12.13
“Eeeeeewwwww.” That was the remark made by Quinlyn when she saw Lara and I making out in the kitchen this morning, shortly before we served up Lara’s fabulous biscuits and sausage gravy. She quickly covered her face with her hand, as if she was not supposed to watch. But she was peeking through her fingers too.
That kind of confusion, or “train wreck” situation (I know I shouldn’t watch but I can’t stop looking) is, in my opinion, responsible for 87.64% (remember that 90% of statistics are made up on the spot) of the mental disorders and societal problems we have in this country.
It only makes sense. I mean, after all we bombard ourselves with images of sexuality, perfect bodies, heaving bosoms, etc, but we never EVER talk about it. THOSE are conversations best left for private places and whispers. No wonder we’re so messed up! We have taken a core part of our existence and manglefucked it until it’s no longer recognizable!
Sex should be CELEBRATED! I don’t mean that we should all be running around in the buff and doing it like rabbits, but it should never, EVER be a secret. Want to know why teens are having sex and getting pregnant? Because they’re CURIOUS. Not in some whimsical child like way, either. They KNOW that it’s supposed to be fun and feel good, but they’re given a woefully inadequate lack of information as to exactly WHAT makes that true. Know where they’re getting their “facts”? Porn on the interwebs. Yeah, we’re headed down a good path there.
In no way do I believe that it’s the school system’s responsibility either. PARENTS should be teaching this. After all, they are the undeniable experts on sex. After all, if they hadn’t done it, the kid wouldn’t be there.
I like the approach taken by Tracy Reinhardt took when she had “the talk” with her son. She put things in very practical terms, since society had taken it upon itself to pre-educate him. She’s a fracking genius. How can you tell? HE REMEMBERED.
In addition, we are doing a wonderful job of making our kids at best self conscious of and at worst resentful of, their own bodies. You walk in on your kid handling things for themselves and how do you respond? Do you freak out? Are you embarrassed? Do you make them embarrassed? Or do you figure that the real problem here is that you didn’t knock first? Even I’m pussing out of continuing talking about this, and I have almost NO modesty.
We need to do a 180 on our idea of sex and sexuality as it pertains to future generations. We can’t keep sending mixed messages like this, or whatever health care reform is passed won’t be able to support future therapy bills.
Top photo can be found on Flickr by user markfftang