Comprehensive Sex Ed and Sexual Exploitation: Closely Connected?

Recent research from the New York Times has revealed that there are over 45 million videos and images of child sexual abuse online. These numbers represent an exponential increase from a decade ago. Even more sobering, behind those numbers is the harrowing reality of millions of children who have been exploited and abused, their lives upended, and their innocence destroyed.

In light of this horrifying reality, will people wake up and replace the sexualization of children with focused efforts to protect their innocence? A great starting point for Minnesota would be to stop the push for radical Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) in children’s classrooms.

 There isn’t one set definition for CSE, but in general, CSE includes information and classroom discussion on gender identity, sexual expression, sex practices, and abortion access. Examples of CSE curriculum which have been proposed or adopted have included programs that begin sex-ed in kindergarten, lessons designed for middle-schoolers involving sexual role-playing, detailed descriptions of sexual acts, and a book called It’s Perfectly Normal, with illustrations so explicit that they were censored by Facebook.

During the most recent legislative session, Minnesota state Rep. Todd Lippert introduced H.F. 1414, a bill requiring that school districts and the Department of Education develop and implement a comprehensive sex-ed curriculum. The bill passed the House but not the Senate, and is expected to make a comeback next session. The bill sparked intense debate in the House, with several representatives pointing out the inappropriate content that has appeared in CSE curricula.

 While H.F. 1414 does not stipulate the exact curriculum that would be used if state-wide mandate for CSE were adopted, It’s Perfectly Normal is already being used in a number of MN schools. Furthermore, looking at the radical curriculum that has been adopted and proposed elsewhere in the country, parents are rightly concerned about the explicit nature of CSE.

Proponents of CSE have argued that it is necessary in order to “arm kids with the facts” and prevent risky sexual behavior in adolescents. However, the American College of Pediatricians  points out,

The school-based SRR (CSE) model targets the general teen population, rather than focusing on an individual intervention for those who are actually engaged in the risk behavior. This is a significant difference from the typical risk reduction model. The sexual risk reduction approach should focus on adolescents in school who are already sexually active, but instead is applied to the broader teen population. This sends the false message that “everyone is doing it”, which has the negative effect of normalizing teen sex as an expected standard for all students...The school-based SRR (CSE) model claims success even when teens are still participating in behaviors that place them at significant risk.

In other words, by exposing all students to material about risky behavior, instead of just students who are actually engaging in that behavior, CSE simply doesn’t do what it claims to do, which is to reduce risky behaviors. 

What is even more troubling is that the message that “everyone’s doing it” may not be unintentional. Efforts to implement CSE in Minnesota have received glowing praise from Planned Parenthood, which bills itself as the largest provider of sex ed in Minnesota and nationally. Former Planned Parenthood worker Abby Johnson has warned that Planned Parenthood’s interest in expanding CSE is an intentional effort to teach children that the scenarios they are role-playing are normal for their age and that they should not turn to their parents while navigating difficult situations, and to encourage them to turn instead to Planned Parenthood clinics.

At the encouragement of organizations like Planned Parenthood, CSE, with its sexually explicit content, is being ushered into children’s classrooms, even though proponents have not been able to demonstrate that it is actually an effective risk reduction strategy.

Evidence of Comprehensive sex education reduces risky behavior among teenagers may be lacking, but there is evidence that exposure to pornographic media at a young age has the effect of desensitizing children, resulting in a higher likelihood that they will try to act out what they have seen.

According to the American College of Pediatricians, children who are exposed to sexually explicit material at a young age more likely to engage in sex early, more likely to engage in risky acts, and, as it has been documented that sexual predators groom children by exposing them to sexually explicit imagery, may be at increased risk of sexual exploitation.

With videos and images of child sexual abuse appearing online at unprecedented levels, it is imperative, now more than ever, that parents and communities prioritize the protection of children. Bringing sexually explicit imagery and role-playing of sexual scenarios into children’s classrooms does just the opposite.

CSE objectifies children by turning them into tools for adults’ ideological purposes, robbing them of their innocence and grooming them in the process. Children should be cherished and protected, not used as pawns for advancing a radical sexual agenda.