Health

Sex education will help gay children

by generaldecay | November 21, 2009 at 11:02 am

461 views | 26 Recommendations | 4 comments

As a gay child, and in common with many gay children, I was terrified for most of my school life. My earliest sexual encounters – which all occurred before the age of consent (21 at that time) – were unsafe and I constantly felt that I could somehow be "in trouble" for who I was. If I did receive any sex education that seemed relevant, though appalling to me, it came in the form of an almost annual scandal – the suspension and expulsion of a couple of boys unfortunate enough to be caught in some forbidden clinch. We were either invisible or bullied by our peers and those in authority, denied information about ourselves and denied the right for our sexuality to be just one of the many things that made us who we were.

Recently, moves were made in the UK to make sex education in schools compulsory for children aged 15 and above, and commonplace in both primary and secondary schools. This move brought with it outcry, predictably, with claims that it would make children promiscuous etc. Critics also maintained that more sex education would encourage homosexuality. (Yes, I couldn't figure that out either.)

This comment piece in the Guardian suggests that increased sex education would help young gay people, and I think it's right. Here's what he says.

This is not just about tackling the ever-rising HIV figures. It is good because it is right. It is right that children should be allowed to come of age comfortably into their sexuality, it is right that every child be valued and nurtured, it is right that they should be given the information with which to protect themselves, it is right that they should grow up free from bullying based on a fundamental part of their personalities. It is right that they should grow up free from shame and fully equipped to enter healthily into the adult world of romantic relationships.

There's very little to argue with in this statement, I think. Information, provided safely and responsibly, is invariably valuable. Whether critics like it nor not, we NEED more sex education in this country because (increasing understanding of homosexuality aside) STDs and teenage pregnancies are continually rising here and we need to do something about that. It's sensible all round.

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By the way, here's what the Catholic Church has to say about this move, for those who are interested:

"As age and growing independence brings young people ever closer to pressures, advertising and coercion to behaviour which can undermine the healthy life of young people, we are comforted in the knowledge that our schools and colleges will do an exceptional job in providing Sex and Relationships Education, set within the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Well, so long as it's within the teachings of the Catholic Church, then. Because we all know how it feels about sex.

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stejeb

at 12:10 on November 21st, 2009

As a survivor(intact and sane) of a Christian Brothers start to education...lol to that last paragraph general. Everyone has the right to determine their own sexuality, more education can do nothing but help.

generaldecay

at 12:15 on November 21st, 2009

stejeb, you made me giggle! Although of course it's no laughing matter! But as a survivor (intact and sane also, I think) of Catholic education, I can empathise with you!

Thanks for the recommendation and comment.

Sputnic

at 12:59 on November 21st, 2009

More drink and drug education too, will help reduce unwanted pregnancys and std's (not teaching kids how to shoot up, like somebody in Walthamstow thought was a good idea recently).

rob251149

at 06:45 on November 22nd, 2009

We need to deal with the fact that many and probably most gay people realise they are beginning to think that way at 11 or 12. That is also the age at which they are most vulnerable to comments by others, which can become life-threatening. How do you deal with homophobic behaviour then? Sex education is one sensible idea among others.