By Vanessa • 18 years ago

Sex ed takes on toddlers.


Check out this article in the New York Times yesterday on sex education and how the typical age to learn about sex is getting younger by the year.
One of the people interviewed is Robie H. Harris, a renowned author of sex education books for children. Her most recent books, “Perfectly Normal” (shown above) and “It’s So Amazing” are directed towards 7-year olds and up, and is soon to publish her latest, “It’s Not The Stork”, which will be intended for children as young as 4. In 2008, she plans to write one for toddlers.
This new early childhood approach to sex education teaches words like “vulva” at the same time they’re learning words like “ears” and “toes.” As bizarre as this may sound, it actually makes sense. Instead of learning it in other random ways and experiences that children do, they know about their bodies and the “birds and the bees” before they can get confused or misinformed by peers and pop culture. They also urge parents to abandon offensive words such as “weenie” for boys and the obscure “down there” for girls. Awesome.
Dr. Justin Richardson, assistant professor of psychiatry and sex ed author says:

“People have been told by experts that there’s a right age. . . If you’re talking about how babies are made, there’s no age at which it is harmful to learn that the penis goes into the vagina . . . Yes, it’s true that exposing a child to sexual stimulation is harmful. But telling a kid how babies are made is very different.”

I still don’t doubt that Harris will catch a lot of shit for this. Her and illustrator Michael Emberley caught enough for “Perfectly Normal”, which had information on homosexuality, contraception and masturbation. (The horror!)
Click here to check out Harris’ work.

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