This tidbit came up via Google News:
School children under 16 are being encouraged to experiment with oral sex as part of a Government-backed drive to cut Britain's sky-high teenage pregnancy rate, newspapers reported on Friday.
Did «
cut the teenage pregnancy rate» become a euphamism for «
nudge-nudge, wink-wink» when I wasn't paying attention?
Oral sex
TorgoX on 2003-02-21T19:36:10
I file "ORAL SEX HOW-TO" under the Life Skills component of the curriculum. Hell, they might as well, learn
something in school.
Headlines
vek on 2003-02-22T18:08:03
I actually had to read the article twice. I thought it was a joke the first time I read it but then to my amusement I realized that they were serious
:-)
Returning to the Hellmouth...
jjohn on 2003-02-23T06:00:54
Goddammit, I'm going back to High School to be just like Jerry Blank.
How many of you want to wake up in a
public bathroom lying in a pool of, what you hope is, your own filth?
The Times sinks ever lower
blech on 2003-02-24T11:39:44
The Times, of course, had its own rather bad spin on the story, and it's got picked up on by blogdom. However, if you read the
BBC News coverage a somewhat different picture emerges.
It only mentions oral sex once: "Examples included when a 14-year-old girl asks: 'What does semen taste like?' Or a 15-year-old boy: 'How do gay men have sex, and is it possible for a man and woman to do it the same way?'" Both of these seem like reasonable questions for curious, sexually mature, teenagers to ask, and should we not answer them?
The teacher whose report in the Times Educational Supplement led to the sensational (and, apparently, humourous, although I don't see what's so funny) headline brings her own religious baggage to the argument. Of course, so do I, but then I'm not published in what's still an influential UK paper.
Meanwhile, there's a story on the BBC about
a new warning over sex disease 'crisis', and the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, as well as some of the worst sex education. Personally I don't think these aren't linked.
Re:The Times sinks ever lower
pudge on 2003-02-27T04:10:34
It only mentions oral sex once: "Examples included when a 14-year-old girl asks: 'What does semen taste like?' Or a 15-year-old boy: 'How do gay men have sex, and is it possible for a man and woman to do it the same way?'" Both of these seem like reasonable questions for curious, sexually mature, teenagers to ask, and should we not answer them?
I cannot answer for other parents or children, but for my child, yes, you should not answer them. I don't see why you would or should. My child has responsible parents who will provide all the teaching that is necessary, in a far better way than anyone else possibly could.
