I'm not like Mad at anyone who does this and I'm obviously not in charge of how anyone else tags shit on their own blogs, whatever, but it's always bummed me out when my sex Ed posts get reblogged and tagged with 18+, minors dni, etc. personally I actually very much want teenagers to learn about their bodies and safer sex but I guess I'm just the guy who wrote the thing.
by and large I am not an angry man but once I watched a fellow sex educator present to a room full of college students and, upon being gently challenged by one of the students who objected to them describing sex as something that happens between adults, said with very palpable disdain "I don't want to talk about kids fucking." and I was so angry about it that I made myself nauseous.
not just teens, either. every couple years I give up my Sundays for a few months to teach sex ed to 4th-6th graders, unpaid. and I don't do it because it's always fun or easy or great for my health, I do it because those are human people with changing bodies and feelings who deserve to have someone who gives a shit take the time to talk honestly with them so that they might make less painful mistakes later.
ah, this has gotten notes. now we begin a game of Is Someone Going To Call Me A Pedophile For This.
and the ironic thing is that teaching comprehensive sex ed as young as possible (to an age appropriate extent of course) is like literally the best way to keep kids safe bc it allows them to know if what’s happening to them is wrong. especially since the most likely abuser is a parent. who’s obviously not going to teach them that they deserve bodily autonomy. it sounds icky but teaching kids about sex is what lets them know if they’re being raped, and unfortunately a scarily high amount of kids are preyed upon.
Not even just teaching them if they're being raped either. It's also important because it shows them things like the fact the things about their bodies are natural.
It's natural, you're not disgusting for it, and there's nothing wrong with you for it.
There's so much shame surrounding very normal things happening to growing bodies. At least here in the USA, masturbation for example is heavily shamed. Education about people's bodies is highly lacking and kids need to know about their own bodies.
It's also important because kids are going to have sex. As much as you feel they should wait, there will always be kids who are having sex. They should have access to the knowledge and resources to have sex as safely as possible. Lack of sex education does not reduce how many young people are having sex, it just reduces how many young people are having safer sex.
