Comment on a FOX news report

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Please note I have purposely misspelled some words in this post so as not to attract unwanted interest from certain sources.
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The FOX News report is here

The title of this post will lead you to a U.N. report on teaching sexuality to children from age 5-18. It looks very good and has some most excellent points. It talks about bullying and other things that are needful for age appropriate education. I posted the article in the CASA LinkedIn forum. I never expected to get lambasted for declaring that teaching 5 year olds what masterbation is child abuse. It is as defined by the State of Mississippi. Although I am told it is not in other states. I don't have the time to check all that out, though.

If you'll look at your state's child abuse code, you might be surprised at what you find as defined child abuse.

In the state of Mississippi we find:
"(2) For purposes of this section, any material is sexually oriented if the material contains representations or descriptions, actual or simulated, of masturbation, sodomy, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals or female breasts, sadomasochistic abuse (for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification), homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or the breast or breasts of a female for the purpose of sexual stimulation, gratification or perversion. "

What the report intimates, but does not come right out and say is that many of the concepts and values must be taught across the age groups (page 28). The article includes concerns of critics who have seen the curriculum. Those are who point the finger at teaching what masterbation is to 5 year old. And it is their concern that the concepts taught may not be age approriate as the U.N. proposes.

On page 48 in the same module for 5-8 year olds, the units to be taught are a progression... "It is natural to explore our bodies, bodies feel good when touched, touching oneself is called masterbation." These are objectives for 5-8 year olds which, in my opinion, is highly inappropriate for that age. By teaching this, educators are stepping over the line of appropriate subject matter in sex educaton.

The program actually does intend to teach sexuality values, again page 28: "The overarching topics under which learning objectives have been defi ned are organized around six key concepts:
1. Relationships
2. Values, attitudes and skills
3. Culture, society and law
4. Human development
5. Sexual behaviour
6. Sexual and reproductive health"

And on page 34 for ages 9-12: Key Ideas: • Values regarding gender, relationships, intimacy, love, sexuality and reproduction influence personal behaviour and decision-making • Cultural values affect male and female gender role expectations and equality

Admittedly, the values section for ages 15-18 provides for the key insight that parents teach their values to their children and can respect that their children may form different values.

It also teaches ages 5-8 that people have the right to make their own decisions. While this is true, it could be misconstrued from a child's viewpoint because children should obey parents and submit to their decisions in a healthy way, not from an abusive standpoint. But, that is a side point to the discussion.

I do not say that children should be "kept ignorant or taught to be ashamed of their bodies". Gracious! I do believe there is a time and place for sex education and it should be biologically and scientifically addressed along with all the information about STDs and other things that people face when they become sexually active. The stats listed in this report show that the education of teens did not change behavior for the majority of respondents. That is a tell which should not be overlooked.

Because it has so much good, we should just ignore the little bit of bad? "Oh, because this is good and that is good, let's forget about this bad part." I can't wrap my brain around this: that the U.N. thinks we need to teach 5 year olds what masterbation is?

It is insidious how the world encroaches upon the innocent today. Teaching masterbation to children is sexual abuse. No matter how much candy is wrapped around it, it is sexual abuse. No one is calling sexual abuse what it really is. Because it is wrapped up in scientific jargon, it is candy-coated, then it must be okay for teachers to teach it.

Why does masterbation have to be included in this program? It is wrong that these things are already being taught in schools without parents' permission. And if parents get upset about their children being taught sex education, then they are harangued and ridiculed. (This has been reported in more than one community.)

Age appropriate or not: 25% of the children will be past it, 50% will be about on target, and 25% will be behind so it isn't right for all children anyway. The focus of the article is that masterbation is included in this curriculum proposal. Teaching that to children is sexual abuse.

I do know that some parents probably are needing some help with sex education of their children... But learning where babies come from and what body parts are is a far cry from teaching about masterbation.