New Sex Ed Standards Confuse Romantic and Sexual Orientation

Details: Category: News; Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 18:25; Written by Lara Landis; Hits: 578

The proposed new sex education standards for U.S. Schools are not binding on an individual school district. The new standards recommend that students be able to use the proper name of body parts by the fifth grade and know that sexual orientation refers to a person's romantic orientation. The confusion with sexual and romantic orientation has caused the new standards to come under the scrutiny of Asexuals.

One of the early goals of the Asexual movement was to separate romantic attraction from sexual attraction. They have done this well within the Asexual community. They have done less well among educators. The educators, particularly those responsible for the sex education curriculum have not received the message.

The new rules have been criticized and praised by Conservative Christians and sex education advocates. The definition of sexual orientation seems to appeal to people who are not trying to discuss these issues openly. The decision to have students name body parts accurately seems out-of-place with the decision to not acknowledge there is a difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction reflects a decision on the part of the curriculum designers that doesn't go far enough, especially when the curriculum expects students to be able to correctly name the different sexual orientations.

The new guidelines were drafted by a coalition that included the National Education Association, the American Association of Health Education, the Health Education Network, the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education and the Sex Education initiative.

Source:

New Standards for Sex Ed By Grade Level