tagged w/ Sex Education
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WWH- What did you say your name was?
54-year-old woman experiences amnesia during sex, confounds researchers
Patients may unwittingly trigger the transient global amnesia by raising the pressure inside their abdomens, depriving the brain of oxygen and blood.WWH- What did you say your name was?
54-year-old woman experiences amnesia during... more
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Slice them where you will, any collection of psychoanalysts is as mad as a parliament. Novelty beards, whirling eyes, twitches, deranged clothing, tics, jitters and habits you wouldn’t want to go into. ButSlice them where you will, any collection of psychoanalysts is as mad as a parliament.... more
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Home / News / National / National
NYC to mandate sex education in public schools
StoryDiscussionNYC to mandate sex education in public schools
Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 8:10 am | (0) Comments
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.Mandatory sex-education classes are returning to New York City public schools for the first time in nearly two decades.
The New York Times ( http://nyti.ms/nwxKG8) reports that middle and high school students will be required to take sex-education classes beginning this year.
The curriculum includes lessons on how to use a condom and the appropriate age for sexual activity.
The new mandate calls for students to take one semester of sex education in 6th or 7th grade, and again in 9th or 10th grade. Children as young as 11 will participate in discussions on topics like pregnancy and the risks of unprotected sex.
Parents will be able to have their children opt out of the lessons on birth-control methods.
The classes can be incorporated into existing health education courses.
Read more: http://poststar.com/news/national/nyc-to-mandate-sex-education-in-public-schools/article_f079aa82-4a7a-575b-865b-ce23a7fc7e81.html?mode=story#ixzz1UdC9ARzGHome / News / National / National
NYC to mandate sex education in public schools... more
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CNN...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/27/cameroon.breast.ironing/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
Breast ironing tradition targeted in Cameroon
From Nkepile Mabuse, CNN
July 27, 2011 8:53 p.m. EDT
Click on photo to play video
Activists fight breast ironing tradition
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(CNN) --
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Every morning before school, nine-year-old Terisia Techu would undergo a painful procedure. Her mother would take a burning hot pestle straight out of a fire and use it to press her breasts.
With tears in her eyes as she recalls what it was like, Terisia tells CNN that one day the pestle was so hot, it burned her, leaving a mark. Now 18, she is still traumatized.
Her mother, Grace, denies the incident. But she proudly demonstrates the method she used on her daughter for several weeks, saying the goal was to make her less desirable to boys -- and stave off pregnancy.
A study found that one in four girls in Cameroon have been affected by the practice.
The U.S. State Department, in its 2010 human rights report on Cameroon, cited news reports and said breast ironing "victimized numerous girls in the country" and in some cases "resulted in burns, deformities, and psychological problems."
There are more than 200 ethnic groups in Cameroon with different norms and customs. Breast ironing is practiced by all of them.
Some mothers use hot stones or coconut shells to flatten their daughters' breasts.
Doctors believe improved diets have resulted in young Cameroonian girls going through puberty early. Many of them are also becoming pregnant early.
Terisia became pregnant at 15. Her child died at birth.
She told CNN that breast ironing doesn't work. She hates the practice and wishes her mother had instead talked to her about sex and preventing pregnancy.
Grace Techu argues that if it weren't for the breast ironing, Terisia would have become pregnant at an even younger age.
Techu has four daughters, and she used the procedure on the first two. The third avoided it because her breasts are growing at an acceptable rate, Techu says, and the fourth girl is still too young.
Mothers who want their children to finish school before becoming parents have resorted to this drastic measure, and many see nothing wrong with it.
In 2006, a German nongovernmental organization exposed the practice, which at the time was done mainly in secret.
Now, charities have embarked on campaigns to educate mothers in Cameroon that sex education -- not breast ironing -- is the solution to ending teenage pregnancy.
Dr Sinou Tchana, a gynecologist in Cameroon, has seen breast glands that were destroyed. She also saw one case of cancer, though she says it couldn't be established whether the ironing caused or only exacerbated the cancer.
"One mother came with secondary burns because the stone she was using to do this breast ironing burned her," Tchana says.
One of Tchana's patients is a 23-year-old whose scars are still painful 14 years after her breasts were ironed. She has joined the effort to confront mothers about the effects of their actions.
The challenge for all those trying to stop the practice is reaching parents like Techu in villages before a ritual that they say is motivated by love shatters more lives.
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CNN's Josh Levs contributed to this report.CNN...... more
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This is a poem I wrote about abortion, the pro-life/pro-choice debate, and the points that I think we are missing when we talk about abortion. You can read the poem here as well:
http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/newyorkglow/737875/This is a poem I wrote about abortion, the pro-life/pro-choice debate, and the points... more
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Loosely based on the dark tales of H.P. Lovecraft, “Late Bloomer is a compelling and humorous short film about 7th grade sex ed class gone horribly wrong.”
Official selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Director: Craig Macneill.Loosely based on the dark tales of H.P. Lovecraft, “Late Bloomer is a compelling... more
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When it comes to making policy decisions, science seems less and less popular these days. David Nutt was sacked as the UK government's chief drugs advisor for publicly stating what science had already proven: that tobacco and alcohol are more harmful than marijuana, ecstasy and LSD.
Too often our society lets fear dictate how we deal with our children's inevitable exposure to sex and drugs.
In an ideal world, teenagers would wait until they were more firmly settled psychologically before experimenting and making adult decisions about sex and drugs - due to the complications and risks that such decisions inevitably bring with them. However today's reality is a culture where children are exposed to adult themes at younger and younger ages.
In America we teach abstinence-only education in the hope that by not teaching kids harm-minimizing techniques such as birth control and contraception, they will simply not have sex. Unfortunately, there is now concrete evidence that this doesn't work. Studies show that, following a decade-long decline 'U.S. teen pregnancy rates have increased as both births and abortions rise.'
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/01/26/index.html
As a teenager most of my friends' parents were strong abolitionists. If any of them had found out their son or daughter were smoking the occasional joint or having sex, they would have permanently grounded them or even kicked them out of the house. Needless to say this didn't stop them. So what can parents and teachers do to help teens mature into young adults who make responsible decisions?
Maybe if someone taught them how to minimize risks when imbibing mind-altering substances in the same way one learns about units when drinking alcohol. Maybe if schools taught about emotional and physical intimacy (and of course, contraception) alongside lessons on physiology and sex.
What passes for 'sex education' in America is, frankly, disgraceful. For over a quarter century, the federal government has supported abstinence-only education programs that censor information to youth. America still has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world, 1.5 times the teen pregnancy rate of Britain (the highest in Europe.)
The United States’ teen pregnancy rate is over five times that of the Netherlands, over four times that of Germany, and over three times that of France. The obvious explanation is that young people in the United States are significantly less likely to use contraception than youth in these European nations.
These statistics come as no surprise when you look at the number of programs that teach abstinence-only-until-marriage: an unrealistic, morality-based agenda that ignores the fact that virtually all Americans have sex before marriage (a fact that has been true since the 1950s). Amplify Your Voice, a sex-education and youth-education organization, has published several videos featuring animated bears discussing real abstinence-only lessons being taught in classrooms. Losing one's virginity as a girl can be difficult enough, never mind with lessons like these at school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoIeXgCfwNI&feature=player_embedded
The organization says the "chewed up candy" exercise is from AC Green's Game Plan, an abstinence-only program endorsed by the former basketball star that is used in many public schools in Illinois. The "Spit in a Cup" exercise is from "Why Am I Tempted," a program which received funding under President Obama's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) to be taught in schools in Florida.
These programs censor information about contraception and condoms while stigmatizing and shaming students who have already had sex. Never mind the fact that they discriminate against LGBT youth by at best ignoring them altogether - or worse, promoting homophobia by teaching students that homosexuality is deviant and immoral.
Drug education is also in the dark ages. From the Economist:
"Until recently the dominant approach was Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), a programme developed in Los Angeles in 1983 and quickly exported to the rest of America. Cops would arrive in schools, sometimes driving cars confiscated from drug-dealers, and tell 11- and 12-year-olds about the dangers of illicit substances. They drew little or no distinction between marijuana and methamphetamine. Teachers liked DARE because they felt uncomfortable tackling the topic themselves, and because they got a break. Parents liked it because they felt their children would listen to police officers. Unfortunately, they did not. "
http://www.economist.com/node/13234144
Studies are constantly conducted to see if drug education is effective in preventing drug use. Maybe researchers are asking the wrong question. Accepting that the urge to alter one's consciousness is actually a universal human (and animal) drive (see http://www.amazon.com/Intoxication-Universal-Drive-Mind-Altering-Substances/dp/1594770697), we should be looking at how that can be accomplished safely. If kids were taught about harm reduction, the potential for compulsive use and addiction, how to make sure you don't exceed the correct dosage, etc. would we not stand a better chance of eliminating unnecessary deaths from drug abuse?
But of course when it comes to drugs, we're even farther away from this ideal than we are with sex. For at least most people agree that it's natural for teenagers to want to start experimenting sexually, whereas our society can't seem to accept drug experimentation in adults, never mind teens.
This mindset, based on stigma, judgement, stereotypes, and puritanical denial of basic human urges, can do nothing but make the situation worse. Teens see the hypocrisy of adults drinking alcohol and then telling them not to 'do drugs'. They see their friends getting stoned and not turning into junkies. They find out their parents once experimented too.
So it's their turn to experiment - and that's exactly what they do. During this naive experimentation kids consume impure substances purchased on the street, combine drugs that shouldn't be mixed, overdose because they didn't know how much they were taking. But who was there to teach them?
At the same time, young adults inevitably explore their sexuality, either with or without guidance from the adult world in regards to physical precautions that can be taken and the emotional implications of becoming intimate with another human being.
Parents' strict prohibitionist attitudes backfire as they're no longer on the list of people their kids can talk to about these new and sometimes overwhelming experiences. They lose touch with their own children. Their ability to retain influence and stay involved during this crucial time in young adulthood all but disappears.
At the end of the day, the problem is that the majority of adults are not comfortable with their own sexuality or history of drug-taking, and they're certainly not comfortable imagining their kids doing the same thing they did when they were younger. If parents don't start growing up themselves, why should they expect their kids to?
Read more at www.thedailytransmission.comWhen it comes to making policy decisions, science seems less and less popular these... more
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When it comes to making policy decisions, science seems less and less popular these days. David Nutt was sacked as the UK government's chief drugs advisor for publicly stating what science had already proven: that tobacco and alcohol are more harmful than marijuana, ecstasy and LSD.
Too often our society lets fear dictate how we deal with our children's inevitable exposure to sex and drugs.
In an ideal world, teenagers would wait until they were more firmly settled psychologically before experimenting and making adult decisions about sex and drugs - due to the complications and risks that such decisions inevitably bring with them. However today's reality is a culture where children are exposed to adult themes at younger and younger ages.
In America we teach abstinence-only education in the hope that by not teaching kids harm-minimizing techniques such as birth control and contraception, they will simply not have sex. Unfortunately, there is now concrete evidence that this doesn't work. Studies show that, following a decade-long decline 'U.S. teen pregnancy rates have increased as both births and abortions rise.'
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/01/26/index.html
As a teenager most of my friends' parents were strong abolitionists. If any of them had found out their son or daughter were smoking the occasional joint or having sex, they would have permanently grounded them or even kicked them out of the house. Needless to say this didn't stop them. So what can parents and teachers do to help teens mature into young adults who make responsible decisions?
Maybe if someone taught them how to minimize risks when imbibing mind-altering substances in the same way one learns about units when drinking alcohol. Maybe if schools taught about emotional and physical intimacy (and of course, contraception) alongside lessons on physiology and sex.
What passes for 'sex education' in America is, frankly, disgraceful. For over a quarter century, the federal government has supported abstinence-only education programs that censor information to youth. America still has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world, 1.5 times the teen pregnancy rate of Britain (the highest in Europe.)
The United States’ teen pregnancy rate is over five times that of the Netherlands, over four times that of Germany, and over three times that of France. The obvious explanation is that young people in the United States are significantly less likely to use contraception than youth in these European nations.
These statistics come as no surprise when you look at the number of programs that teach abstinence-only-until-marriage: an unrealistic, morality-based agenda that ignores the fact that virtually all Americans have sex before marriage (a fact that has been true since the 1950s). Amplify Your Voice, a sex-education and youth-education organization, has published several videos featuring animated bears discussing real abstinence-only lessons being taught in classrooms. Losing one's virginity as a girl can be difficult enough, never mind with lessons like these at school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoIeXgCfwNI&feature=player_embedded
The organization says the "chewed up candy" exercise is from AC Green's Game Plan, an abstinence-only program endorsed by the former basketball star that is used in many public schools in Illinois. The "Spit in a Cup" exercise is from "Why Am I Tempted," a program which received funding under President Obama's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) to be taught in schools in Florida.
These programs censor information about contraception and condoms while stigmatizing and shaming students who have already had sex. Never mind the fact that they discriminate against LGBT youth by at best ignoring them altogether - or worse, promoting homophobia by teaching students that homosexuality is deviant and immoral.
Drug education is also in the dark ages. From the Economist:
"Until recently the dominant approach was Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), a programme developed in Los Angeles in 1983 and quickly exported to the rest of America. Cops would arrive in schools, sometimes driving cars confiscated from drug-dealers, and tell 11- and 12-year-olds about the dangers of illicit substances. They drew little or no distinction between marijuana and methamphetamine. Teachers liked DARE because they felt uncomfortable tackling the topic themselves, and because they got a break. Parents liked it because they felt their children would listen to police officers. Unfortunately, they did not. "
http://www.economist.com/node/13234144
Studies are constantly conducted to see if drug education is effective in preventing drug use. Maybe researchers are asking the wrong question. Accepting that the urge to alter one's consciousness is actually a universal human (and animal) drive (see http://www.amazon.com/Intoxication-Universal-Drive-Mind-Altering-Substances/dp/1594770697), we should be looking at how that can be accomplished safely. If kids were taught about harm reduction, the potential for compulsive use and addiction, how to make sure you don't exceed the correct dosage, etc. would we not stand a better chance of eliminating unnecessary deaths from drug abuse?
But of course when it comes to drugs, we're even farther away from this ideal than we are with sex. For at least most people agree that it's natural for teenagers to want to start experimenting sexually, whereas our society can't seem to accept drug experimentation in adults, never mind teens.
This mindset, based on stigma, judgement, stereotypes, and puritanical denial of basic human urges, can do nothing but make the situation worse. Teens see the hypocrisy of adults drinking alcohol and then telling them not to 'do drugs'. They see their friends getting stoned and not turning into junkies. They find out their parents once experimented too.
So it's their turn to experiment - and that's exactly what they do. During this naive experimentation kids consume impure substances purchased on the street, combine drugs that shouldn't be mixed, overdose because they didn't know how much they were taking. But who was there to teach them?
At the same time, young adults inevitably explore their sexuality, either with or without guidance from the adult world in regards to physical precautions that can be taken and the emotional implications of becoming intimate with another human being.
Parents' strict prohibitionist attitudes backfire as they're no longer on the list of people their kids can talk to about these new and sometimes overwhelming experiences. They lose touch with their own children. Their ability to retain influence and stay involved during this crucial time in young adulthood all but disappears.
At the end of the day, the problem is that the majority of adults are not comfortable with their own sexuality or history of drug-taking, and they're certainly not comfortable imagining their kids doing the same thing they did when they were younger. If parents don't start growing up themselves, why should they expect their kids to?When it comes to making policy decisions, science seems less and less popular these... more
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Feminists-gender equality at last.
Levity apart it is a fact that women are slow to be aroused and have greater passion for Sex than me.
Difference is that they do not advertise.
Also appearing to be reluctant and disinterested is one of the tools of evolution to have the opposite sex interested for longer period of time.
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/man-seeks-protection-from-sex-mad-wife/Feminists-gender equality at last.
Levity apart it is a fact that women are slow to... more
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OAKLAND -- The morning after receiving a letter about "sexually explicit behavior" that may have occurred in a second-grade classroom last week, parents arrived at Markham Elementary School wondering what had taken place and whether the rumors were true.
Maria and Susana Garcia, sisters whose children are in kindergarten and first grade at Markham, said the reports made them feel uneasy and worried.
"You leave your child at school because you trust that they're going to be safe," Susana Garcia said Friday.
Oakland school district officials say the principal received a report Wednesday that two second-graders engaged in oral sex during class while the teacher was present, and that
some students from the same classroom were clowning around, partially undressed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-gbbIp34KwOAKLAND -- The morning after receiving a letter about "sexually explicit... more
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Sex and civic education in schools in Europe is an “attack” on religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday, following a Vatican row with Spain over a new course promoting liberal values.Sex and civic education in schools in Europe is an “attack” on religious... more
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You want a steamier sex life but there is more to it then candlelight and lingerie. There are actual tried-and-true methods for getting better stimulated and having hotter sex with suggestions that will surprise and thrill your partner. When we first learn about sex, especially as women, we are basically taught that missionary is the position for us. But let’s face it, we are grown up and it is time to become a "big girl" in the bedroom. If you are still in the old school mindset that the man needs to do the all the work in the bedroom, then let me offer you this wake up call, it is time for you to become a "position girl.", http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/921901/FeaturedArticles/14/54/14You want a steamier sex life but there is more to it then candlelight and lingerie.... more
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NEWSER) – While US teen pregnancy rates are falling overall, some states currently have dramatically higher rates than others, according to a new CDC study—and they just happen to be states emphasizing abstinence-only sex education. In New England, for example, 2008 birth rates stood at less than 25 per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. But in Mississippi, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, rates run higher than 60 per 1,000 teens.
Planned Parenthood immediately issued a statement noting the “crystal clear” education correlation. The Hill also points to another recent report from a women’s reproductive health group, which found that all five states with the highest teen birth rates require abstinence be stressed in school, while the four with the lowest rates do not. The CDC considers teen pregnancy a public health issue, because babies born to teens are more likely to be born prematurely, and die as infants.
http://www.newser.com/story/103447/abstinence-only-states-have-more-teen-pregnancy.htmlNEWSER) – While US teen pregnancy rates are falling overall, some states... more
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In my day, Just Say No was Just Don't Say Anything. Moms and Dads, more often than not, didn't have "the talk" because of their own shocking lack of knowledge or because they were too embarrassed. Of course, that left teens to their own sexual education.In my day, Just Say No was Just Don't Say Anything. Moms and Dads, more often... more
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A fully-clothed Benedict Garrett, who has been working as a porn star
A high school sex education teacher has admitted moonlighting - as a porn star.
Benedict Garrett had been outed as a stripper after pupils stumbled upon a website promoting his services as 'Johnny Anglais'.
But now it has emerged that on top of his stripping routines, he also films sex scenes for titles such as European Honeyz 4.
And he admits he doesn't always use protection when performing for the camera - despite his role promoting safe sex to teenagers.
Mr Garrett, 30, who has been suspended as a department head by school chiefs, told The Sun: 'I'm not ashamed of what I've done.
'It is something I do in my personal life that doesn't go against anything I teach the kids.
'There are many more immoral ways to earn money than romping in front of the camera.
'Lawyers defend paedophiles, bankers raise money using questionable means and large corporations often put finances ahead of the government.'
He added that he doesn't use condoms when performing because he believes the risk of catching anything from a fellow porn star is 'minute'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1294041/Sex-education-teacher-admits-double-life-porn-star.html#ixzz0tiKV3HEsA fully-clothed Benedict Garrett, who has been working as a porn star
A high school... more
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There is growing debate in the Helena, Montana school district over plans to include Human Sexuality education as part of the health curriculum in grades K-12. Emotions are running high as parents are vehemently objecting to this plan and educators seem intent on implementing it.There is growing debate in the Helena, Montana school district over plans to include... more
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The Helena Montana school board’s new health curriculum for students K-12 includes teaching about homosexuality in first grade and different types of sex in fifth grade. The board has invited the public to a July 13th discussion of the new program.The Helena Montana school board’s new health curriculum for students K-12... more
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