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A Brief History of Sex Ed - Part I

  • MIRIAM GROSSMAN, M.D.

Once upon a time, sex education was a simple biology lesson.


grossmanStudents learned the facts of life, and with those facts, that sex is part of something bigger, called marriage.  Teachers explained this was the moral and healthy way to live.

In those days, people understood that men and women are different, and that their union is unique, unlike any other relationship.

It went without saying that boys grew up to become men, and girls, women.
There were only two sexually transmitted diseases, and having one was a serious matter.

Certain behaviors were not normal; individuals who practiced them needed help, and a child's innocence was precious.

Things have changed.

Now we have comprehensive sexuality education.  It includes discussion of identity, gender, reproductive rights, and discrimination.

Children learn they're sexual from birth, and that the proper time for sexual activity is when they decide they're ready.

They're taught they have a right to pleasure, birth control, and abortion.

The terms husband and wife aren't used, the union of man and woman is one of several options, and morality?  Well, that's judging, and judging is not allowed.

You won't find much biology in sexuality education, but there's voluminous information on the varieties of sexual expression, the pros and cons of different contraceptives and abortions, and the harm of gender stereotypes.

Gender itself is a complicated matter.  A boy might turn into a man, a woman, or something else.  A girl might feel she was born in the wrong body, and want her breasts removed.  This is all normal, children learn.

There are over two dozen sexually transmitted diseases, and infection with one of these "lovebugs" is considered by some to be a part of growing up.

A doctor declares on YouTube, "Expect to have HPV once you become sexually intimate.  All of us get it."

And childhood innocence?…forget it!  Material created for children make most adults uncomfortable.  On websites recommended to students, nothing is taboo — sadomasochism, polyamory, and what were once called "deviant" behaviors…they're all good.

When I first discovered this, I was astonished.  What do these bizarre behaviors have to do with health, I wondered?  How can responsible adults allow this?  How can they fund this?

When I first discovered this, I was astonished.  What do these bizarre behaviors have to do with health, I wondered?

As a physician and a parent, it really bothered me.  I wanted to understand: Where did this come from?  How did we reach this madness?

So I looked at the history of sex ed, and I wrote a book called You're Teaching My Child WHAT?

This is what I discovered.

Modern sex ed began in the sixties.  It was based on Alfred Kinsey's model of human sexuality.  Thanks to the brilliant and courageous work of Dr Judith Reisman, we now know that Kinsey was both a fraud, and a deeply disturbed individual.

For Kinsey, it was anything goes when it came to sexuality, and I mean anything.  He believed, for example, that pedophiles were misunderstood, and their punishments unjust.

"Sexuality is not an appetite to be curbed", Kinsey insisted.  He taught that, and he lived it.

His official biography documents the beliefs on which he based his work, and his personal life: The "human animal" is pansexual.  Traditional morality is destructive.  Sexuality is not an appetite to be curbed.

When I say that Kinsey was a deeply disturbed individual, it fails to capture the level of his psychopathology.

I've been a psychiatrist for thirty years, and trust me, I've met some very strange people.  I am not easily shocked.

But when I began to read Kinsey's official biography ... What can I tell you?  He was — please excuse the technical jargon — a real mental case.

Kinsey was afflicted at his core.  He was a depraved human being, and his emotional illness expressed itself through his sexuality.  He was consumed by a grotesque, debilitating, obsession with a wide range of abnormal behaviors — I'll spare you the details, but I doubt very much that in all the 62 years of Kinsey's miserable life he knew even one day of what we in this room would consider healthy sexuality.

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A Brief History of Sex Ed - Part I
A Brief History of Sex Ed - Part II
A Brief History of Sex Ed - Part III

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Acknowledgement

grossman Miriam Grossman, M.D. "A Brief History of Sex Ed - Part I." 7th World Congress of Families (May, 2013).

Based on a talk presented at the 7th World Congress of Families in Sydney, May 2013. Reprinted with permission of the author.

The Author

Grossman2smGrossmansmMiriam Grossman, M.D., is a board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. She writes and speaks to parents, students, educators, and health professionals internationally on the dangers of political correctness in her profession. She is the author of You're Teaching My Child What?: A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Education How They Harm Your Child and Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student. Her website is here.  

Copyright © 2013 Miriam Grossman, M.D.