I realize there's a generalized opposition to teaching kids about sex, especially 'alternative' sexualities; but these are young adults, college students, and there's got to be a point at which you let them do adult things.
As for the instructor being the author of "pornographic stories, including at least one story involving a graphic description of gang rape," we read Last Exit to Brooklyn in high school. I obviously haven't read this story to compare them, but the novel is both infamous for that very thing and also normally assigned by literature departments. If you want to address that problem, the place to start isn't with the $100 thing.
3 comments:
Age matters. What you are assigning to 18 year-olds should be more difficult to swallow, both intellectually and emotionally, than what you assign to 8 year-olds.
there's got to be a point at which you let them do adult things.
They were DOING "adult things" before college.
But there's a vast difference between 'allowing' adult things and TEACHING them 'adult things.'
I remember, speaking of high school, one of our professors putting on a gun control debate. I took the position that guns were so important to the American tradition of liberty and citizenship that safe and accurate gun handling ought to be taught in schools. The teacher outright refused to allow that position to be considered by the class.
However, one of my friends pointed out that it was exactly parallel to their own preferred position on sex education. This was something very important that you might get wrong, which could lead to serious consequences. And it was an important component of living a happy and complete life, so they argued and many believe: why shouldn't an education include teaching you how to do it safely and well?
I still think we ought to teach riflery and safe gun handling even to much younger students. But, by my friend's logic, my position also suggests that some sort of sex education is a reasonable thing to consider. I get that with students who haven't reached their majority, many feel uncomfortable especially with alternative sexualities. Once we're talking about adults, though, if they've got questions they ought to be able to get straight answers without having to go to the gay bar or the bondage club and experiment.
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