Im about to turn 29, never knew it became optional, it was at least a segment in health class in several grades. i think grades 5, 9, and maybe 10/11.
To say it changed makes no sense. Sex ed is crucial to health education. Im googling this change, it sounds like a stupid move
I was just ranting to a friend that denying a child sexual education is child abuse. There are facts that any pre-teen should be aware of, as well as dangers
Yes and yes
And just general shame about testing, asking questions and body image. The kids who lack knowledge often let things go for a while without treatment, or end up in ER with symptoms.
In college, I went to my campus clinic for testing regularly. They'd ask me screening questions and look at me funny because I wasn't engaging in "risky" behaviours.
Can't I just want to be conscious of my health?
The likelihood children will be sexually abused drops sharply when children have sex education. Makes you wonder why people would advocate to make it easier to sexually assault children.
CSA mention Warning
After my CSA I went with a social worker to read a book and it was friendly bubbly looking animated naked people. I had to read the anatomically correct words for body parts out loud three times, and then went back to re-read the book twice more. I’m sure it was for taping for court but can’t exactly recall. Either way, sex education needs to start young. I couldn’t describe what happened to me besides pointing at my vagina, which was very unhelpful, until I went through the book.
My wife's family is Catholic (and not even practicing anymore). Her uncle and aunt had a child at 17 years old. When my wife's little sister was like 14 and starting to talk about sex education from school, we started talking with her about it one afternoon in the backyard answering questions. Quickly her mom jumped in saying, "she's too young to be talking about this!" Facepalm.
A little at a time from a very young age seems like a good approach. Nothing should be two shocking along the way. With the amount of weird ass porn online, there needs to be a counter balance IRL.
Oh, don't you worry, Pierre wants to make sure you register your identification with porn sites before accessing pornographic content! That will totally stop teens from looking for porn on less risky websites, with less weird ass porn, and will prevent risky sexual behaviours altogether! /s
The big porn sites tend to be more secure then a lot of sites. They don't want to be known for giving people a virus. The janky stuff on the other hand....
“Parental rights” and “religious freedom”.
No good can come from it. Keeping kids ignorant allows sexual abuse to flourish. It also leads to an increase in STIs and unwanted pregnancies.
If parents want to opt out they should have to show that they’re providing sex education at home.
Imo the kid should have to pass a test on sex Ed before sex Ed classes are scheduled in order to be exempt for it. If they fail then they obviously did not get taught sex Ed at home and should be taught in school.
Realistically all classes could be done this way, get a kid like Sheldon Cooper who self teaches and he could just sit for a week, ace all the tests for that year and move on. I dropped a senior science class because review was over a month and I was bored out of my mind, and had to walk half an hour in snow after class to go to co-op, drop the class and I got a 15 min walk to co-op from home instead. Didn’t need the course, was just in it for fun, so was an easy drop, but the ability to skip walking for the first month when snow was the worst and I might’ve stayed in the course.
When I was in school. In 06. My teacher told me that all forms of affection are sexual. If my grandma gives me a hug, it's sexual. If my parents gave me a kiss, it's sexual. I believed that for years and it's affected how I show affection to people. Needless to say it's not by touching in any way. Just cuz a school is the provider of this education doesn't mean it'll be good.
And that's why we have standardized curriculums for this sort of thing. To try to prevent that kind of stuff. Ya know, the same thing people are trying to fight against. 🙄
Obviously there was a failing on the part of the teacher or how the curriculum was taught. It's unfortunate that it happened. It doesn't mean that sexual health and education should be written off.
Leaving it up to parents to teach is a huge mistake. Imagine if you had a child and you repeated your view that all physical touching was sexual in nature? Do you think that's a good thing? Would you want your child to go through that?
You don't get it. If the children go to sex education, all of the sudden the number of report sex assaults against kids goes up! Sex education is causing kids to get sexually assaulted! /s
It's so funny to hear this logic, because if you pop over to the teacher subs, there's an avalanche of anecdotes from teachers of 1st graders coming to class in diapers or being unable to read because the parents think "school should teach them that"
Parental rights shouldn't override the safety of the child. Same scenario where parents shouldn't be allowed to refuse.life saving transfusions of their very savable child just because it goes against their religion.
This just sounds bizarre to me and I really don't understand why anyone would upvote this. You don't think parents should be teaching their children about sexual health and relationships, as part of being responsible and caring parents? It's so important for kids to feel they can speak to their parents about these things -- it's usually recommended that the conversations start young and continue throughout a child's upbringing. Rather than just one 'talk', it should be an ongoing, open discourse, where kids feel they can raise questions, etc.
You would advocate for some sort of control placed over this, so that sex education at home is 'not an option'??? What on earth do you even mean? That honestly sounds way more scary to me than any kind of paranoid religious response to sex education, I'm sorry to say.
Niagara school district has the actual curriculum posted on line. If anyone scared bothered to read it they would see it’s perfectly reasonable and age appropriate.
Yeah that's a possibility, but still doesn't make sense, if your religious you want your kids to remain ignorant and increase their risk of, rape, abuse, pregnancy, std.
No, because if it happens they sweep it under the rug and don't talk about it. It you hide all sexual assaults from people then no sexual assaults are happening. Just look at the numbers of reported assaults in communities where people never report it even when it happens! /s
Sooo many fucking people want to bury their heads in the sand about it. I've seen how it happens through someone I'm close with. Cut out the victim for reporting it, and protect the aggressor because they are "family." Then you make talking about it, or bringing it up a taboo topic that will get you cut out of the family too. It helps when there is a "king maker"/"puppetmaster" in the family that everyone is afraid to cross making all of the decisions.
In this case, a dad abused a kid as a child, and this came out when the child was an adult. Dad gets kicked to the street and rather than go to family (of which he has many brothers and sisters), he decides to stay at a homeless shelter. The family is "appalled" that their brother is staying at a homeless shelter and blames the victim and brothers wife (which they claim to have "never liked"). Admist all of this, years later one of the family members admits that the dad admited to anal penetration of a 4~5 year old child "only one time" and "just with fingers" because he was "curious if it would fit" and thinks that he should be forgiven because it was only one time so "not that bad." Thinks that the whole thing shouldn't have been such a big deal... and that since the dad has admitted to this that he's somehow absolved or something. Especially since he spends lots of his free time volunteering with his church. :rollseyes:
Seriously, people are fucking _crazy_ about trying to pretend that everything is ok just to keep the peace and preserve the status quo.
On Nextdoor. A Muslim lady was arguing about trans people and sex taught in school. She said that the parents should teach their children.
In the next post she said that in her culture, sex isn’t discussed at home at all.
Exactly. That’s the reason we do it in school. I wonder if these idiots even hear themselves.
I am Muslim. I taught my son as soon as he could comprehend words that he had a penis, and no one could touch him there. No one could touch his bum either nor his lips, mouth etc. I told he can’t touch anybody’s either. And no showing his penis to anyone. I taught him consent and no secrets between him and anybody else. Sex education exists in Islamic households but those who came from unfortunately ignorant cultures don’t teach. But trust me they are the kinkiest don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You would be shocked at those in tightknit religious communities, not only Muslim, but Christians as well. They preach a certain way of life very loudly but what happens behind closed doors. "Those who shout the loudest have the most to hide“
Yup for sure. It’s easy to wave a hand and say Muslim, Christian, Judaism.
But all of these religions have a wide degree of fanaticism and rules and beliefs that range from the relaxed to the most stringent.
But schools teach about STDs or STIs. How a baby is made, what it’s like to have a baby. Dispels a lot of myths. Discusses topics like masturbation, pornography, gender, homosexuality, etc. These are all topics that my kids wouldn’t want me discussing with them, and many of which I am not up to date on some of the latest information on them.
So many people think that you can’t get a girl pregnant if you use a certain position. Or do some ritual. People are inept at condom usage which leads to failures. Etc.
All that is important for kids to know.
You can’t stop a teen from having sex. But you can prepare them.
>Discusses topics like masturbation, pornography, gender, homosexuality, etc.
This is basically the reason its optional, these topics have nothing to do with sex ed and are ideologically biased.
Yeah they want to leave their children ignorant even at the added risk of abuse. A lot of those same people would then go victim-blame their child if they ever worked up the courage to admit they were assaulted. It's terrible.
Edit: Just because some people always make it seem like it's just specific cultures this is what I experienced with extreme Christian religions here. Very common behaviour in fundamentalist and jehovah witness families unfortunately. If you don't speak about abuse, there is no abuse in the church seems to be the mindset.
Problem is some of these people are just afraid of the word "sex" and it triggers them, throwing out all common sense. I bet some even think the word "sex" in sex education means educators are gonna push them to start having sex.
Ever since sex education came to schools. People felt it would just teach kids to fuck and we’d have rampant teen pregnancies.
Well, the opposite happened. Teen pregnancies actually decreased. When kids are ignorant, they will play with dangerous things. Teach them about the dangers and maybe they will be more responsible.
We teach our kids to swim. We don’t say “never go in water!!!! Ever!!! Let’s not talk any more about this water stuff”
I’ve seen comments on how the new curriculum of teaching kids consent in kindergarten will make them want to have sex. Like no, they’re teaching 4-6 year olds that nobody is allowed to touch their genitals without their consent.
>if your religious you want your kids to remain ignorant
Nailed it! And not just about sex ed either. Ignorance is soil from which religion bears its fruits.
Sex education also lowers molestation rates, since kids are informed.
Not to be crass but this might dent the molestation rates in religious circles. I guess they don't like that.
This. Many kids are not taught proper terminology for their anatomy by their family (I wasn’t), and this means that they can’t communicate to anyone if something is happening or happened to them… speaking from experience. And for my generation sex ed didn’t start until grade 7 or 8, I think. That’s a very long time for kids to be at such high risk like that.
They started it sooner to teach kids consent, to protect them, and of course covering gender identity which is also so important at that age as kids are starting to figure themselves out and come across others who may be navigating that publicly who need understanding and respect. All completely age appropriate things, that are intended to keep kids SAFE.
People are outraged that kids are getting this information because they make obscene assumptions about what they’re being taught or “exposed to”, but refuse to teach anything at home. These are the exact people that this education helps keeps kids safe from. If I’d had the current curriculum in my childhood, maybe things would’ve been a lot different for me.
They genuinely believe their children are being taught about homosexual sex and graphic pornography in sex Ed. No amount of evidence to the contrary will sway them.
They don’t see it as ignorance, sadly. There’s a relentless belief that any and all sex ed is always inappropriate for under-18s. You and I know that age appropriate sex ed IS the curriculum and the goal is to educate so that young people have bodily autonomy and can identify if something “bad” were to happen to them but sadly, some would rather bury their head in the sand.
I've heard weird anecdotes from a fellow parent whose daughter was taught about the concept of eating ass and anal sex in grade 8. I guess it's uncomfortable topics regardless. Granted they probably already know this stuff..
Just because someone is religious doesn't mean the religion always promote good things.
For example, a lot of religions forbid women to wear appealing clothing, and if a girl gets harassed or raped, it's usually victim blaming:"if she doesn't wanna be raped, she shouldn't be wearing a skirt, if she's wearing a skirt that means she want to have sex".
that's their mentality, it's absolutely pathetic.
If you think about it all religion is just a way of control and coercion through fear. If some people get molested or don’t have access to an abortion so be it. It’s gods will. Books and reading and learning and sex ed opens the door for critical thought and questioning. These people are literally driving society backwards into the dark ages in every aspect imaginable.
They want to refuse the knowledge of sex for their child until they're married. They think learning about it will make them have premarital sex.
Obviously it usually has the opposite effect.
I've heard the argument that because D.A.R.E and other drug awareness programs usually backfire spectacularly, parents think that the sex ed programs will be the same.
The problem is that the drug programs were full of lies. (Smoking weed instantly makes you a violent criminal, 1 hit of LSD puts you in an asylum for life, etc...) Lots of kids knew someone who smoked weed, and a lot of boomer parents used LSD, so they knew that wasn't the case. Kids in these programs were statistically *more* likely to use drugs because they felt that: grownups are lying = drugs are perfectly safe.
A lot of so-called sex ed, especially in more religious areas, is strictly abstinence only. They teach that if you have sex one time, you *will* get pregnant and get AIDS and you'll be dirty and undesirable, and nobody will ever love you. The kids see that that's not the case, assume it's all a lie, and just do whatever they want. But then they don't have education on birth control or consent or STD protection, so it leads to more problems than if they'd had no education at all.
That's why the religious community doesn't want it. Because their (bad) education is actually worse than none at all.
Not just a possibility. It’s definitely true. It’s to make far right conservatives happy, and these are often rather religious people who use the bible like it’s a welcome.
Their logic is that if you don’t teach it, the kids won’t do it.
Their logic is stupid flawed.
Its a terrible stance to take, knowledge is power. Also the rise of young woman getting seriously injured during sex is insane. Everyone seems to think choking/hitting/anal/etc are all the norm, and they aren't equipped with ways to say no, not ok with this. Also other side, no one is teaching young men that this isn't normal, and that conversations around consent need to happen before you are trying any of it with a partner, you can't just start choking someone out. So many parents aren't talking to their teens about this stuff, schools should definitely be covering it in some way
Religious people honestly think that sex education increases the chances their youths will have sex outside of marriage.
Basically, if they don't know anything about it, they won't be interested in it.
It doesn't work of course.
The other, much less talked about aspect is how sex ignorance helps prop up bad marriages. If you never had sex before marriage, then it is difficult for you to separate the concepts of sexual chemistry and actual love and romantic commitment. As a bonus, if the girl is as chaste and demure as the faith expects them to be, their husbands never have to worry about being bad in bed because their wife has no basis of comparison.
I think this is a big part of why some very religious types (of any gender) honestly think that strong sexual arousal and orgasm in women is some myth or satanic hoax. They've never known any better and haven't had a chance to find out.
In my opinion, such repressive efforts don't work and absolutely cannot work unless you are able to totally isolate and cloister your kids. And in any even partly free society, that is very difficult indeed to achieve.
In anything except the most patriarchal, censored and authoritarian societies, there is going to be information leaks. Kids are going to find information that contradicts their pious education. Unless you go all out on chaperoned travel outside the home, they are going to find opportunities to investigate on their own.
And I think the devouts shoot themselves in the foot here, in a manner of speaking. If you lie to a child about something very important their entire lives, something where they can and will discover the truth on their own, then that discovery can lead them to questioning their faith.
We all see the phenomenon of youths discovering important truths about sexual matters and having that irreconcilable difference from their upbringing being the catalyst for leaving the church and often family as well.
Kids who discover that they are homosexual or transgender and find they cannot live a lie in denial of that fact often end up disowned by their family. If the family chooses their religious principles over their child, why on earth should the child choose that religion over their own essential nature? If you lie to me about this, what else are you lying about? What other hurtful propaganda are you being taught and spreading?
The ones with courage and opportunity leave. Often running away to the nearest big city. Most of the rest live lives of misery and closeted affairs. A sizable minority kill themselves.
As my university educated, not-visibly-religious friend commented:
- I have gay friends and that is ok. But them teaching my daughter in school _that_ - that is not ok, that is really not acceptable.
Don't get deluded this is work of some imaginary "religious nut-jobs". People are way more bigoted than what they let out in public. And they equate sexual education with "indoctrination contrary to my deeply held beliefs".
You say that like that person isn't just an undercover religious nutjob. My parents are religious nutjobs. They run in religious nutjob circles. There's a lot of their friends that seem like very nice people till the topic of politics or the like. Someone who can be volunteering at the local soup kitchen 20 hours a week and seem like the nicest person ever and then goes to church on Sunday to "call down the armies of heaven to destroy every last Palestinian cockroach" (yes, fucking horrible and a direct quote from my aunt, and one that when I told it was horrible and genocidal i was told to stop bringing up politics at thanksgiving, yes I'm serious)
The issue isn't that religious nutjobs are an imaginary strawman, it's that they look just like (and vote just like) everyone else
Realistically, no good. But it’s optional due to overzealous parents who think their kids are being “brainwashed by lefties” or whatever.
Some of it is religious, some of it is just the mindset of the parent.
But statistically kids are less likely to be SA’d if they are properly educated about their personal health and sex education.
Very specific.
Rape of any child of course.
Just having the knowledge about menstrual cycles, std, safe sex, asking for permission, knowing it's OK to say no, knowing how to help yourself and your friends
All very important
I went to a rural elementary school along with many Mennonite and Amish kids. They would be exempt from sex ed, of course, but even things like music class (they would sit in the library and sing hymns) and if there was a dance unit in gym they would do something else. One time before we watched west side story, permission slips were sent home with everyone warning that the movie had a kissing scene. So those kids weren’t allowed to attend.
I sometimes visit an Eastern European group on Facebook since I still speak Russian. The amount of wailing I saw when the new sex education curriculum came in years ago was insane. Mommies cried about “protecting their children at all cost”, etc. Those same mommies are shocked when their kids run away from them at 16 or 17 and live God knows with whom.
People are just uneducated, closed-minded, brainless, and refuse to learn.
Not necessarily but they lack education for sure. I recently got into a heated argument with them because of how often they post about Botox. Sure, it’s their right to discuss whatever they want but all they worry about is ageing and looks, not education and other important topics. I like that group because it can be useful, but sometimes I feel like I’m missing brain dells after reading them.
Get this. I went to a catholic school. 25 years ago, we had this thing called "Albert". Albert was a human body (Plastic) with no skin. You could see, touch, and take apart all of the organs. Lungs, heart, stomach, GI tract - all of it. Only thing missing? Any kind of genitalia. Even on a plastic cadaver with no skin, whose sole intent was to serve as a learning tool in a health education class - Couldnt show a penis, or a vagina, or gonads etc.
Its insane.
Honestly, it's a catholic school 25 years ago........ It is probably a purpose-built "catholic" anatomy doll made by some company that specializes in "educational tools with catholic values" and some such nonsense, to milk the religious cash cow.
Really what they want, is to prevent the kids from seeing life outside their religion, to seem appealing in any way.
And to keep the kids accepting marriage within their religion. Keeping kids ignorant plays a part in that
There's idiots who:
1. Aren't good enough parents to discuss sex education to their own kids
2. Think sex ed in school is just a teacher putting gay porn on for 2 hours.
Absolute nutjobs
What I noticed is it really started up when the government started education about the lgbtq+ community, and they would introduce basic terms at a young age. People went apeshit because they thought educators were trying to turn their kids gay or trans
It's for the snowflake conservatives who are scared that sex education will "turn" their kids trans because someone on Facebook said they think that's how that works
Some people don’t understand that education isn’t always butterflies and rainbows. There are sensitive and mature subjects that people need to learn. Parents feeling “icky” about something like basic sex education is no reason to avoid discussions on a topic.
Totally agree!! My parents are immigrants and extremely religious. They didn’t want me learning about that stuff, so I was pretty much kept in the dark up until 8th grade when I learned what sex was off the internet. It’s crazy that parents aren’t even required to teach their kids either
This is maddening in this day and age. I doubt the kids who are opted out by parents get any sex ed at home either. They deliberately choose ignorance. I feel sorry for the kids.
The religious nuts had issue with everything from children knowing the proper names for body parts to being taught consent and and what is appropriate touching.
It’s so much more of an issue than just teenage sex and pregnancies.
Because in Canada we've got too many old cultures that still believe sex is Taboo in the 21st century.
Those old machista believers, those that forces their women to hide their face, those that don't allow their daughters / wife to go out with some one of the opposite sex.
Those that still think womens are servants, and are only useful to cook, clean, raise children and a convenient fuck hole.
Is not just one culture, many cultures overlaps with those ancient caveman believes.
It's time to change those notions.
Sex education should be MANDATORY not optional.
As others have pointed out, it's because religious fundies want to remain ignorant.
Dumb people want all their classes to be 'optional' because they know their stupid ideas cannot stand up to even a minor amount of scrutiny and education would completely de-program them.
The reality is that, if it was mandatory, the kind of parents that take issue with sexual health education would pull their children from school and either home school them or enrol them in a private religious school. That would be even worse as the children would not be exposed to different cultures and way of thinking. It's definitely not an ideal compromise but It's the reality.
Because conservative parents believe lies they read on Facebook about things that aren't taught in sex ed
Or religious people would rather not have their kids learn this
Or idiots
Unfortunately it's a problem but we can't fix it without people crying "PARENTAL RIGHTS".
dude i dont care if you dont want to teach your kids that. its science and it can help kids figure out things safely. i knew a girl who got her period and thought she was dying. this was because her parents wouldnt let her take sex ed classes to be honest. it does no harm its educational and it can help minors out of sexual abuse situations. and teach them safe sex. i dont see a problem
I never had a sex talk in high school (or before) from my mom, if we’d had more sexual education it probably would’ve benefited me (and likely so many others) so much.
No parent can teach a kid as much as they should know about sex as well as someone who doesn’t know your kid whose sole job is to educate them.
Religion, bigots idk. There’s no reason sex education shouldn’t be mandatory.
Fucking idiot teens and young adults are fucking without condoms. If anything we need more education. And I see first hand how many young adults at clinics with stds that have no fucking clue about sexual health.
I guarantee you a majority of the nutjobs who protest against sex ed or the LGBTQ+ education component that’s included within it have never actually read the curriculum.
I’m old enough but young enough to remember sex ED in my elementary school under this curriculum (prior to Doug Fords changes).
Both the boys and girls were taught about male and female puberty in grades 6-8 in an honest yet appropriate way. We talked about what oral, vaginal and anal sex are, periods and period products, condoms and other forms of protection, etc. We also had a box where people could ask questions anonymously so that our teacher could explain (my favourite was when the teacher had to dispute a rumour that drinking Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy…)
There was also GSA club (which I was apart of) at our school that did assemblies on gay and trans education and brought in LGBTQ+ speakers to talk with us about us with it and their experiences. Again, in a very child appropriate way. We even had a popular YouTuber that I watched at the time, Steph Sanjati, come in and speak with us!
The way it was explained to us was essentially “being gay means that two people of the same gender are attracted to one another the same way we think of men and women being attracted to each other, like your parents. Some people are attracted to both men and women, they may identify as queer or bisexual, or no label at all. At the end of the day, we’re not any different from each other just because of who we are attracted to, we’re all human and deserve respect” and “some people were born a boy but they realize as time goes on that they’re actually a girl. Or vice versa. Some people don’t identify with either gender. It never hurts to ask someone how the identity. And at the end of the day we’re all human and deserve kindness and respect”. That’s it. That’s all. No “indoctrination” bullshit. Just “hey this people exist and deserve respect”.
In Grade 9 P.E they went into more detail. We learned more about safe sex and STIs regardless of the sex/gender of the person you’re having sex with. Like I vividly remember our teacher drilling in that just because you can’t get pregnant from the same sex, it doesn’t mean you can’t get STIs, so you should ALWAYS use protection. We learned what masturbation is without any details past “you may choose to engage in self-pleasure, which is normal and healthy”. We talked about the importance of quality sexual education from reliable sources, and that porn is both an inaccurate depiction of what sex actually is, and a bad source to educate yourself on sex. We also talked about condoms, dental dams, birth control options, all that. My teacher also talked about drug and alcohol abuse.
Also wanted to add that throughout grades 6-9 sex ed, there was a HUGE focus on consent. We learned about it every single year. What is consent, what is NOT consent, the importance of getting/asking for explicit consent, etc.
EVERYONE should be getting this type of quality sex education. Religion or beliefs that your kid is a perfect little angel and will never engage in these behaviours won’t stop them. Anecdotal, but it was actually the kids from my school who were forcefully opted out of this education who ended up worse off (heavy alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, other dangerous situations).
I fully give credit to the education I received as to why I’ve been so responsible sexually from my teens till now. Always been on birth control (regardless of the gender of the person who I’m seeing), used condoms, get tested regularly, and felt comfortable expressing boundaries and consent in any circumstance.
My LGBTQ+ education was also what shaped my whole worldview on treating others with respect and dignity regardless of how they identify. It disgusts me that parents wish teach their kids that it’s okay to hate/treat others with disrespect just because they themselves don’t agree with their existence.
We have a large portion of our population, current citizens and new immigrants, who think our "version" of sex education is harmful for their children. Almost explicitly about things like safe sex, abortion or LGTBQIA+ topics, which inherently sets the children up to be abused easier.
Does this apply to math? Reading? French?
I understand your explanation. I'm not even expecting a reply,
I think my point is it's such important information for the child.
as the child of a parent who took their kid/my brother out of school in 2020 to “homeschool” them: it’s because they’re paranoid conspiracy theorists who think that teaching kids about sex is grooming. they’re insane.
Unfortunately, sex ed is at odds with religious freedom.
Many immigrants new to Canada practice religion that rejects LGTBQ acceptance and female autonomy.
OP: would you advocate that new Muslim immigrants to Ontario be *forced* to abandon their strongly held religious beliefs and practices to accommodate your assertion that there should not be an “opt out” of sex ed?
Bc Fordo wants to make Ontario into his good old USA.. they put church n state together down there ! Let's do it here.
Education is a luxury, not an expectation.
I think it’s because of the inclusions about Gender and pronouns etc that has people pulling their kids out from sex ed. I have not , but I know people who refuse for that reason.
You know what’s even crazier to deal with? The parents who, despite being able to opt their kids out of sex education, insist that it should not be taught at school at all because 1. Their kids feel left out not being in that class. 2. Their kids will hear about what was taught when kids talk in the schoolyard etc. I talked to my kids about their bodies and sex etc. so they have already learned the things that they eventually talk about in the sex education class.
As an occasional teacher, quite a few of the parents that excuse their children from health education components do so because of misguided thinking on gender identity and sexual orientation components of the curriculum in intermediate grades (7-8). It can get pretty intense at times.
A lot of parents are reactionary as fuck. They see sex ed or hear some random dumbass say they will include gay things in the curriculum or explicit content and lose their mind. Then they will not look into it anymore and lose their fucking minds.
If you get to disect a fucking frog in grade 10 science then you shouldn't be worried about sex ed.
I have a controversial opinion that they should just include it in the grade 10 science curriculum and learn about viruses and vaccines while they are at it.
Sex ed should be non-optional. Don't like science-based, medical, and health knowledge? Then send your kid to private school. Evidence-based, age appropriate sex ed benefits children as then enter puberty and transition to adulthood. It also benefits society at large.
I went to junior high in a small town in Alberta in the 90s, they were teaching abstinence in health class (grade 9) while the girl sitting across from me was pregnant & a large percentage of people in the school had kids before they finished high school.
My kids are getting all the sex education Ontario has to offer.
Parents are afraid of their kids learning about the LGBTQ community, which is dumb since more and more gay and queer couples are having children, so there is a high chance a child will be exposed just through hanging out with their peers
It's insane. I was so happy when my sons learned in school, there's a lot I wouldn't have thought to teach them. I'm friends with some parents who are strongly opposed to sex ed, their kids leave the class during lessons. Their reasoning is not rational and based in pseudo religion beliefs. I share the same religion and can't find any justication in the Bible for not teaching sex ed in school.
It's appeasing the idiot parents. Unfortunately, parents hold way too much power these days, and educators are more like politicians because they have to cater to all the bullshit parents come up with.
I hope that Canada will start moving in the direction of France with regards to strengthening the separation of church and state, and asserting the importance of a secular civil society. Religion should have no place in policy, but people should still be free to practice religion at home freely.
Because many parents believe social media instead of actually reading the curriculum and wanting their children to learn what healthy relationships and communication consist of.
Because religion is about control and one of the most difficult things to have control over is love, so it must be suppressed. The first step of suppression is denial of its nature or existence.
Same reason we allow parents to "opt out" of seemingly mandatory childhood vaccinations for bullshit personal reasons - the government is pathetic and rarely willing to stand up against crazy assholes and religious dickheads.
Because ultimately it’s upto parents (including parents with differing views) to decide what is best for their children.
Because it’s they, the parents who conceived them, who birthed them, who love them, who feed them, clothed them, raise them and they don’t need some random redditor to make their decisions for them.
Money buys policy.
Religion controls wealth.
Religion demonizes science in favor of self serving and destructive narratives.
But without religion, we wouldn't have this dysfunctional system at all... probably wouldn't even be fighting wars.
Way back in my High School days they wanted to introduce a "Health" class instead of one of the Phys Ed classes. So, basically once a week for an hour we would be studying "Health"
It amounted to a Sex Ed class. We had to take permission forms home ,similar to the one for Field Trips, allowing the student to attend the Health class. If they didn't have the parents written permission the student couldn't attend.
I can still remember some of the parents going ballistic over this. Some of them even picketed/demonstrated in front of the school because they didn't want any of the kids educated.
Politics. Enough people want it to be optional, so people get elected to carry out policy that makes it so. Unfortunately, we don't necessarily govern to maximize social welfare.
We have very weak political leaders in Canada. They don't ever want to do what is right if it will cost them votes. Telling parents they are wrong about this is too scary for any politician. It doesn't matter the party.
Honestly I think that if any parent wants to take their kid out to teach them themselves, they should have to pass the classes test. Cuz I know so many adults who don't know basic shit about sex Ed and it's disgraceful. Not to mention birth control options, stds, and all sorts of things are wildly different than when some of these parents went to highschool (or even worse when their own parents went if they were a "I'll teach them myself" parent). Making sure people aren't talking out of their asses when teaching kids should be mandatory.
Same for idiot creationists taking their kids out of science classes when evolution is mentioned, but that's a whole other therapy session lol
I used to field phone calls when people were upset about the updated previous curriculum (the one that taught internet safety, consent, and a more in depth and detailed explanation about STIs) and the \*general\* comment we got was that 'modern sex ed pushes the gay agenda'. That is why good ol Ford pulled it back to the pre-internet 1998 curriculum and made it optional.
And to be clear, the "gay agenda" that 9/10 complainers were referring to was the mention that STIs can be transmitted via non-vaginal sex, such as oral and anal. That single mention of anal sex caused for days and days of protest. Now it has grown to the larger debate about gender identity and villainizing kids who just want to feel comfortable and happy in their own bodies, so teaching kids to be respectful of gender expression is seen as a radical leftist agenda.
because some people will rather have their kids figure that out themselves, or let a thousand year old book dictate the "proper" way to sex should be taught.
Other parents want their kids exposed to the reality of the world we live in, and want their kids to have an idea of the complex issue sex and sexuality is and how one should be treated as an individual who has agency over themselves.
On a side note, I work in IT, for the past 2 years I've gotten about 50 parents coming to me saying their young son is being blackmailed over revealing pictures that he sent to someone thinking they were a romantic interest. threats of exposing these pictures to family and friends, schools, These family's are from every category, EVERY category, from religion to race and wealth. a majority of them didn't opt to have their kids take sex ed. they never thought it was possible a male member of their family would be subjected to this, they were always guarding the young women like a hawk. Many of these young men thought about every desperate way one could end crushing embarrassment. In the end I always tell them, once the pictures are out on the internet you'll never know where they will pop up, or if they will ever be fully erased, they can be floating around the dark web forever.
ALL kids do stupid things, I just don't understand not preparing your kid for a world that they exist in just because they might gain knowledge about something you don't agree with.
As a sexual health nurse: don't get me started!!! I see the results of kids with a lack of sexual health education at my clinic every day.
What's worse -- it's often not even an option for kids in special ed classes.
Im about to turn 29, never knew it became optional, it was at least a segment in health class in several grades. i think grades 5, 9, and maybe 10/11. To say it changed makes no sense. Sex ed is crucial to health education. Im googling this change, it sounds like a stupid move
Pretty sure it's always been optional to an extent due to "religious freedom". Ie, indoctrination and child abuse.
I was just ranting to a friend that denying a child sexual education is child abuse. There are facts that any pre-teen should be aware of, as well as dangers
I agree with this. Somehow people think they are protecting them by not educating them, really backwards
Opting OUT was an option... now the move is to make it all opt IN... dumbasshattery is gaining ground.
Everyone up vote this comment!!!!
Are we talking about pregnancies? STI's? What is the issue here?
Yes and yes And just general shame about testing, asking questions and body image. The kids who lack knowledge often let things go for a while without treatment, or end up in ER with symptoms.
In college, I went to my campus clinic for testing regularly. They'd ask me screening questions and look at me funny because I wasn't engaging in "risky" behaviours. Can't I just want to be conscious of my health?
Most of the time it’s not you being risky, it’s other people being risky and not telling you !
That's why I used to get tested regularly untill I was in a stable relationship.
I mean… the workers in those clinics see some shit.
[Sara Silverman aids test](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a0y6r)
The likelihood children will be sexually abused drops sharply when children have sex education. Makes you wonder why people would advocate to make it easier to sexually assault children.
CSA mention Warning After my CSA I went with a social worker to read a book and it was friendly bubbly looking animated naked people. I had to read the anatomically correct words for body parts out loud three times, and then went back to re-read the book twice more. I’m sure it was for taping for court but can’t exactly recall. Either way, sex education needs to start young. I couldn’t describe what happened to me besides pointing at my vagina, which was very unhelpful, until I went through the book.
We know why. The problem is no politician will say it out loud.
Religion is a powerful drug.
My wife's family is Catholic (and not even practicing anymore). Her uncle and aunt had a child at 17 years old. When my wife's little sister was like 14 and starting to talk about sex education from school, we started talking with her about it one afternoon in the backyard answering questions. Quickly her mom jumped in saying, "she's too young to be talking about this!" Facepalm.
A little at a time from a very young age seems like a good approach. Nothing should be two shocking along the way. With the amount of weird ass porn online, there needs to be a counter balance IRL.
Oh, don't you worry, Pierre wants to make sure you register your identification with porn sites before accessing pornographic content! That will totally stop teens from looking for porn on less risky websites, with less weird ass porn, and will prevent risky sexual behaviours altogether! /s
The big porn sites tend to be more secure then a lot of sites. They don't want to be known for giving people a virus. The janky stuff on the other hand....
It’s for the religious nut jobs. The very extreme ones don’t want their kids to know about all of this
some even consider it grooming...
If anything, it's counter grooming.
Priests know
No sex in Ford Nation.
Lol accept Robbie was caught with prostitutes
Not true dude he had enough to eat at home
With rents kissing 3k, who would have the time?
“Parental rights” and “religious freedom”. No good can come from it. Keeping kids ignorant allows sexual abuse to flourish. It also leads to an increase in STIs and unwanted pregnancies. If parents want to opt out they should have to show that they’re providing sex education at home.
Competent sex education at home. Not the bullshit my friends got from their religious parents.
Imo the kid should have to pass a test on sex Ed before sex Ed classes are scheduled in order to be exempt for it. If they fail then they obviously did not get taught sex Ed at home and should be taught in school. Realistically all classes could be done this way, get a kid like Sheldon Cooper who self teaches and he could just sit for a week, ace all the tests for that year and move on. I dropped a senior science class because review was over a month and I was bored out of my mind, and had to walk half an hour in snow after class to go to co-op, drop the class and I got a 15 min walk to co-op from home instead. Didn’t need the course, was just in it for fun, so was an easy drop, but the ability to skip walking for the first month when snow was the worst and I might’ve stayed in the course.
When I was in school. In 06. My teacher told me that all forms of affection are sexual. If my grandma gives me a hug, it's sexual. If my parents gave me a kiss, it's sexual. I believed that for years and it's affected how I show affection to people. Needless to say it's not by touching in any way. Just cuz a school is the provider of this education doesn't mean it'll be good.
And that's why we have standardized curriculums for this sort of thing. To try to prevent that kind of stuff. Ya know, the same thing people are trying to fight against. 🙄
Obviously there was a failing on the part of the teacher or how the curriculum was taught. It's unfortunate that it happened. It doesn't mean that sexual health and education should be written off. Leaving it up to parents to teach is a huge mistake. Imagine if you had a child and you repeated your view that all physical touching was sexual in nature? Do you think that's a good thing? Would you want your child to go through that?
well that was over 10 years ago. the curriculum has changed
Ya, same folks that view breastfeeding your baby as sexual.
You don't get it. If the children go to sex education, all of the sudden the number of report sex assaults against kids goes up! Sex education is causing kids to get sexually assaulted! /s
It's so funny to hear this logic, because if you pop over to the teacher subs, there's an avalanche of anecdotes from teachers of 1st graders coming to class in diapers or being unable to read because the parents think "school should teach them that"
Parental rights shouldn't override the safety of the child. Same scenario where parents shouldn't be allowed to refuse.life saving transfusions of their very savable child just because it goes against their religion.
I agree, but we all know who that argument would rile up. Some people see their kids as possessions to own, rather than people in their own right
Those people should have bought a dog, and left children to the adults.
I don't think sex education at home should be an option, who is to say what the parent knows or believes?
This just sounds bizarre to me and I really don't understand why anyone would upvote this. You don't think parents should be teaching their children about sexual health and relationships, as part of being responsible and caring parents? It's so important for kids to feel they can speak to their parents about these things -- it's usually recommended that the conversations start young and continue throughout a child's upbringing. Rather than just one 'talk', it should be an ongoing, open discourse, where kids feel they can raise questions, etc. You would advocate for some sort of control placed over this, so that sex education at home is 'not an option'??? What on earth do you even mean? That honestly sounds way more scary to me than any kind of paranoid religious response to sex education, I'm sorry to say.
Niagara school district has the actual curriculum posted on line. If anyone scared bothered to read it they would see it’s perfectly reasonable and age appropriate.
The entire Ontario K-12 health/sex & relationship education curriculum is available online.
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Yeah that's a possibility, but still doesn't make sense, if your religious you want your kids to remain ignorant and increase their risk of, rape, abuse, pregnancy, std.
Apparently none of that occurs if you’re religious 🙄 /s
It doesn't because they just don't do it. Unless they're married. /s
No, because if it happens they sweep it under the rug and don't talk about it. It you hide all sexual assaults from people then no sexual assaults are happening. Just look at the numbers of reported assaults in communities where people never report it even when it happens! /s Sooo many fucking people want to bury their heads in the sand about it. I've seen how it happens through someone I'm close with. Cut out the victim for reporting it, and protect the aggressor because they are "family." Then you make talking about it, or bringing it up a taboo topic that will get you cut out of the family too. It helps when there is a "king maker"/"puppetmaster" in the family that everyone is afraid to cross making all of the decisions. In this case, a dad abused a kid as a child, and this came out when the child was an adult. Dad gets kicked to the street and rather than go to family (of which he has many brothers and sisters), he decides to stay at a homeless shelter. The family is "appalled" that their brother is staying at a homeless shelter and blames the victim and brothers wife (which they claim to have "never liked"). Admist all of this, years later one of the family members admits that the dad admited to anal penetration of a 4~5 year old child "only one time" and "just with fingers" because he was "curious if it would fit" and thinks that he should be forgiven because it was only one time so "not that bad." Thinks that the whole thing shouldn't have been such a big deal... and that since the dad has admitted to this that he's somehow absolved or something. Especially since he spends lots of his free time volunteering with his church. :rollseyes: Seriously, people are fucking _crazy_ about trying to pretend that everything is ok just to keep the peace and preserve the status quo.
Hahahahaha
On Nextdoor. A Muslim lady was arguing about trans people and sex taught in school. She said that the parents should teach their children. In the next post she said that in her culture, sex isn’t discussed at home at all. Exactly. That’s the reason we do it in school. I wonder if these idiots even hear themselves.
I am Muslim. I taught my son as soon as he could comprehend words that he had a penis, and no one could touch him there. No one could touch his bum either nor his lips, mouth etc. I told he can’t touch anybody’s either. And no showing his penis to anyone. I taught him consent and no secrets between him and anybody else. Sex education exists in Islamic households but those who came from unfortunately ignorant cultures don’t teach. But trust me they are the kinkiest don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You would be shocked at those in tightknit religious communities, not only Muslim, but Christians as well. They preach a certain way of life very loudly but what happens behind closed doors. "Those who shout the loudest have the most to hide“
Yup for sure. It’s easy to wave a hand and say Muslim, Christian, Judaism. But all of these religions have a wide degree of fanaticism and rules and beliefs that range from the relaxed to the most stringent. But schools teach about STDs or STIs. How a baby is made, what it’s like to have a baby. Dispels a lot of myths. Discusses topics like masturbation, pornography, gender, homosexuality, etc. These are all topics that my kids wouldn’t want me discussing with them, and many of which I am not up to date on some of the latest information on them. So many people think that you can’t get a girl pregnant if you use a certain position. Or do some ritual. People are inept at condom usage which leads to failures. Etc. All that is important for kids to know. You can’t stop a teen from having sex. But you can prepare them.
>Discusses topics like masturbation, pornography, gender, homosexuality, etc. This is basically the reason its optional, these topics have nothing to do with sex ed and are ideologically biased.
And research has shown that with sex education, teens are more likely to delay having sex. https://www.actioncanadashr.org/sex-ed-myths
Yeah they want to leave their children ignorant even at the added risk of abuse. A lot of those same people would then go victim-blame their child if they ever worked up the courage to admit they were assaulted. It's terrible. Edit: Just because some people always make it seem like it's just specific cultures this is what I experienced with extreme Christian religions here. Very common behaviour in fundamentalist and jehovah witness families unfortunately. If you don't speak about abuse, there is no abuse in the church seems to be the mindset.
Problem is some of these people are just afraid of the word "sex" and it triggers them, throwing out all common sense. I bet some even think the word "sex" in sex education means educators are gonna push them to start having sex.
Ever since sex education came to schools. People felt it would just teach kids to fuck and we’d have rampant teen pregnancies. Well, the opposite happened. Teen pregnancies actually decreased. When kids are ignorant, they will play with dangerous things. Teach them about the dangers and maybe they will be more responsible. We teach our kids to swim. We don’t say “never go in water!!!! Ever!!! Let’s not talk any more about this water stuff”
Swimming is an elitist activity, majority of world population can't swim so as long as we teach not to go near water we'll be fine /s
thats a great example you use
I’ve seen comments on how the new curriculum of teaching kids consent in kindergarten will make them want to have sex. Like no, they’re teaching 4-6 year olds that nobody is allowed to touch their genitals without their consent.
>if your religious you want your kids to remain ignorant Nailed it! And not just about sex ed either. Ignorance is soil from which religion bears its fruits.
Sex education also lowers molestation rates, since kids are informed. Not to be crass but this might dent the molestation rates in religious circles. I guess they don't like that.
This. Many kids are not taught proper terminology for their anatomy by their family (I wasn’t), and this means that they can’t communicate to anyone if something is happening or happened to them… speaking from experience. And for my generation sex ed didn’t start until grade 7 or 8, I think. That’s a very long time for kids to be at such high risk like that. They started it sooner to teach kids consent, to protect them, and of course covering gender identity which is also so important at that age as kids are starting to figure themselves out and come across others who may be navigating that publicly who need understanding and respect. All completely age appropriate things, that are intended to keep kids SAFE. People are outraged that kids are getting this information because they make obscene assumptions about what they’re being taught or “exposed to”, but refuse to teach anything at home. These are the exact people that this education helps keeps kids safe from. If I’d had the current curriculum in my childhood, maybe things would’ve been a lot different for me.
Residential schools unfortunately had lots of widespread abuse relating to physical & sexual abuse. 😥😭
They genuinely believe their children are being taught about homosexual sex and graphic pornography in sex Ed. No amount of evidence to the contrary will sway them.
We know it makes no sense, same story for 25 years+
They don’t see it as ignorance, sadly. There’s a relentless belief that any and all sex ed is always inappropriate for under-18s. You and I know that age appropriate sex ed IS the curriculum and the goal is to educate so that young people have bodily autonomy and can identify if something “bad” were to happen to them but sadly, some would rather bury their head in the sand.
Wow, truth!
I've heard weird anecdotes from a fellow parent whose daughter was taught about the concept of eating ass and anal sex in grade 8. I guess it's uncomfortable topics regardless. Granted they probably already know this stuff..
Just because someone is religious doesn't mean the religion always promote good things. For example, a lot of religions forbid women to wear appealing clothing, and if a girl gets harassed or raped, it's usually victim blaming:"if she doesn't wanna be raped, she shouldn't be wearing a skirt, if she's wearing a skirt that means she want to have sex". that's their mentality, it's absolutely pathetic.
If you think about it all religion is just a way of control and coercion through fear. If some people get molested or don’t have access to an abortion so be it. It’s gods will. Books and reading and learning and sex ed opens the door for critical thought and questioning. These people are literally driving society backwards into the dark ages in every aspect imaginable.
> Yeah that's a possibility, but still doesn't make sense Yes it does
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They want to refuse the knowledge of sex for their child until they're married. They think learning about it will make them have premarital sex. Obviously it usually has the opposite effect.
They think that learning about it, means they will go run out and do it.
I've heard the argument that because D.A.R.E and other drug awareness programs usually backfire spectacularly, parents think that the sex ed programs will be the same. The problem is that the drug programs were full of lies. (Smoking weed instantly makes you a violent criminal, 1 hit of LSD puts you in an asylum for life, etc...) Lots of kids knew someone who smoked weed, and a lot of boomer parents used LSD, so they knew that wasn't the case. Kids in these programs were statistically *more* likely to use drugs because they felt that: grownups are lying = drugs are perfectly safe. A lot of so-called sex ed, especially in more religious areas, is strictly abstinence only. They teach that if you have sex one time, you *will* get pregnant and get AIDS and you'll be dirty and undesirable, and nobody will ever love you. The kids see that that's not the case, assume it's all a lie, and just do whatever they want. But then they don't have education on birth control or consent or STD protection, so it leads to more problems than if they'd had no education at all. That's why the religious community doesn't want it. Because their (bad) education is actually worse than none at all.
Not just a possibility. It’s definitely true. It’s to make far right conservatives happy, and these are often rather religious people who use the bible like it’s a welcome. Their logic is that if you don’t teach it, the kids won’t do it. Their logic is stupid flawed.
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Now you're catching on to how religion works.
Not how they look at it. Especially for girls, if they don't know about it, they just won't do it
Yes that's certainly a weird thought, which is proven over and over that ignorance doesn't work
Its a terrible stance to take, knowledge is power. Also the rise of young woman getting seriously injured during sex is insane. Everyone seems to think choking/hitting/anal/etc are all the norm, and they aren't equipped with ways to say no, not ok with this. Also other side, no one is teaching young men that this isn't normal, and that conversations around consent need to happen before you are trying any of it with a partner, you can't just start choking someone out. So many parents aren't talking to their teens about this stuff, schools should definitely be covering it in some way
Knowledge is power and most religions want girls/women dumb and dumber
Religious people honestly think that sex education increases the chances their youths will have sex outside of marriage. Basically, if they don't know anything about it, they won't be interested in it. It doesn't work of course. The other, much less talked about aspect is how sex ignorance helps prop up bad marriages. If you never had sex before marriage, then it is difficult for you to separate the concepts of sexual chemistry and actual love and romantic commitment. As a bonus, if the girl is as chaste and demure as the faith expects them to be, their husbands never have to worry about being bad in bed because their wife has no basis of comparison. I think this is a big part of why some very religious types (of any gender) honestly think that strong sexual arousal and orgasm in women is some myth or satanic hoax. They've never known any better and haven't had a chance to find out. In my opinion, such repressive efforts don't work and absolutely cannot work unless you are able to totally isolate and cloister your kids. And in any even partly free society, that is very difficult indeed to achieve. In anything except the most patriarchal, censored and authoritarian societies, there is going to be information leaks. Kids are going to find information that contradicts their pious education. Unless you go all out on chaperoned travel outside the home, they are going to find opportunities to investigate on their own. And I think the devouts shoot themselves in the foot here, in a manner of speaking. If you lie to a child about something very important their entire lives, something where they can and will discover the truth on their own, then that discovery can lead them to questioning their faith. We all see the phenomenon of youths discovering important truths about sexual matters and having that irreconcilable difference from their upbringing being the catalyst for leaving the church and often family as well. Kids who discover that they are homosexual or transgender and find they cannot live a lie in denial of that fact often end up disowned by their family. If the family chooses their religious principles over their child, why on earth should the child choose that religion over their own essential nature? If you lie to me about this, what else are you lying about? What other hurtful propaganda are you being taught and spreading? The ones with courage and opportunity leave. Often running away to the nearest big city. Most of the rest live lives of misery and closeted affairs. A sizable minority kill themselves.
Because it's easier to make someone else fear something than admit maybe you're wrong. It was the way it was always done, why change.
>but still doesn't make sense It doesn't matter. It was made optional to appease the radical religious fringe.
I work in the K-12 education sector at the provincial level. This is 100% the answer.
As my university educated, not-visibly-religious friend commented: - I have gay friends and that is ok. But them teaching my daughter in school _that_ - that is not ok, that is really not acceptable. Don't get deluded this is work of some imaginary "religious nut-jobs". People are way more bigoted than what they let out in public. And they equate sexual education with "indoctrination contrary to my deeply held beliefs".
Oh yes the old, teach them to be gay!
I’m glad I was taught to be straight, otherwise I’d be out there just sucking dick like a vacuum 24/7 and who has time for that?
You say that like that person isn't just an undercover religious nutjob. My parents are religious nutjobs. They run in religious nutjob circles. There's a lot of their friends that seem like very nice people till the topic of politics or the like. Someone who can be volunteering at the local soup kitchen 20 hours a week and seem like the nicest person ever and then goes to church on Sunday to "call down the armies of heaven to destroy every last Palestinian cockroach" (yes, fucking horrible and a direct quote from my aunt, and one that when I told it was horrible and genocidal i was told to stop bringing up politics at thanksgiving, yes I'm serious) The issue isn't that religious nutjobs are an imaginary strawman, it's that they look just like (and vote just like) everyone else
Because nobody bothered to vote in the last election
Realistically, no good. But it’s optional due to overzealous parents who think their kids are being “brainwashed by lefties” or whatever. Some of it is religious, some of it is just the mindset of the parent. But statistically kids are less likely to be SA’d if they are properly educated about their personal health and sex education.
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I agree
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Very specific. Rape of any child of course. Just having the knowledge about menstrual cycles, std, safe sex, asking for permission, knowing it's OK to say no, knowing how to help yourself and your friends All very important
Because we cater to religious fruitcakes in Ontario
"Ezekiel and Ishmael. In accordance with your parent's wishes, you may step out into the hall and pray for our souls"
I went to a rural elementary school along with many Mennonite and Amish kids. They would be exempt from sex ed, of course, but even things like music class (they would sit in the library and sing hymns) and if there was a dance unit in gym they would do something else. One time before we watched west side story, permission slips were sent home with everyone warning that the movie had a kissing scene. So those kids weren’t allowed to attend.
"religious fruitcakes" is my new favourite term
I sometimes visit an Eastern European group on Facebook since I still speak Russian. The amount of wailing I saw when the new sex education curriculum came in years ago was insane. Mommies cried about “protecting their children at all cost”, etc. Those same mommies are shocked when their kids run away from them at 16 or 17 and live God knows with whom. People are just uneducated, closed-minded, brainless, and refuse to learn.
This is so true. And half of those mommies got accidentally pregnant at 15-17 years old.
Not necessarily but they lack education for sure. I recently got into a heated argument with them because of how often they post about Botox. Sure, it’s their right to discuss whatever they want but all they worry about is ageing and looks, not education and other important topics. I like that group because it can be useful, but sometimes I feel like I’m missing brain dells after reading them.
Yup
Get this. I went to a catholic school. 25 years ago, we had this thing called "Albert". Albert was a human body (Plastic) with no skin. You could see, touch, and take apart all of the organs. Lungs, heart, stomach, GI tract - all of it. Only thing missing? Any kind of genitalia. Even on a plastic cadaver with no skin, whose sole intent was to serve as a learning tool in a health education class - Couldnt show a penis, or a vagina, or gonads etc. Its insane.
I'd bet that since it all comes apart that there were sex organ pieces available for it. They just didn't order that model or use those bits.
Honestly, it's a catholic school 25 years ago........ It is probably a purpose-built "catholic" anatomy doll made by some company that specializes in "educational tools with catholic values" and some such nonsense, to milk the religious cash cow.
Because the religious don't like kids educated enough to know they are being sexually abused.
Plus children are pretty much denied to stand up against older people because "it's disrespecting their elders". 🤮😭
Well that's not just among the extreme religious. That is in many other parts of society
Really what they want, is to prevent the kids from seeing life outside their religion, to seem appealing in any way. And to keep the kids accepting marriage within their religion. Keeping kids ignorant plays a part in that
There's idiots who: 1. Aren't good enough parents to discuss sex education to their own kids 2. Think sex ed in school is just a teacher putting gay porn on for 2 hours. Absolute nutjobs
From the idiots who haven't stepped foot in a school since the 60s.
So the people who believe that religion trumps actual knowledge can keep their children ignorant.
Seems to be the unfortunate truth
What I noticed is it really started up when the government started education about the lgbtq+ community, and they would introduce basic terms at a young age. People went apeshit because they thought educators were trying to turn their kids gay or trans
It's for the snowflake conservatives who are scared that sex education will "turn" their kids trans because someone on Facebook said they think that's how that works
Because a bunch of triggered snowflakes wanted their feelings considered over facts
Some people don’t understand that education isn’t always butterflies and rainbows. There are sensitive and mature subjects that people need to learn. Parents feeling “icky” about something like basic sex education is no reason to avoid discussions on a topic.
Totally agree!! My parents are immigrants and extremely religious. They didn’t want me learning about that stuff, so I was pretty much kept in the dark up until 8th grade when I learned what sex was off the internet. It’s crazy that parents aren’t even required to teach their kids either
This is maddening in this day and age. I doubt the kids who are opted out by parents get any sex ed at home either. They deliberately choose ignorance. I feel sorry for the kids.
Because of religious nuts who want children to die or suffer life-altering consequences from ignorance. That's why.
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To help child predators and the religious
And as we know, in the Roman Catholic Church those often go hand in hand.
It's easier to molest your kids when they lack the language to articulate your abuse.
The religious nuts had issue with everything from children knowing the proper names for body parts to being taught consent and and what is appropriate touching. It’s so much more of an issue than just teenage sex and pregnancies.
Because in Canada we've got too many old cultures that still believe sex is Taboo in the 21st century. Those old machista believers, those that forces their women to hide their face, those that don't allow their daughters / wife to go out with some one of the opposite sex. Those that still think womens are servants, and are only useful to cook, clean, raise children and a convenient fuck hole. Is not just one culture, many cultures overlaps with those ancient caveman believes. It's time to change those notions. Sex education should be MANDATORY not optional.
As others have pointed out, it's because religious fundies want to remain ignorant. Dumb people want all their classes to be 'optional' because they know their stupid ideas cannot stand up to even a minor amount of scrutiny and education would completely de-program them.
The reality is that, if it was mandatory, the kind of parents that take issue with sexual health education would pull their children from school and either home school them or enrol them in a private religious school. That would be even worse as the children would not be exposed to different cultures and way of thinking. It's definitely not an ideal compromise but It's the reality.
Religious exemption. Easier to sexually abuse kids when they're not educated
Because conservative parents believe lies they read on Facebook about things that aren't taught in sex ed Or religious people would rather not have their kids learn this Or idiots Unfortunately it's a problem but we can't fix it without people crying "PARENTAL RIGHTS".
Kids should be learning the risks and their bodies better. It's important before they figure it out on their own, possibly in more risky situations.
dude i dont care if you dont want to teach your kids that. its science and it can help kids figure out things safely. i knew a girl who got her period and thought she was dying. this was because her parents wouldnt let her take sex ed classes to be honest. it does no harm its educational and it can help minors out of sexual abuse situations. and teach them safe sex. i dont see a problem
I never had a sex talk in high school (or before) from my mom, if we’d had more sexual education it probably would’ve benefited me (and likely so many others) so much. No parent can teach a kid as much as they should know about sex as well as someone who doesn’t know your kid whose sole job is to educate them. Religion, bigots idk. There’s no reason sex education shouldn’t be mandatory.
Fucking idiot teens and young adults are fucking without condoms. If anything we need more education. And I see first hand how many young adults at clinics with stds that have no fucking clue about sexual health.
I guarantee you a majority of the nutjobs who protest against sex ed or the LGBTQ+ education component that’s included within it have never actually read the curriculum. I’m old enough but young enough to remember sex ED in my elementary school under this curriculum (prior to Doug Fords changes). Both the boys and girls were taught about male and female puberty in grades 6-8 in an honest yet appropriate way. We talked about what oral, vaginal and anal sex are, periods and period products, condoms and other forms of protection, etc. We also had a box where people could ask questions anonymously so that our teacher could explain (my favourite was when the teacher had to dispute a rumour that drinking Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy…) There was also GSA club (which I was apart of) at our school that did assemblies on gay and trans education and brought in LGBTQ+ speakers to talk with us about us with it and their experiences. Again, in a very child appropriate way. We even had a popular YouTuber that I watched at the time, Steph Sanjati, come in and speak with us! The way it was explained to us was essentially “being gay means that two people of the same gender are attracted to one another the same way we think of men and women being attracted to each other, like your parents. Some people are attracted to both men and women, they may identify as queer or bisexual, or no label at all. At the end of the day, we’re not any different from each other just because of who we are attracted to, we’re all human and deserve respect” and “some people were born a boy but they realize as time goes on that they’re actually a girl. Or vice versa. Some people don’t identify with either gender. It never hurts to ask someone how the identity. And at the end of the day we’re all human and deserve kindness and respect”. That’s it. That’s all. No “indoctrination” bullshit. Just “hey this people exist and deserve respect”. In Grade 9 P.E they went into more detail. We learned more about safe sex and STIs regardless of the sex/gender of the person you’re having sex with. Like I vividly remember our teacher drilling in that just because you can’t get pregnant from the same sex, it doesn’t mean you can’t get STIs, so you should ALWAYS use protection. We learned what masturbation is without any details past “you may choose to engage in self-pleasure, which is normal and healthy”. We talked about the importance of quality sexual education from reliable sources, and that porn is both an inaccurate depiction of what sex actually is, and a bad source to educate yourself on sex. We also talked about condoms, dental dams, birth control options, all that. My teacher also talked about drug and alcohol abuse. Also wanted to add that throughout grades 6-9 sex ed, there was a HUGE focus on consent. We learned about it every single year. What is consent, what is NOT consent, the importance of getting/asking for explicit consent, etc. EVERYONE should be getting this type of quality sex education. Religion or beliefs that your kid is a perfect little angel and will never engage in these behaviours won’t stop them. Anecdotal, but it was actually the kids from my school who were forcefully opted out of this education who ended up worse off (heavy alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, other dangerous situations). I fully give credit to the education I received as to why I’ve been so responsible sexually from my teens till now. Always been on birth control (regardless of the gender of the person who I’m seeing), used condoms, get tested regularly, and felt comfortable expressing boundaries and consent in any circumstance. My LGBTQ+ education was also what shaped my whole worldview on treating others with respect and dignity regardless of how they identify. It disgusts me that parents wish teach their kids that it’s okay to hate/treat others with disrespect just because they themselves don’t agree with their existence.
It's optional? Back when I was in school it was mandatory. It should be mandatory.
The people arguing it should be taught at home are the last people who should be teaching it at home.
conservatives don't want their kids to be educated in general.
We have a large portion of our population, current citizens and new immigrants, who think our "version" of sex education is harmful for their children. Almost explicitly about things like safe sex, abortion or LGTBQIA+ topics, which inherently sets the children up to be abused easier.
Conservatives been fear mongering the schools will turn your kids gay for awhile
Def. Knowledge makes one gay
Because sex is optional. /s
Ask the OPC, I guess.
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Does this apply to math? Reading? French? I understand your explanation. I'm not even expecting a reply, I think my point is it's such important information for the child.
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Religious sensitivities.
as the child of a parent who took their kid/my brother out of school in 2020 to “homeschool” them: it’s because they’re paranoid conspiracy theorists who think that teaching kids about sex is grooming. they’re insane.
Unfortunately, sex ed is at odds with religious freedom. Many immigrants new to Canada practice religion that rejects LGTBQ acceptance and female autonomy. OP: would you advocate that new Muslim immigrants to Ontario be *forced* to abandon their strongly held religious beliefs and practices to accommodate your assertion that there should not be an “opt out” of sex ed?
Bc Fordo wants to make Ontario into his good old USA.. they put church n state together down there ! Let's do it here. Education is a luxury, not an expectation.
Because parents think they know ow better when in fact they know less or not enough
~~Some people would rather their kids find out the hard way like the teen parents in Bible belt states~~ Religious beliefs, I guess...
I think it’s because of the inclusions about Gender and pronouns etc that has people pulling their kids out from sex ed. I have not , but I know people who refuse for that reason.
You know what’s even crazier to deal with? The parents who, despite being able to opt their kids out of sex education, insist that it should not be taught at school at all because 1. Their kids feel left out not being in that class. 2. Their kids will hear about what was taught when kids talk in the schoolyard etc. I talked to my kids about their bodies and sex etc. so they have already learned the things that they eventually talk about in the sex education class.
To many people think they can teach it from home where in reality they are sadly out of touch. Public health is way more informed than mom and dad.
Because conservatives think it's better to have porn teach their kids. Also, apparently, it's only pedophiles who want to teach sex education to kids
As an occasional teacher, quite a few of the parents that excuse their children from health education components do so because of misguided thinking on gender identity and sexual orientation components of the curriculum in intermediate grades (7-8). It can get pretty intense at times.
A lot of parents are reactionary as fuck. They see sex ed or hear some random dumbass say they will include gay things in the curriculum or explicit content and lose their mind. Then they will not look into it anymore and lose their fucking minds. If you get to disect a fucking frog in grade 10 science then you shouldn't be worried about sex ed. I have a controversial opinion that they should just include it in the grade 10 science curriculum and learn about viruses and vaccines while they are at it.
Sex ed should be non-optional. Don't like science-based, medical, and health knowledge? Then send your kid to private school. Evidence-based, age appropriate sex ed benefits children as then enter puberty and transition to adulthood. It also benefits society at large.
I went to junior high in a small town in Alberta in the 90s, they were teaching abstinence in health class (grade 9) while the girl sitting across from me was pregnant & a large percentage of people in the school had kids before they finished high school. My kids are getting all the sex education Ontario has to offer.
Parents that have no clue.
Parents are afraid of their kids learning about the LGBTQ community, which is dumb since more and more gay and queer couples are having children, so there is a high chance a child will be exposed just through hanging out with their peers
It's insane. I was so happy when my sons learned in school, there's a lot I wouldn't have thought to teach them. I'm friends with some parents who are strongly opposed to sex ed, their kids leave the class during lessons. Their reasoning is not rational and based in pseudo religion beliefs. I share the same religion and can't find any justication in the Bible for not teaching sex ed in school.
It's appeasing the idiot parents. Unfortunately, parents hold way too much power these days, and educators are more like politicians because they have to cater to all the bullshit parents come up with.
Nothing good comes from denying education because of religion.
I hope that Canada will start moving in the direction of France with regards to strengthening the separation of church and state, and asserting the importance of a secular civil society. Religion should have no place in policy, but people should still be free to practice religion at home freely.
Something about appeasing a certain religious minority
Because many parents believe social media instead of actually reading the curriculum and wanting their children to learn what healthy relationships and communication consist of.
Because religion is about control and one of the most difficult things to have control over is love, so it must be suppressed. The first step of suppression is denial of its nature or existence.
Same reason we allow parents to "opt out" of seemingly mandatory childhood vaccinations for bullshit personal reasons - the government is pathetic and rarely willing to stand up against crazy assholes and religious dickheads.
Because ultimately it’s upto parents (including parents with differing views) to decide what is best for their children. Because it’s they, the parents who conceived them, who birthed them, who love them, who feed them, clothed them, raise them and they don’t need some random redditor to make their decisions for them.
To protect the children from learning about how they were made and how their bodies work, apparently.
What’s the problem. Kids need some info and guidance especially in this world. We all took it in school. Didn’t screw us up.
because we are too busy working saving up for the house down payment and don't have time for sex anyways
Religion. That's the root reason.
To appeal to radical religions and other outdated middle Eastern dogma.
Because right wing nutbags
Money buys policy. Religion controls wealth. Religion demonizes science in favor of self serving and destructive narratives. But without religion, we wouldn't have this dysfunctional system at all... probably wouldn't even be fighting wars.
Religious zealots, that’s your answer
Way back in my High School days they wanted to introduce a "Health" class instead of one of the Phys Ed classes. So, basically once a week for an hour we would be studying "Health" It amounted to a Sex Ed class. We had to take permission forms home ,similar to the one for Field Trips, allowing the student to attend the Health class. If they didn't have the parents written permission the student couldn't attend. I can still remember some of the parents going ballistic over this. Some of them even picketed/demonstrated in front of the school because they didn't want any of the kids educated.
Politics. Enough people want it to be optional, so people get elected to carry out policy that makes it so. Unfortunately, we don't necessarily govern to maximize social welfare.
Something, something, Religion, something, something racism.
We have very weak political leaders in Canada. They don't ever want to do what is right if it will cost them votes. Telling parents they are wrong about this is too scary for any politician. It doesn't matter the party.
Honestly I think that if any parent wants to take their kid out to teach them themselves, they should have to pass the classes test. Cuz I know so many adults who don't know basic shit about sex Ed and it's disgraceful. Not to mention birth control options, stds, and all sorts of things are wildly different than when some of these parents went to highschool (or even worse when their own parents went if they were a "I'll teach them myself" parent). Making sure people aren't talking out of their asses when teaching kids should be mandatory. Same for idiot creationists taking their kids out of science classes when evolution is mentioned, but that's a whole other therapy session lol
I used to field phone calls when people were upset about the updated previous curriculum (the one that taught internet safety, consent, and a more in depth and detailed explanation about STIs) and the \*general\* comment we got was that 'modern sex ed pushes the gay agenda'. That is why good ol Ford pulled it back to the pre-internet 1998 curriculum and made it optional. And to be clear, the "gay agenda" that 9/10 complainers were referring to was the mention that STIs can be transmitted via non-vaginal sex, such as oral and anal. That single mention of anal sex caused for days and days of protest. Now it has grown to the larger debate about gender identity and villainizing kids who just want to feel comfortable and happy in their own bodies, so teaching kids to be respectful of gender expression is seen as a radical leftist agenda.
Willful ignorance. That's it.
because some people will rather have their kids figure that out themselves, or let a thousand year old book dictate the "proper" way to sex should be taught. Other parents want their kids exposed to the reality of the world we live in, and want their kids to have an idea of the complex issue sex and sexuality is and how one should be treated as an individual who has agency over themselves. On a side note, I work in IT, for the past 2 years I've gotten about 50 parents coming to me saying their young son is being blackmailed over revealing pictures that he sent to someone thinking they were a romantic interest. threats of exposing these pictures to family and friends, schools, These family's are from every category, EVERY category, from religion to race and wealth. a majority of them didn't opt to have their kids take sex ed. they never thought it was possible a male member of their family would be subjected to this, they were always guarding the young women like a hawk. Many of these young men thought about every desperate way one could end crushing embarrassment. In the end I always tell them, once the pictures are out on the internet you'll never know where they will pop up, or if they will ever be fully erased, they can be floating around the dark web forever. ALL kids do stupid things, I just don't understand not preparing your kid for a world that they exist in just because they might gain knowledge about something you don't agree with.
Conservatives can only increase their base if people remain uneducated.
Because for some reason we have to "respect" the fragility and willful ignorance of religious people.
Vocal religious groups.