been banned. When drawing a self-portrait, my cousin had included all the important parts: arms, legs, 10 fingers, 10 toes...and a penis.
I do think that if middle school kids are actually running around having sex with each other, that is a problem, but not exactly for moral reasons. It's dangerous, because I don't think they know what they are doing, or the possible dangers associated with that kind of behavior. When you're 13, you now know that boys don't have cooties; you don't know that they could have something much worse than cooties that a rhyme and a mark on your arm won't prevent.
And I don't think the answer is to tell kids that behavior is bad, unless there's a ring on your finger, and even then you should be careful not to enjoy it too much. Sociology and religion obviously have quite a lot to do with the choices we make, but I firmly, firmly believe that education makes all choices better.
