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"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body." --Margaret Sanger
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"In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist." --Gloria Steinem
Jul
23
Obama does NOT want to teach your five-year-old how to fuck
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, anti-choice extremism, education and schools, rape and sexual assault, sex and sexuality, social conservatives | Posted by Cara |
So it seems that today is officially Obama Day at The Curvature– which is only fair, since I think that I’ve given ample airtime to Edwards and discussed Clinton’s campaign at length.
Last week, you might have seen right wing pundits going crazy over his highly-sensible remarks about sex education at the Planned Parenthood conference. He simply said that “[I]t’s the right thing to do. . . to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools.”
Sensible though it may be, his stance has been widely misconstrued as support for “sex education for kindergarteners,” including Hannity and Colmes:
The July 20 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, previewing a discussion of comments Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) made July 17 in support of age-appropriate sex education, aired video footage of a woman applying a condom to a cucumber as co-host Sean Hannity asked, “Later, what is it that Barack Obama was thinking when he said he supported sex ed for kindergartners?”
. . .
During a second preview of the segment, Fox News showed footage of a woman unwrapping a condom as Colmes said, “Still ahead tonight, Barack Obama’s critics think this is what the senator has in mind when he talks about sex education in our schools for youngsters.” A third preview showed footage of Obama, while co-host Sean Hannity said, “Coming up next, Barack Obama clamors for age-appropriate sex education in our schools, but isn’t teaching America’s kindergartners about the birds and the bees anything but appropriate?”
Of course, Obama does actually support age-appropriate sex education for kindergarteners, just as he supports it for all other age groups. He has also clarified on several occasions what he means by “age appropriate” for children that young, and it mostly includes nothing more than teaching them “good touch” and “bad touch.”
But right-wingers either can’t get that through their thick skulls or don’t want to. This ridiculous blow-up demonstrates several things about the politics in this country. Firstly, it shows that conservatives are willing to put children at risk to make a “point.” Secondly, it shows that no good idea goes unpunished. Thirdly, it shows how fucking sexually repressed we are.
It seems that Americans generally don’t get the fact that the word “sex” means more than hot sweaty fucking. “Sex” is a word used in describing many things, from fucking to oral sex, to sexual health, sexual assault and biological genitalia. So what the hell is wrong with everyone that when you say “age appropriate sex education for kindergarteners,” their minds immediately conjure up an image of teaching five-year-old about fucking? Seems to me that Obama sure as hell isn’t the one whose judgment we need to question.
The fact is, children that young should be getting some form of sex education. In my opinion, a five year old should, at the very least, know the words “penis” and “vagina,” and which biological sex has each. They should definitely know good touch and bad touch. They should probably be taught “testicles” and “vulva.” Some basic information on “where babies come from” is a good idea, too.
Kids are curious, and they’re going to ask questions. Do we want them getting the wrong answers or the right ones? Do we want them knowing only slang for their genitals and thinking that babies come from the stork? Well, apparently some people do. But that doesn’t make it sound policy. Obama’s policy here is sound. And those twisting his words around are deliberately misleading the public. That’s not anything new, of course, but I think that it bears mentioning when the lies are at the expense of children’s health.
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Comments
3 Comments so far
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead
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"Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less." -- Susan B. Anthony
Wow. I’m just appalled. I thought people were more enlightened now than to let their kids find out about age-appropriate sex issues through peer gossip, but I guess not.
Yea, I agree that people blow things like this way out of proportion. This story teaches a very good moral that you can’t believe everything that you hear. I also try to be highly skeptical of anything that I hear on the news.
Really, since it doesn’t really matter who runs for the Republicans thanks to Dubya, the democrats are the only ones we should all worry about. I like both of the candidates currently, but it might be hard for America to chose a woman or a black president.
Hopefully we can all get though our prejudices and show the world that we’re not just a bunch of rednecks that’ll do anything for OIL.
That there’s a public debate about whether or not children should be given the basic knowledge to protect themselves, and the guy saying they should is being likened to a child abuser for doing so is just… well, depressing. Could I have some grown up politicians, please?