After supporting the religious right in denouncing the recent revision to the sex curriculum in Ontario schools, the Ford regime introduced a version suspiciously similar to the previous liberal version. After juggling a few of the grades when certain subjects were taught and adding a few non-sexual topics, we found out that the Ford conservatives were just as naïve as the rest of us.
Like many, I always assumed that since parents did not want to embarrass themselves trying to teach their children about sex, they would be happy to have the schools take it out of their hands. At the very least, parents who keep their children out of selected classes should be forced to take the program themselves, to prove they are not misleading their children. It always reminds me of the time I attempted to have ‘the talk’ with my son about the evils of street drugs and he gave me a very interesting lecture on the subject.
But what I have never been able to understand is that blue-stocking parents are foolish to try to restrict their children’s knowledge. Kids share what they know with each other and some very large shibboleths can be traced through children networking.
And besides, have you been watching television or movies, listening to radio, browsing the Internet, reading newspapers lately? I read the most fascinating article on oral sex the other day in the Toronto Star. (That’s right, the Toronto Star!) I hardly think there are any barriers left. And thank goodness.
I remember when my intake in the air force was given ‘the lecture’ by the medical officer and we thought the poor chap was more embarrassed than we were. The funniest part of the entire routine was when he drew on a chalkboard the best way to put on a condom.
Toronto after the Second World War was a city of burgeoning ethnic mix. I was told too many stories of boys and girls trying to find a way to explain to their old-country parents the pressures and openness of North American society. It was very much a touchy-feely world.
Maybe the sexual revolution was just part of our awakening as a more open society.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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