Word: sexed
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...slow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV around the world has to be a good thing, right? That's what the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) thought. But now it finds itself under fire from American conservatives for proposing a new set of guidelines on sex education in schools as a means of helping young people avoid potentially dangerous sexual activity...
...guidelines, which UNESCO is still preparing, recommend that national governments, education ministries and school systems around the world provide students with more sex education at an earlier age than what they usually get now. As they mature, students would get more detailed information about avoiding pregnancy and disease. The goal is simple: with contraception often not an option in many parts of the world - and vaccines to prevent diseases like AIDS still unavailable - UNESCO hopes that teaching children more about the risks of sexual activity will help them steer clear of such perils. The organization believes this could...
...only legitimate way of avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, it isn't surprising that some American conservative and Evangelical groups have reacted angrily to the UNESCO document. "U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds" read the headline of FoxNews.com's Aug. 26 story. "New UNESCO Sex Education Guidelines Call on Children to Promote Abortions," a LifeNews.com article announced on Sept. 1, the same day conservative news site CNSNews.com warned that "U.S. Funds U.N. Group That Supports Teaching 5-to-8-Year Olds about Masturbation...
...conservative reaction to the UNESCO document seem to reflect a similar strategy to the one employed to fight President Barack Obama's proposed health-care reform. First, critics have launched the debate before UNESCO has even finished its recommendations, which are based on analysis of 80 different studies of sex-education programs. Second, they have broadcast sensational accusations of the offending proposal's intent to better grab the attention of - and alarm - the public. (See pictures of the health-care debate turning angry...
...what happens now? Detractors will probably continue to hammer at the document even as it's readied for the Sex and Relationships Education Conference starting Sept. 7 in Birmingham, England. The guidelines will then be presented to the U.N. in New York City sometime in October, at which point governments and education officials can either act on or ignore them as they wish. There's a chance that, in the U.S., UNESCO's recommendations will be drowned out by the knee-jerk outrage of conservative pundits. But at least the guidelines can undergo sober and thoughtful examination in more open...