As schools across Ontario are poised with the revised sex-ed curriculum in their lesson plans, parents have been busy organizing protests since the change was announced in February.
Despite their protests, a more thorough curriculum will result in a more intelligent society. The new curriculum deconstructs important human rights issues and concepts, including sexuality, gender expression, and homophobia. The Ontario Ministry of Education’s changes to the sex-ed curriculum will allow children in third grade to learn about sexuality and same-sex relationships.
In a CTV News interview, Premier Kathleen Wynne said that children with two mothers or two fathers would feel normal or unashamed as a result of the newly revised sex-ed curriculum. “[The curriculum is] not about explicit information except that it needs to be about kids feeling safe, feeling protected, feeling like they belong,” she said.
If we had learnt about these concepts at a younger age, issues of homophobia, bullying, and discrimination based on sexuality and gender expression would never have become as rampant in our generation as they are now. The LGBTQ community has been fighting for their rights for decades. The community still faces discrimination and shaming, but if we had educated the young population back then, these issues would’ve been eradicated decades ago.
Sexuality is an intricate and intimate aspect of humanity. It is important to understand that we all have the freedom to identify, understand, and express our own sexuality—a step that is crucial in moving towards equality. This dawn of acceptance is especially essential in allowing this freedom to be equally experienced by all people, not just by straight, cis-gendered people.
Another issue that will be tackled by the revised curriculum is consent. Sexual assault and harassment is an alarmingly prevalent issue at universities across the country, as a Toronto Star investigation last year made clear. For every 100 assaults that take place, no matter the gender, only six incidents are reported to the police, according to Sex Assault Canada. The fact that we are living in a society where sexual violence is an accepted aspect of some people’s lives is terrifying, and evidence that we need more information from an early age about consent and sexual boundaries.
Under the new curriculum, children in grade one will be learning non-verbal signals like body language, facial expression, and tone of voice. Second graders will be introduced to the “no means no” concept as well as some indications that verbal and physical violence are occurring in someone’s life. These lessons are simple, but they’re crucial for our society to advance past an age where girls are cautioned not to walk alone on campus at night.
Many parents participating in the protests have threatened to pull their kids out of school. Everyone has the freedom to voice their opinions, but it’s wrong to ignore the issues that the revision will address. Just because you don’t want your child learning about sex safety, consent, sexuality, and gender expression, doesn’t mean you should sabotage the education of an entire generation. Every parent has the opportunity to pull their own child out of the program. This is, and should be, an individual choice.
The young population will not only be more educated, aware, and positive about their bodies, but will also be more confident in their knowledge of the sexual diversity around them. Neglecting the new sex-ed curriculum, which our own generation would have so greatly benefited from, would be equivalent to not respecting the rights of all people, including women and the LGBTQ community.
