When teen sex education goes too far

Boston Globe ^ | 02/24/2006 | Ellen Goodman

[Flavius Josephus]

be labeled a child sex offender for the rest of his life.

You hear about people being put on Sex Offender Watch Lists for all kinds of reasons these days. It's wrong. Some people who should be in jail for the rest of their lives are free as a bird, and some people who don't belong on SOWLs are there.

It's the fault of cheezy, good-for-nuthin legislators who don't take the trouble to make the statutes specific enough to target only the intended and nobody else. Or else it's this "this is tantamount to that" thinking that permeates the left. As in George Bush attacking Iraq is tantamount to the Holocaust.

[Responsibility2nd]

I would think both sets of parents would look at the criminalization of their children as state authority gone too far.

You make a great point. Yes, morally I want to do all I can to keep sex education from being taught in the schools, and yes I want my kid's school to teach abstinence only, but I do see your point:

Having the State label a 15 year old a criminal for a stupid mistake is over the top.

However, I kinda see this extreme right reaction as a response to the extreme left reaction of teaching children how to have sex.

Both are wrong.

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[AntiGuv]

I'd ask - but but I dont care - what is OK with you? Teaching condom usage to 14 year olds? 8 year olds being taught oral sex? Even younger?

I'd answer, but if you don't care about your question I sure don't see why I should!!

:p

[Wuli]

"However, I kinda see this extreme right reaction as a response to the extreme left reaction of teaching children how to have sex."

I see your point. I guess I think conservatives have to think more before they react. For instance, liberals looked at the fifties-sixties welfare programs as "the right thing" out of "compassion" (misguided) for the poor, and created a couple helpless generations of permanent government dependents. The immediate reaction to do the right thing was not thoughtful and produced more problems than the problem they meant to alleviate.

Conservatives, if too willing to react before thoughtful consideration of the affects of their action, can, just as easily create unintended consequences which breed normal public backlash from failed policies. There is nothing worse politically than wrapping a bad policy around a good purpose.

[Tokra]

Suppose an 18 year old has sex with his 17 year old girlfriend. Why he could be charged with statutory rape, and be labeled a child sex offender for the rest of his life. But just 10 days ago, when he was 17 also? No harm no foul? What's up with that?

That reminds me of a headline in the Detroit Free Press a few years ago: "Man Rapes Boy".
When you actually read the article, the "man" was 18 and the "boy" was 17. In fact there were only 4 months difference in their ages.

[SoftballMominVA]

Here's a question. If the guy is 17 and the girl is 18--what then?

[Campion]

You would think so but I think she is a conservative.

LOL! Ellen Goodman?!?! You gotta be kidding. Ellen Goodman leans so far to the left she's nearly horizontal.

[Campion]

Wow, what a backward view of women. She totally removes the possibliity of women making a free choice.

A 15-year-old girl is not a "woman" any more than a 15-year-old boy is a "man". You're a woman or a man when you can raise and support a child, as well as conceive one.

[Responsibility2nd]

Here's a question. If the guy is 17 and the girl is 18--what then?

Yeah!

And what about all those good looking teachers having sex with their teen age students?

And WHERE were all these teachers at when I was in high school?

JUST KIDDING!

[Aquinasfan]

The Globe sucks.

Tis true, but this is an Ellen Goodman column.

Isn't she a Globe employee? Her e-mail is listed @globe.com, at the end of the article.

[gondramB]

I stand corrected. I must have mis-read her.

[rwfromkansas]

The majority of my high school sex ed curriculum here in Kansas was abstinence, though not all of it. I do not have much of a problem with that since some just won't get the message...hopefully they will at least be safe.

As for myself, my girlfriend and I have made a commitment to not do anything but simple kisses until marriage. Thank God she is not of the mindset that she should not kiss at all until marriage like some girls at my conservative Presbyterian college. But, I am finding out how incredibly hard holding to this agreement is going to be, for both of us.

With kids not being told to be responsible and restrain the desires of the flesh anymore, is it any wonder kids are having sex so much? They don't know HOW to restrain themselves.

It is NOT easy work, but it is the right thing to do until marriage.

[rwfromkansas]

Ellen is right about half the time.

[rwfromkansas]

IMO, the right way to do sex ed is do both abstinence and "be safe" talk.

Unfortunately, so few even do abstinence anymore.

[AntiGuv]

I agree with you fwiw.