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Tennessee Shame: Don’t Say Gay Bill Passes
May 22, 2011
Shame on Tennessee for thinking that talking about homosexuality is akin to “teaching homosexuality.” The state Senate voted 5:4 to allow legislators to introduce a bill that would ban teachers from discussing homosexuality in their classrooms. The House will take up the issue next year.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Stacey Campfield, is reported to have called the bill a “neutral” tool that will allow discussions about sexuality to be decided by families, not K-8 schools. Contrary to Sen. Campfield’s claim of neutrality, this bill isn’t neutral. It is based on the assumption that being straight is natural and normal; therefore, teachers may not discuss any other orientation. This “neutral” ban actively promotes heterosexuality.
- Lessons about non-straight sexual orientation don’t teach kids to be gay. We may experience varying romantic or sexual feeings during our lives, but our basic attraction template is pretty well fixed regardless of what we’re exposed to.
- Censoring teachers hurts kids. Children with gay or lesbian parents, friends or relatives won’t have those loved ones publically recognized. Children who question their sexual orientation won’t be able to ask questions of their teachers or school counselors.
- Censoring promotes bullying. If teachers can’t discuss homosexuality, they can’t teach students to respect people of all orientations. The bullies will have free rein.
Let’s call this bill what it is: an unabashed attempt to eliminate homosexuality by pretending it doesn’t exist. Sen. Campfield, your ignorance and prejudice are showing, and you should be ashamed.
Actor George Takei, of Star Trek fame, created a video related to the Tennessee bill. It proves that you can rise above foolishness and take action that may save a life. Watch the video here.
Free Webinar on Talking with Tweens about Puberty
May 19, 2011
“Setting the Table: Healthy Transitions Through Puberty” is the title of a free webinar from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, May 23, that will provide the utensils parents need to talk about puberty with their tweens. Parenting a child through puberty shouldn’t be like eating brussel sprouts. Through this webinar, parents can receive updated information, resources and support that will help them set the table for healthy communication about puberty.
This free webinar is offered by Answer, a national organization dedicated to providing and promoting comprehensive sexuality education to young people and the adults who teach them.
Two Ways to Register:
1. Online
2. By phone: Call 732-445-7929 and ask for Patrice
You’ll receive a confirmation 72 hours before the webinar with directions for how to log in. Answer thanks the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (GCAPP) for sponsoring this webinar.
Sports Stars Teach Accepting Language
May 18, 2011
If your kids use the term, “That’s so gay” as an insult, it’s time to help them turn off the homophobic language. If they enjoy sports, have them watch this YouTube video featuring NBA stars Grant Hill and Jared Dudley, with music by the Beastie Boys. You can view it here.
Pink Piggies Campaign Fights Gender Stereotypes
April 21, 2011
Recently, Fox News made a big fuss about a J. Crew ad showing a happy mom and her child (real-life famiy members) showing off his freshly painted neon pink toe nails. Fox News was convinced that nail polish, especially a “girl color” like pink, will make a boy less of a boy. Hogwash.
What I saw when I looked at the ad was a delightful kid doing what little kids love to do: have fun with a parent, decorating his toes in a fun color. The brouhaha about the ad reminded me of the time I took my twin daughters out for a walk. One wore a pink snowsuit, while the other wore a blue one. A woman stopped at the crosswalk near us and complimented me on my cute boy and girl.
“Thank you,” I said, “But these are both girls.” She said, “Oh, they can’t be!” she said. “One’s wearing blue.” Excuse me? Girls are assumed to be boys simply for wearing blue? And boys are assumed to be girls if they wear pink? Or pink nail polish? I identify as female, yet I played in mud and creeks as a kid, chucking pebbles into pools of water. My ninth birthday was celebrated on Big Creek, where my mom chaperoned me and five girl friends enjoying a pollywog and minnow hunt in icy water.
Gender identity has nothing to do with how parents support their kids’ play or what they put on them, from names, to clothes, to nail polish. Some boys who wear nothing but denim and trucker hats may identify as more female than male someday–or even 100% female, despite biologically male bodies. Girls competing in beauty pageants with sky-high piles of ringlets and lipstick may someday identify as males, as masculine as the next guy.
The J. Crew ad made me happy, so I joined the Pink Piggies campaign, painting my toe nails pink to show support for gender-neutral joy. I wish all the worriers would give it a rest. Let kids be kids, free to enjoy nail polish, baseball, tutus and mud. And pollywogs.
To read another perspective, written by someone who knows the mom and child in the ad, click here. To “like” the Pink Piggies campaign on Facebook, click here. To learn more about whether nail polish is safe for kids of any gender, click here.
Teens are Sober & Unprotected for First-Time Sex
April 20, 2011
Think your teen isn’t having sex? Chances are, it’s time to make time for another conversation about condoms. According to an article abstracted in Medical News Today (4-19-2011), teens are typically 16 years old and sober when they have sex for the first time. They are typically happy with the experience, but they may be unaware of the risk they’ve taken by forgoing condoms for contraception and protection from sexually transmitted infection.
Here’s the article:
Youngsters are, on average, 16 years old and sober when they make their sexual debut with somebody they have known for a while. However, condoms feature in just half of sexual encounters with new or casual partners, reveals a major survey on the sexual habits, attitudes and knowledge of young people carried out by the University of Gothenburg on behalf of the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control.
“We have to get young people to view condoms as an essential part of having sex,” says Ronny Heikki Tikkanen, one of the researchers behind the study which polled 15,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 right across Sweden. “The fact that so many don’t use condoms, even though they know that they offer protection against both STIs and unwanted pregnancies, shows how important it is to work on attitudes and behaviour.”
The survey clearly demonstrates that those who start having sex at a young age and are generally inclined to take risks with alcohol and drugs are also likely to do so with sex. It is also more common for risk-takers to have accepted payment for sex. Those identified by the study as having exposed themselves to sexual risks have generally encountered HIV prevention initiatives without them having impacted notably on their behaviour.
“We’ve got to get better at identifying youngsters who take risks,” says Margareta Forsberg, R&D manager at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control. “We also need to be more aware of the link between sexual risks, drugs and social exclusion. If we can come up with support structures at an early stage, we stand a better chance of promoting sexual health, self-esteem and wellbeing.”
The researchers behind the study are now calling for new methods and strategies for preventive work on sexuality and health for young people.
“Young people want sexual health clinics to be readily accessible, condoms to be distributed at various meeting places and the Internet to be used more widely for advice and support,” says Jonna Abelsson, assistant researcher at the University of Gothenburg. “The study offers guidance on the types of initiative that are viable for youngsters. We need to think about whether we’re going about things the right way when it comes to reaching those who most need advice and support.”
The Ung KAB09 study is the largest of its kind in Sweden and the large number of respondents means that it has huge potential for increasing our knowledge and for investigating the links between different types of experience. As it was carried out partly through an online questionnaire, the study is not entirely representative, but it still makes an important contribution to preventive work on account of its size.
Source:
Ronny Heikki Tikkanen
University of Gothenburg
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/222853.php