teacher punished for answering questions about sex
This makes me so fucking angry - a teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been placed on paid administrative leave for answering questions from her students about sex. The questions were not dealt with in the core curriculum; they were about subjects like homosexual sex, oral sex and masturbation.
“Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, opened a bill file this week and said he will introduce legislation in January that would enforce criminal penalties on teachers who deviate from state law governing sex education…”
Students at the school posted signs in support of their teacher that read, the article says, “We were the ones asking her questions.” The school’s principal, Michael Sirois, removed the signs “…because he does not want the matter to become divisive while it is still under investigation.”
I think it’s absolutely criminal that anyone would consider punishing a teacher for answering any questions their students ask, especially about something as important as sex. We’re a sexually repressed culture and it’s rare enough for children to feel okay asking questions like this, so for the teacher to be punished for giving informative answers absolutely blows me away.
Misinformation and lack of information about sex are, in my opinion, huge contributors so some of our society’s largest problems, like sex crime, as well as mal-formed identity and the shame and guilt common in our largely Christian culture.
If children are given a fair chance at an informative, honest sexual education as they’re developing personal and sexual identity, I think that they have a way better chance of growing up with healthy attitudes toward sex and toward themselves. It is not fair for anyone to be afraid of sex, or ashamed of who they are, the things they think and feel or do in private. We are all born with a healthy interest in our own bodies and how they work, and it is only this social conditioning that makes us ashamed of ourselves and unable to interact openly with others. Avoiding giving children information about masturbation will not stop them from doing it, and keeping them in the dark about homosexuality will not keep them ’straight’.
It’s impossible to expect adolescents to practice safe sex when they don’t understand sex - and I don’t know why these parents haven’t figured out that withholding information about sex will not promote abstinence.
I wonder if there’s anything I can do about this?
6 Responses to “teacher punished for answering questions about sex”
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June 6th, 2008 at 2:49 am
The only thing I can think of that you could do is volunteer/work for some kind of sex information group, to make sure you are part of the solution. My friend Sanford works for the Calgary Birth Control Association and a large part of his job is teen education.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
that’s definitely an option, but it doesn’t really help the situation directly. we’re very lucky in canada; sexual education, information and resources are pretty easy to get to, compared to most places. i guess that non-local change isn’t really within my power but i hope blogging about it helps to bring some attention to things like this…
June 8th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I fart in public. Seriously, I let gross smelly loud farts go, and I’m proud of it. And my basis coming to this came from thoughts on healthy sexuality discussions I’ve had with friends. If I can’t be proud of the functions my body performs naturally, how am I ever supposed to be proud of my body? It’s not exactly the same thing, but it’s generally the same way we’re told to be ashamed of our bodies and how they work, or to avoid dealing with it in a public forum, whether it’s shit, or sexuality.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
yeah, okay, i can understand how that’s a similar concept, but i’m going to go ahead and say that one’s a bit more vital than the other! true say though, we shouldn’t be ashamed of ANY of our natural bodily functions, from farting to masturbation to yeast infections to heatrash to zits. the whole kit and caboodle is fucked up.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:44 am
yeah… this happened in utah. is there any surprise? the entire state is overrun with conservative mormons… i remember being in utah and going out to a bar. 4 people total, and every drink had to be made from those little mini-bottles.
that place is ridiculous - an experiment on what would happen if you let religion completely take over government and the populace. never, ever, go.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
every time i think of utah i think about how vegan erotica is headquartered there, and it makes me very, very happy.