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Strollerderby
If your kids don't get the 411 on sex in here, are you going to fill them in on all the dirty details? Really?
My daughters are little. Like, toddler little and newborn little. The very thought of them having sex is beyond disgusting. Perish the thought of them ever being sexual beings. Yuck!
But here’s the thing: some day they will grow to be women. Women who have sex (again, yuck!). As such, at some point they’ll need to learn about it (growing up and having sex). If I didn’t ensure they learned about both, I’d be a pretty bad mom, nay, a bad person.
I get the parents in New York City who are in an uproar over the sex education classes in which kids are learning firsthand about lubricants, oral sex and vibrators. But the truth is, I don’t really get the uproar.
The New York City Department of Education is about to start requiring one semester of sex ed in sixth or seventh grade, and then again in ninth or tenth grade. The information they get in there will be lots of practical stuff, like facts about abstinence, birth control, and STD and pregnancy prevention. But they’re also throwing a curve ball by way of teaching some other real stuff, like the safety of “intercourse using a condom and an oil-based lubricant,” mutual masturbation, French kissing, and anal sex, according to Jezebel. They’ll also learn about oral sex with braces, “doggie-style sex” and S&M fetishes.
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Here are some stats to strike fear in a parent’s heart: A new study reports that not only are a whole lot of teens having sex, some of them aren’t even waiting until they become teenagers to do it. The study, from University of Texas’ Health Sciences Center at Houston, reported that almost 1/4 of Texas pre-teens are having sex before they reach 8th grade. And a terrifying 10 PERCENT of them are having intercourse in 6th grade. That’s 12-years-old (or 11 for the younger kids who don’t get redshirted). That’s about 3 kids per average-size Texas public school classroom.
And the numbers don’t get any less scary as the kids get older. See the stats after the jump.
A new study shows that parents talk to their kids about sex, but not about birth control. Hot tip: if you don’t want to be a grandparent too soon, that’s a conversation you shouldn’t skimp on.
While most parents are having The Talk with their children, the study, commissioned by Planned Parenthood and the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health, found that talk covers the mechanics of making babies and stops short of explaining how not to make little ones until you’re ready.
Why are parents keeping their kids in the dark about birth control? In some cases, that may stem from a belief in abstinence-only sex ed. Some people really think kids shouldn’t know about contraception.
A lot of us, though, are just squeamish about getting into too much detail with our kids. Or we think they’re too young to know. I am not one of those parents.
The 1973 version of Our Bodies, Ourselves
It’s hard to imagine that 40 years ago there wasn’t a book readily available for women that spoke scientifically and explicitly about their bodies or human sexuality, nor that such a thing would be considered revolutionary, but in 1971 when Our Bodies, Ourselves was first published that is exactly what it was.
Before the internet, Our Bodies, Ourselves was the best, most easily accessible source for all information pertaining to that area of a woman’s body previously known only as one’s “privates” or “lady parts.” Not only did it introduce a generation of women to clear and concise information about their bodies, it changed the way women talked about sex and gave them an ownership of their health that they had been denied previously. Continue reading »
What's the Big Secret is a big deal to at least one Washington mom
A mom in Oak Harbor, Wash., is up in arms over a book about the birds and the bees.
What’s the Big Secret isn’t a book exclusive to her fifth grade daughter’s school, but as far as Jennifer Swedeoson is concerned, it should be banned from them all. She had planned to talk to 10-year-old Kaleigh about sex when she reached middle school, but she was beat to the punch by the book.
It offers lessons in reproduction and different types of touching, including masturbation. However, Swedeoson doesn’t blame the book, but the school for not alerting parents to its presence in the library.
If you are 11 years old in Philadelphia, you can have contraceptives mailed to you for free.
If you’re 11 years old in Philadelphia, you can get free contraceptives. And if you’re too shy to pick them up in person, you can have them mailed to you for free simply by filling out an online form.
The website making the free offer is called ‘Teens Take Control’ and was created by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
It also offers detailed information on how to put on a condom as well as graphic It also gives information about sexually transmitted diseases and how kids can protect themselves.
The website is written in straightforward language geared to kids.
Keep Walking, Romeo!
WMC-TV in Memphis reported last week that over 90 female students at Frayser High have had or will have babies this year, and 20% of the total female students at the school are teen mothers. In an interview, 16-year-old mother Terrika Sutton had this to say about the school’s pregnancy epidemic:
“It’s a shame that all these girls at Frayser are pregnant. But it ain’t nothin’ new…. They need a class where they can teach the girls before they get pregnant, use protection and stuff. Don’t try to get pregnant.”
That’s where the radical Memphis-area “No Baby” program comes in. Continue reading »
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