Tuesday, February 4, 2014
God, Sex, and Pythagoras
In Shelby Knox's article "God, Sex, and Pythagoras", she uses the story of a girl in her Geometry class to illustrate how she was raised. She comes from an extremely religious home where her life was basically spent living in virtue and spending time in the church. I can't relate to this lifestyle at all, and I found it super odd that people actually live this way. In today's society, it's socially acceptable to have no involvement in the church. I don't really agree with the church in general, it tends to be extremely corrupt and misleading. Knox's childhood is a perfect example of the church and their confusing, unfair treatment of women and sexuality. She claims that at 16 years old, when many people are beginning to have sex, she simply did not know what it was.
That's completely foreign to me and it definitely proves that there is a lack of sex ed in this country. I believe there is a way to teach kids the truth about sex without shaming them or promoting it. The fact that girls are told sex before marriage ruins them and makes them a "fallen women" is absolutely disgusting. Knox's article gave me insight into the life of someone who was taught to associate sex with shame and is a great tool to support better sex education in America.
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I actually have firsthand experience with this kind of attitude about sex. I grew up in a Catholic home and attended Catholic school from pre-k until I left for college. We did not have sex education and were taught abstinence by special events like "Chastity Day." At the time, this was all very normal and not at all strange.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't regret my upbringing at all because it shaped me into the person I am today. I don't feel like I missed out on anything and I'm kind of glad that I didn't really know anything about sex at 16. But, I totally understand how strange this all sounds to someone who grew up in a far less religious home and attended public schools. The only thing I regret is not having sex ed, because I think that could've prevented a lot of the teen pregnancy that occurred in my high school.
I think sex education is such an important thing, but I don't think that it should come from the school or the church, it should come from the parents. I think that at the age of 16 boys and girls should have more than just an idea of what sex is, they should already fully understand. I can't remember how young I was when my parents first talked to me about sex, but it was completely normal because we have always had a comfortable relationship where we can talk about anything. Parents need to sit their children down and talk to them about sex, and then trust that they will do the "right" thing, whatever that may be.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all these ideas Cassie, Kaitlyn, and Kirsten. Kirsten, I agree that parents should provide their children with accurate knowledge about sex, but I also think one of the important functions of institutions like schools and churches are to help support the development and education of young people because parents can't do everything themselves, and children who have parents that are uninformed or not good teachers should still have access to information and resources that social institutions can provide. Having said that, it makes me think of your experience, Kaitlyn, in a religious school where having access to education about sex conflicts with the practice of the church. I wonder how our thinking about sex and women's bodies would have to change at a societal level in order for churches to see sex ed and religious beliefs as not in conflict.
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