According to the National Conference of State Legislatures as of January 1, 2015, 22 states and the District of Colombia require public schools teach sex education and out of the 22, only 19 states require that if provided, sex education must be medically, factually or technically accurate. However, the term “medically accurate” can also vary between states too. This shows that less than half of the states in the US allow children between K-12th grade to be unknowledgeable in sex education regardless of the fact if the child’s parents discuss sex education at home. Sex education during this period of a child’s life is a necessity because the transition during puberty and even before can be frightening for a child if they are not educated about their body both biologically and mentally. Sex education does not only cover what happens biologically and mentally nor does it stop once a child has finished 12th grade.
A recent debate on the cancellation of the event, “Sex Toys R US” at Cal State LA has been causing a commotion. This event was created by the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center in partner with an adult sex toy store, The Pleasure Chest. The basic outline of the event was to learn about the latest sex toys and sexual enhancers. However, this flyer came into possession of a concerned parent who did not approve of the event and contacted the university along with CBS News, which led to a cancelation of the event.
As a person who has never had any sex education both in school and at home, I had to rely on the Internet for information on sex education, sexuality, and so forth. After reading and understanding importance of sex education, I believe any information dealing with sex- like sex toys- can be valuable. Personally, there are two main reasons to why an event like this should not have been canceled: 1. Majority of the college students are of legal age and 2. An event like this will be informational to females in dealing with self-pleasure.
It is a well-known fact that age does not correlate with maturity. However, on the topic of sex toys and sexual enhancers, I would like to think that students here at Cal State LA are mature enough to not make childish comments on a topic like this. Along with handling this event like an adult, has additional information on pleasurable sex ever hurt anyone? No. Although this event would have probably given new ideas to couples when it comes to sex, I believe this event would have also help many females on campus too.
Society has made it taboo for women to experience, discuss, learn about their own anatomy. A simple example on the difference between acceptable pleasure for a woman and man is the rating controversy over the movie “Blue Valentine”. The MPAA wanted to rate the movie NC-17 (which they did), because of a scene where Williams receives oral sex from Gosling, which was perceived as “pornographic” when in other movies where the male actor is receiving oral sex from the women, it is rated R. The idea that women are not allowed to masturbate to stay “pure” has been instilled on many. Statistics from gammification.co shows that, “46.6% of women masturbate less than once a month every year” and that, “the fact remains that many women and girls don’t masturbate at all and may not even know how to”. With an event like “Sex Toys R Us”, I hope it would have informed females that self-pleasure is important for sexual development as a human being and that there is nothing wrong with it.
Discussing topics related to sex like sex toys and sexual enhancers does not make a person any less than they are. It is important for students who are still figuring out their body and sexuality to be knowledgeable in topics like these. If one is not uncomfortable with an event like this, just don’t attend and don’t refrain those who are curious to learn about sex from doing so.