SPEAK UP!

Tori over at the Book Fairy has done a post today that has moved me on so many levels. First of all, once gain, thank you so much for sharing!

Reason for the post is this article. I strongly suggest reading it before you read my post.

As a woman, this article has left me speechless, but in the worst kind of way. Thankfully, here in Germany sexual education  as well as literature containing and referring to sex is handled much more liberally. Sometime during 7th grade, we even had someon from the local health authority over to talk about –how shocking Mr. Scroggins!- sex, safer sex, pregnancy and STDs. Hell, we even got a free condom and an eraser on which said “Hand in Hand against AIDS”. I guess I was just lucky that I grew up in both a very tolerant and liberal country (where homosexuals are allowed to marry. Hell, our  foreign minister and vice chancellor has married his boyfriend just this weekend!) and also a very open-minded family. So things like that just make me, well speechless.

In his article Mr Scroggins makes this shocking revelation: “children at the middle school are being introduced to concepts such as homosexuality, oral sex, anal sex and specific instructions on how to use a condom and have sex”. It even gets worse: “Sex education curriculum in the fourth grade includes topics on reproduction.” He then asks, if this is what taxpayers want their childern exposed to? And if taxpayers want their money to be used for that.

For what exactly? To tell girls and boys who are in a relationship how to protect themselves against getting a STD? To show girls that it is totally okay to ask a boy to use a condom while having sex? To try to help teenagers develope an healthy view of everything concerning sex? To help raise them as tolerant, responsible and self-aware adults? If I were a parent, I would say hell yes! We live in modern times, where out-dated and - I´m sorry- conservative opinions like that simply show that someone has no idea what is really going on.

He also uses his article to speak ill of a book called “Speak” and pretty much asks parents to forbid their children to read it. Well, what can I say, I consider myself a tolerant person, so if someone doesn´t want to read it, sure. But don´t be so arrogant as to make decisions for others. Part of grwong up is actually to deal with things like sexuality. There´s no way around it. Everyone, even teenagers should be allow to make such decisions as to what they want to read for themselves.

And if Mr. Scroggins really thinks removing all this from the education curriculum, I´m suggesting he should better think twice. There are indeed worse sources teenagers could use to make up their mind about sex (easily accessible hard core porn on the internet, anyone?) Now that is something that can seriously contort the veiw of sexuality. But I digress.

As for the use of profane language including the infamous “f-word”, well, shut the fuck up, get your fucking ass out there and open your fucking eyes: there´s no fucking way to avoid that.

The article is simply irgnorant beyond imagination. He wants to remove sexual education from the education curriculum? I guess he should just as well ban modern pop, rock, R´n´B and rap music, a serious amout of books out there and while he´s at it abolish the freedome of speech and the voting rights for women. Okay, that was not really productive, but well, I´m furious.

Wake up, Mr. Scroggins! Seriously.