Toronto Sex Education Protests – Are These Topics Too Extreme For Kids?
In Toronto, Canada, more than 10,000 parents kept their kids home from school earlier this week to protest the province’s new sex education curriculum. Those who oppose the new curriculum in Toronto are saying that the sex education program is far too explicit for their children. For most of them, the inclusion of information regarding anal sex, gender identification issues, and oral sex are the topics that have incited the most anger and attention in Toronto.
The new sex education curriculum in Toronto asks teachers – but does not require them – to include genitals in anatomical descriptions when teaching about the body to first graders in Toronto. Those requests include discussing such body parts as the penis, testicles, vagina, vulva, et. al. Proponents of the curriculum in Toronto say that teachers are not asked to teach how to use the genitals, but to merely name them so that children understand what they are. They say that no illustrations are used in the Toronto curriculum, but that teachers are asked to say something to the effect of, “Boys have penises and girls have vaginas.”
Sexual orientation and homosexuality is introduced to children in Toronto in the third grade with the intent of promoting tolerance and awareness. Parents who oppose the sex education program in Toronto state that this part of the program is promoting homosexuality.
Masturbation is not taught outright in Toronto, but if a student asks about it, teachers are instructed to answer children with a “prompt.”
“Things like wet dreams or vaginal lubrication are normal and happen as a result of physical changes with puberty. Exploring one’s body by touching or masturbating is something that many people do and find pleasurable. It is common and is not harmful and is one way of learning about your body.”
Anal and oral sex are mentioned in the Toronto sex education curriculum in seventh grade. It should be noted that these acts are not taught explicitly in Toronto, but that the children are made aware of them. Designers of the Toronto curriculum say that anal and oral intercourse are engaged in the program to teach children about the dangers of sexually transmitted disease that can accompany such sex acts because many children aren’t aware that other types of intercourse can be as dangerous as vaginal.
Nothing makes my blood boil more than all these anti-sex education protests happening in Toronto. #supportsexed
— Michelle (@aheartenflamed) May 5, 2015
‘My child, my choice’ — Thousands protest proposed sex education curriculum http://t.co/I0lrr7dGkm #ONpoli #cbcto pic.twitter.com/46dXe3m3fB
— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) April 14, 2015
Loved and hated this interview of an Anti sex education mom. #sexed #rulli #claudiarulli #fail #faith https://t.co/5na5or4qFi
— Bryce Peterson (@BrycePeterson) May 5, 2015
Opponents of the Toronto sex education curriculum are keeping their children home from school this week. Many say that teaching “gender bending,” along with anal and oral sex is a way to push a political viewpoint in Toronto, rather than teach children about safe sex. Many in Toronto are also asking that this type of education not be taught to kids in Toronto until they are in high school.
Those who support the Toronto sex education curriculum say that they are merely teaching kids what they are already asking questions about. They say that by making kids in Toronto more aware of the world around them, they are making their children safer in the process.
What do you think? Does the Toronto sex education curriculum go too far, or is it doing a better job of preparing kids for the real world around them? Would you applaud or deride a sex education in your town like the one they’ve instated in Toronto?
[Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]
