Ignorance is not bliss

The ChristoFascists are creaming themselves. Losing almost everywhere in the culture wars, they won a (temporary, it is to be hoped) victory over Ontario's proposed new sex ed curriculum.

And look who's taking credit.

McVety successfully framed the issue as whether this was too much information at too young an age, as opposed to other narratives like promoting healthy sexuality, counteracting schoolyard misinformation, preventing teen pregnancy and STDs, etc.

Let's find out about this 'too much information at too young an age', shall we?

* Grade 1 students will be taught the correct names of genitalia, such as penis and vagina, as they learn the names of other body parts. Kids will also learn personal hygiene, such as washing their hands with soap and water long enough to say the alphabet.
* Grade 2 students will be taught the basic stages of human development, and how the body changes over time.
* Grade 3 students learn about healthy relationships ("e.g., accepting differences, being inclusive ... showing mutual respect and caring"), as well as the difference between visible and invisible differences (e.g. gender identity and sexual orientation)
* Grade 4 students learn about how the human body changes at puberty
* Grade 5 students will be taught to identify parts of the reproductive system and learn more how the human body changes during puberty (e.g. menstruation) and the emotional stresses of that time
* Grade 6 student learn about the development of self-concept and the changes that come during adolescence, along with what constitutes healthy relationships
* Grades 7 and 8 students will be taught about oral sex, how to delay sexual activity, and to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Seems pretty reasonable and age-appropriate to me and to most of the commenters at that CTV link, but here are a couple of dissenters:

Kelty in Ottawa
While I believe there needs to be a certain level of education in school, I don't want my 11 and 12 year learning about oral and anal sex at school.

Marina
I have read the new curriculum and I do not think it is appropriate to expose children of 11 to the concept of oral and anal sex. Scrap this curriculum, it is garbage.

So what is the right age?

Age ten is okey-dokey with the Catlick Church for giving birth, but not for learning about how that happened?

And who should teach the birds and bees if not the evul sochialist school system?

Your church?

Or maybe your rapist stepfather?

Somebody better figure this out and quickly. Precocious puberty is on the rise.

A common definition for medical purposes is onset before 8 years in girls or 9 years in boys. As most children with precocious puberty have no disease, all of these definitions are somewhat arbitrary and based on social values.

And it has serious consequences, in terms of both physical and emotional health.

Earlier puberty is believed to put girls at higher risk of sexual abuse, teasing or bullying, mental health disorders and short stature as adults. Helping children control their weight is suggested to help delay puberty. Early puberty additionally puts girls at a "far greater" risk for breast cancer later in life. Girls as young as 8 are increasingly starting to menstruate, develop breasts and grow pubic and underarm hair; these "biological milestones" only typically occurred at 13 or older decades ago. African American girls are especially prone to early puberty. There are theories debating the trend of early puberty, but the exact causes are not known. "This is a review of what we know; it's absolutely superb," said Dr. Marion Kavanaugh-Lynch, an oncologist and director of the California Breast Cancer Research Program in Oakland, which directs tobacco tax proceeds to research projects. "The data indicates that if you get your first period before age 12, your risk of breast cancer is 50 percent higher than if you get it at age 16," said the report's author, biologist Sandra Steingraber, herself a cancer survivor. "For every year we could delay a girl's first menstrual period, we could prevent thousands of breast cancers."

The causes for precocious puberty in general and its current increase are far from clear but here's a strong contender:

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in hard plastics, and is frequently used to make baby bottles, water bottles, sports equipment, and medical devices. It is also in an epoxy used as a coating in almost all food and beverage cans in most countries. Scientists are concerned about BPA's behavioral effects on fetuses, infants, and children at current exposure levels because it can affect the prostate gland or mammary gland, and lead to early puberty in girls, and possibly cancer later in life. BPA mimics and interferes with the action of estrogen, which is an important reproduction and development regulator. It leaches out of plastic into liquids and foods.

Early puberty can be difficult for boys as well, but male children do not get pregnant. Of the documented earliest births in that list, nearly all of them -- unsurprisingly -- are due to rape, often by a family member. Many of them were complete surprises to the parents who had no idea their daughters were ovulating.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to inform all children about what will happen to their bodies before it start to happen? So that maybe the kid herself can let her clueless parents know?

Just askin'.

UPDATED: via Blob Blogging Wingnut (to whom we do not link because of her puerile habit of redirecting links to fetal pr0n sites), this from LieShite: twenty years later, a 12-year-old (at the time) rape victim -- from Mexico, are ya getting this? -- says it's all groovy to bear the fruit of the crime.

Children forced to give birth -- groovy. Children being fucked by Catlick priest -- equally groovy.