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A forum for Blog Community #1 of CSCL 1001 (Introduction to Cultural Studies: Rhetoric, Power, Desire; University of Minnesota, Fall 2011) -- and interested guests.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Promotion of Chastity


Dear Pope,

One issue that particularly interested me in your Humanae Vitae is the issue of sexual education. Your specific claim about sexual education can be found in paragraph 22, Promotion of Chastity. You claim that educators who are interested in preserving the common good in society should create an atmosphere that supports chastity, and to condemn any reference to modern sex in society. The illustration in society today is the debate over sex education in schools. Some parents (usually religious ones) are against sexual education, and instead want their children to only be taught about chastity and avoiding sex while other parents support sexual education, and prefer their children to know how to stay safe if they do engage in sexual acts.

My position on this issue is pro-sexual education. The fact that you only support abstinence education is dangerous to society, because it can lead to unsafe sex which leads to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Children today need to be taught how to have safe sex, because it is very possible it will happen. Abstinence-only education can cast a mystery over sex, which actually attracts children to try it. If they do try it, they won’t know how to be safe, which has extremely negative consequences to society and the individuals.

Culturally, abstinence-only education just doesn’t apply anymore. Media everywhere is full of sex and sexual images. It just isn’t possible to keep children in the dark about sex anymore. Historically, abstinence education was more possible, and it was easier to convince children to be chaste. Today, it is a topic that is addressed in politics, school, and popular culture. It is unrealistic to expect people to completely avoid these influences, and to remain “chaste”. This shows how important culture is on the human race, and I believe that you, Pope, should address this effect and make more realistic expectations of the human race. Culture can’t really be changed, people must learn to adapt to these forces and change.

Amen



2 comments:

  1. I agree with your opinion that we should support sexual education. Children need to be taught more knowledge about safe sex to avoid transmitted diseases.It is true that with the development of technology, sexual things can be seen everywhere.Sexual education can effectively reduce unsafe sex in society because people get knowledge about serious dangers brought by unsafe sex.

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  2. I like the way you wrote your blog. I also liked the comparison (sorry if I got you wrong.) in your last paragraph. I totally agree with your point. Sexual education is necessary in life today because it will at least give children basic understanding of safe sex. What I think is the best is to let children stay chaste when they are in primary school (since I don't think they need it at this time), then officially start sexual education when they got into junior high. We also can't push it too much because in that case children will be interested in sex too much. Sexual education is necessary but with sort of limitation.

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