However, this story sort of leaped out at me.
A bill passed by Republicans in the Utah House of Representatives would effectively ban comprehensive education about human sexuality, forcing schools to teach abstinence or nothing at all. . . .
The bill forbids advocating for “the use of contraceptive methods or devices,” sex outside marriage or homosexuality. It also restricts teaching about sexual intercourse or erotic behavior.
Public and charter schools would have the option of developing an abstinence-only curriculum or skipping the discussion of sexuality altogether.
Aside from the usual catch-all language (we know by now that "advocating" means mentioning with anything other than stern disapproval), this quote caught my eye:
"We’ve been culturally watered down to think we have to teach about sex, about having sex and how to get away with it, which is intellectually dishonest[.]"
"How to get away with it"? What, sex is like shoplifting? Cheating on your diet?
Oh, and don't try to make any sense of the "intellectually dishonest" part. Aside from the busted irony meter, I think this guy just threw it in because it's one of the stock phrases used by blowhards who don't have any idea what they're saying.
All of which only reinforces my perception that fundamentalists, especially those of any brand of Christianity (yes, this guy was probably Mormon, seeing as how this is Utah -- which reportedly has the highest rate of online porn consumption in the country -- but Mormons consider themselves Christians), have a really sick attitude toward sex. I suppose that grows pretty much organically out of the idea that you're supposed to be ashamed of having a body, but credit Paul with a lot of the bad attitude. (Yes, that Paul -- the one who lived with a prostitute for fifteen years, had a child with her, and then left her to marry a rich widow.) Augustine gets a vote, too.
Wonder what this bill, if it makes it into law, is going to do to the teen pregnancy rate in Utah.
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