facts of life - review

Remember a month or so ago when my neighbor gave Mary and our homeschooled babysitter books about the birds and bees? Well, when I asked another homeschooler on our block if she had ever had any weird vibes from this guy she pulled out a book from the shelf and said, "No, he's never said anything to the children, but he did give me a book he wrote in the 1980's. It seems to be the opposite of what you are saying. The title is Raising a Child Conservatively in a Sexually Permissive World."

Well, I couldn't find the book on Amazon because I couldn't remember the exact title, but happened to recognize it while browsing the shelves at the local library. After reading as much as I could stomach I realized that my homeschooling neighbor surely didn't read the book, just assumed from the title that it was conservative and morally acceptable. However, it is graphic and is very liberal/leftist in terms of giving children explicit information at a very early age. Their main emphasis is that educating children about sex will magically produce morally responsible adults. They claim that sex-education reduces teen pregnancy, STDs, and fosters a sense of responsibility. Well, since 1983, when this book was published, almost all public schools have adopted this sort of sex-education curriculum and now we have an epidemic of teen sex, 25% of teens have had an STD (some of which will give you cancer and/or are not treatable), modesty is almost unheard of in high schools, and dating has become so disturbed as to include sending potential dates nude phone pics.

I think the Gordons (the authors and my neighbors) have helped foster this sexually explicit atmosphere by their writings. In the chapter pertaining to young children they state, "We've rarely met children of school age who were not aware and exciting, interested in and affected by the sexual aspects of their lives." They suggest telling preschoolers about sex, about how erections feel nice and proceed to encourage teachers and parents to tell 6-10 year olds about birth control, tampons, incest, and explicitly describe sex. While I am less concerned that my 85 year old neighbor is a sexual predator, I worry about the world that he has helped promote, a world obsessed with sex, with no controls, and too much information.