I hope they reply, but personally I don't see any reason to keep children ignorant of biology besides our religions making us feel like sex is taboo and unnatural.

Obv we can't teach these kinds of concepts to children who aren't at a level yet to handle regular biology classes.

[–] cogman@lemmy.world 18 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not saying kids shouldn't be educated on the biology, just that age matters and too young is associated in research with lifelong negative consequences.

Obv we can’t teach these kinds of concepts to children who aren’t at a level yet to handle regular biology classes.

Which I think we agree on. Teaching a 5 year old consent is proper, how sex works is improper. Teaching a 12 year old how sex works is proper, what various sex acts are is improper. Teaching a 16 year old the various sex acts is proper, especially if accompanied by a discussion of STDs, how to prevent them, and how to properly disclose to prior partners you have one.

Sex ed isn't just one lesson and what can be taught when is a gradient based on age.

[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You know a sizable portion of teens have sex before the age of 16? Sex ed should basically be complete at age 14, which is approximately when most teens start/are consuming porn and some are starting to be sexually active.

Also, you should definitely start teaching what sex is to 10 year olds. For example, most girls have their first period between 11 and 12 years of age and they should know prior to having one what it means and how to deal with it.

[–] cogman@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I don't really disagree. I wasn't trying to put the ages out as being a hard absolute on what should be taught when. It was more just to layout the progress of how sex ed should be taught as kids grow up.

I wouldn't say sex ed can be complete by 14. It's one of those things that I think should be retaught a few times as kids get older. Mainly because 14yo are likely to forget the lessons they learned.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 3 points 16 hours ago

Exactly. Normalizing sex is about not making it a taboo, it is not about talking to everyone about it.

There is a huge amount is topics that aren't taboo & yet we don't really talk about them much/with just anyone.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 2 points 18 hours ago

It's seems pretty easy to understand some diseases can be transmitted, pregnancy exists, and consent is important at ages where you still wouldn't necessarily be teaching about mitochondria. It's embarrassing that even knowing basic names of anatomy and that different people have different anatomy is something that some kids still don't know by like pre-K.

The hardest parts is just the awkwardness of those topics with today's culture. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember my mom trying to teach about STDs and pregnancy, and my response was like "just don't have sex" and her reaction seemed to indicate to me that she disagreed but also didn't feel comfortable actually saying anything positive about sex and just assumed I'd change my mind once I reached puberty (which was probably not long after). But not being willing to talk about the positive aspects means teaching that these topics are taboo and leads to children being unwilling to talk to parents when they should be (even if just to ask for things like condoms).