The Cautious Approach of Georgians to the Topic of Human Sexuality in Children

Human sexuality in children has always been a topic that is often avoided. As we enter the let century, the world has become drastically different than it once was, attitudes toward sexuality have changed dramatically subsequently, and human approaches to sexual behavior have as well. Although sex has become more mainstream in the media, children are not being properly educated about how to address their own sexuality. Education is the only way to learn right from wrong, good from bad, and to establish norms and values.

If parents, lawmakers, school officials and other child mentors are not able to be comfortable and open about sex, then how can children be expected to ever understand their own sexuality? Sex has become more and more liberal, and it is both the parents and the school system that need to address the issue instead of treating it as a taboo. If that hurdle could be overcome, perhaps sexuality wouldn’t be such a disturbing topic.

Sexuality in children is not only an issue across the world but very specifically in Georgia. One big factor that has caused Georgians to approach the topic of sex very cautiously is religion. Georgia, being a southern state, falls into the Bible belt. With 37,307,567 (57.6% of the population) Georgians being Christian or having some religious affiliation, sex is a topic many adults feel inappropriate to discuss with their children. This way of thinking has not only affected the school curriculum but also the teachings of parents to their children. This view leaves children undereducated and susceptible to the misuse and malpractice of sex.

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Issues that have been prevalent in recent news supporting this idea include child molestation, child rapes, child pimping and again the topic of under-education in schools. The number of sex-related crimes in 1998 (all violent crimes including sexual crimes) was 42,246, Children thought to be protected by leaving sex out of family discussions and school lectures are in actuality increasingly harmed.

The public policy regarding the required curriculum to be taught in Georgia public schools is minimal. “Each local board of education shall be authorized to supplement and develop the exact approach of content areas of such minimum course of study with such specific curriculum standards, as it may deem appropriate.” Abstinence, as stated, is to be taught as the “effective method of prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome,” The State Board of Education is to also include education and prevention of AIDS as part of a comprehensive health education. The requirements are minimal and almost insulting to children, one man under the Bush Administration, Surgeon General David Satcher, saw the lack of education regarding sex in the school curriculum. He wanted schools to teach the value of birth control as well as abstinence. Satcher was asked to turn in his resignation, Sex is an issue that is constantly being promoted in the world around children, while parents and educators choose to ignore it.

Although abstinence may be the best way, it is indeed not the only one if children are going to ‘jump in the pool,’ someone needs to teach them how to swim. Ideas such as contraceptives and issues that surround sex other than biological ones should be discussed. Another public policy that demonstrates the bigoted views of the Georgia lawmakers is that of sodomy. Just another example of the narrow-minded attitude towards sexuality is displayed in the policy and its consequences. “A person commits the offense of sodomy when he or she performs or submits to any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another. A person convicted of the offense of sodomy shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one no more than 20 years”. Along with sodomy, another law that particularly applies to children is statutory rape. Anyone who engages in sexual intercourse with an adolescent under 16 is committing statutory rape, and can be punished for up to 20 years in prison.

Two issues that seem to be reoccurring is the physical aspect of sexuality and the psychological. The physical aspect of sexuality has brought attention to a few very specific cases in Georgia. Many of these cases are issues of rape and molestation Two thousand two hundred ninety-nine cases of rape were reported in 1998. The effects of rape and molestation on a child‘s health can be very detrimental to their well-being. One specific news article from the Atlanta Constitutional Journal on child molestation depicts the poor education given to a 13-year-old boy. The boy was molested by his Tae Kwon Do instructor and didn’t come forward with the information until another concerned parent brought up the issue A little boy was touching his sister in an inappropriate way because he too was molested by the Tae Kwon Do instructor. When the boy‘s parents asked him what he was doing, his response was “Mr. Fiek touched me like that”.

The little boy had no knowledge of the situation and didn‘t know not only what he was doing to his sister was wrong, but also what his instructor was doing to him was wrong. There were 21 other accounts brought up against the instructor once the initial complaint was made. The idea that some of these boys had no idea what was being done to them was wrong, and that they should be able to tell someone, is absurd. Parent’s inability to face an uncomfortable yet extremely important issue with their own children is causing the children to suffer. Children need to be aware of the dangers and realities of the immoral world that is around them, Failure to be straightforward with an issue that could possibly be avoided is allowing rapes and molestation cases to be on the rise. In 1999 there were 69,949 reports of child abuse and neglect reported in Georgia. Of the total number of reports 6,289 were reported to the Georgia Department of Family and Children as incidents’ of sexual abuse.

The most common age groups of child victims were between the ages of four and 15 Almost half of those cases (46%) involved children that were under the age of six years old, Stories of sexual misconduct seem to be recurrent in news headlines: a theatre technician frorn Pebblebrook High School raped a thirteen-year-old girl, eight men were convicted of pimping charges in Atlanta, and sadly the stories continue. While some people are worrying about how sex is changing our society, they are allowing sex to forever change the lives of their own children. A more popular debate that parents do elect to get involved with is that of sexual imagery. As stated earlier the more liberal look on human sexuality is bringing controversy as it is being portrayed through our children. Some say the media is to blame while others say it is the outright defiance of our children, A statistic from the ‘Children Now’ web page states that the average child watches three to four hours of TV a clay.

It also states that out of every four family hour programs, three of them (75%) contain some sexual content. “By comparison, 65% of shows in the same time period in 1986, and 43% of shows from 1976 contained sexual content”. It is clear that sexual content is more prevalent in media, both television and movies, than it was twenty years ago. As parents are in a constant battle to put the blame of their children’s new looks and ideas on the media, they don’t seem to see the real problem. A mother of at Savannah cheerleader defended her daughter and her cheer mates as they were said to be dancing too provocatively while dressed in too sexy of uniforms. She stated, “It’s the same as whenever Elvis Presley came out in the early days. They said he couldn’t move his hips and they could only film him from head to waste, It is not sexy cheers or fighting to keep sex out of the movies, it is level of control that needs to be looked at.

Parents need to teach their children right from wrong and know that no matter how short a cheerleading skirt is, they trust their child will do the right thing. Parenting is difficult and indeed a full-time job. If parents choose to let society raise their children, then it isn‘t the society who is to blame. Issues of sexuality need to be confronted, discussed and tackled. Times have indeed changed, but that is no excuse for the parenting efforts to dwindle. If parents take on a more active duty in the lives of their own children, school policies can be improved, children can be informed, and parents can be at ease. The more knowledge made available to children, the less confusion there will be about what is right and wrong. Although human sexuality is indeed a difficult topic to discuss with children, it cannot be ignored children earn the right to learn, but someone has to be there to teach them.