Teaching kids about homosexuality

[EllEzDee]

Isn't the whole point of the birds and the bees to explain how a baby is made? As far as i know, gay sex doesn't involve pregnancy.
And as has been said before, unless they're born aiming in that direction, i don't think it should be encouraged.

 

[Popido]

Never understood the meaning of these "talks". Just tell your kids to not talk to the strangers, come home before dark, play nice with others, clean their own room, eat healthy etc.

I dont think kids really care about homos. Might as well show them brown dog! Now thats exciting.


...
But on the other hand. You probably should tell them about bondage. You never know.

 

[WOPR]

Do you escapists think that children should be told about homosexuality and homosexual relationships at the same time as they're learning about straight relationships?

I think she should know and be told it's okay, but not be told what they do and stuff like that

just let her know it's going on and happening in the world but don't go too deep into details or it could freak her out and leave another idiot homophobic in the world

in short- let her know, but be gentle about it

 

[Dexiro]

I'm really surprised by these responses, half of you guys have no idea how much not being educated about homosexuality can mess people up. And all this about being taught by parents or friends is a load of crap.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Love can also occur between a man and an animal, or a woman and an animal, or a man, a woman, an alien and an animal. It's also possible that you have a desire to express your love using cream, other food, whips, poo, tinfoil, handcuffs, rapelay, domination etc. You are free to express your love in any way possible........

Yeah this sounds beautiful...

We teach kids in our society about social norms, we dont tell them about every freakin possibility there is with everything.

Comparing fictional love scenarios between aliens and humans with homosexual relationships just goes to show how badly in touch with the current reality you are.

Homosexuality BELONG to social norms in pretty much the entire western world and if a parent expect their kid to go through life never noticing that it exists or even meet a gay person then that parent lives in a fantasyworld disconnected from the real one. In the same way yours is when you try to portay it as something so uncommon as a person in love with an alien...

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

How hard is it to say, "also, some people out there like people of the same gender"? Is that really corrupting anyone?

Well you know, the kids might catch the gay if they hear that homosexuality coexists alongside heterosexuality all across the globe... That is if you believe the arguments coming from the opposition...

 

[CatmanStu]

Talking as a male who has gone through the whole sexual identity self diagnostic dilemma I can speak from my own experience on this subject.
Sex had ALWAYS been taught being closely linked with procreation so the idea of doing it scared the living shit out of me, but I still had the hormones kicking off and couldn't ignore them. With my libido arriving before my ability to notice girls I took the only option I had available, I fooled around with a male classmate (after school obviously). If I had been taught about homosexuality before this I would have gone through life thinking I was gay, when in fact all I was doing was reacting to hormones and curiosity.
I think what I am trying to say is that, in my opinion, sex and orientation are not linked at the hip: sex is how you become intimate with another person, orientation is societies way of categorising who you choose to do it with.

"I don't give a fuck who you choose to fuck, as long as you give a fuck for whoever you chose." would be my lesson to my (hypothetical) kid.

 

[Nimcha]

Hmm, I think 7 may be a little too young, but I can see no harm in telling children it's not weird that there are people who are attracted to the same sex. Ignorance breeds phobias.

I think my parents told me that when I was about 11, although I think they already had an inkling I was not straight. It helped me accept it faster, so that's a good thing.

 

[Rascarin]

Yes, without a doubt. To only teach such children about the side that they feel is "appropriate", or to prolong telling them about it until a later time, would be akin to teaching them that it is wrong or unnatural in some way, especially when they are later surrounded by people who use the term incorrectly but are aware of the definition it holds (and the last thing we need is more teenagers who use the word "gay" like the end-all solution to all insults instead of realizing and respecting another lifestyle held by a group of people).

gay was started as an insult; in fact to use it in it's appropriate, proper term is to say, "That's gay." because the two original means for gay were: unusual, near-deviant happiness; and wanton, unnecessary, or strange actions/behaviors. Homosexuals were called gay for both of those reasons in a derogatory way. It's akin to black people demanding everyone call them ******, even though that was a derogatory term white slave holders used for them. It doesn't make any sense. I personally feel the term "gay" has been hijacked by homosexuals and should be used appropriately (meaning its traditional phrases). However, barring that, the term should be eliminated altogether. I personally believe homosexuals are disrespecting themselves by using it, and thus, I do not use it to refer to homosexuals whatsoever.

"Original meaning", maybe, but these days "gay" is a term that has been adopted by the LGBT community as a means of identification, and was reclaimed by the community as an acronym for "Good As You". Words and their meanings change constantly over social time - and using the term as an insult is simply no longer appropriate in todays language.

As for homosexuals "disrespecting themselves" by using it - the way I see it (and I MAY be wrong), is that we reclaimed the phrase to try and remove the power from it when people tried to use it as an insult.

And, interestingly, the word "******" is derived from the latin for "black" (or something like that) - so the "original meaning" of the term was not an insult. From what I can gather from your logic, it is an acceptable phrase to use simply because of it's original meaning.

They exist? Crap I should become one!
What? What do you mean blondes? What are they? I'm so becoming one of those!
European? Holy moley! Sounds different! I'm so moving there!
Cactus? I am a cactus!

<3

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

How about we be honest for a moment here...
Who here learned to stereotype homosexuals from the television?
I, ashamed of the fact, did learn from near derogatory depictions of the homosexual community through the television, and movies

However, I did have a number of gay friends through my life and have seen that they are not at all what Media tells you they are.

They are just as diverse as any individual you may find, but thats out of topic...

the point here is that there are too many stereotypical renditions of homosexuals on OPEN FORUMS, and at the same time the free access to this information on places like the internet or, as aforementioned the television, can tell them them more on it rather than close them off.

This can either ruin a kid's perspective with narrow minded views, or teach them to be open minded about it. The thing here is that kids should be eased into it BEFORE they get presumptuous ideas on what truly identifies a homosexual, it's a part of life now, and even at some point modern culture,.

so I vote a yeah, but only if the parent's teach it in an unbiased manner.

 

[Something Amyss]

No, I do not. I don't think homosexuality should be encouraged, unless it actually comes from the child itself, with as little as external influence as possible.

Who said encouraged? This is basically "gays exist."

They exist? Crap I should become one!
What? What do you mean blondes? What are they? I'm so becoming one of those!
European? Holy moley! Sounds different! I'm so moving there!
Cactus? I am a cactus!

I kid

Kids are smarter than a lot of people take them for. With their iPhones and their computers... Really, they're well informed. And I mean it.
I got out of school 2 years ago and I was involved in the school musical and I had a lot of time to spend with kids ranging from about 7 to 17. They're pretty sharp.
Yes we should shelter them from smoking and drinking and driving the car and eating rat poisions (until they are of age/whenever) but really, you send them to school? They're gonna meet people of different religions, ethnicities and *gasp* sexualities.
So let's just hope that they're cool with it
The kids I met were cool with mine

You say you're kidding, but you're right. Kids are impressionable, and will immediately turn gay upon hearing about gays. That's why people can't separate the two, and not some silly reason that stems from discomfort more than logic....

 

[Canid117]

No, I do not. I don't think homosexuality should be encouraged, unless it actually comes from the child itself, with as little as external influence as possible.

...or the kid might catch the gay?

You would be amazed how many people think they have a sexuality they indeed have not (at least that's what I firmly believe). I feel sorry for people under 18 who claim to be homosexual, as it's more often than not insecurity.

And when did you learn you were straight?

 

[Riff Moonraker]

My pregnant sister has a 7 year old step-daughter who's in the process of learning about the birds and the bees. I was a little rattled to learn that my sister is only teaching her about hetrosexual relations, saying that it would be 'inappropriate' to tell her about homosexuality at such an early age as the step-daughter might discuss it at school and awkward phone calls from the teachers might follow. Since my sister is in a hetrosexual marriage she argued that it's what her step-daughter encounters on a daily basis, and thus is what she should be taught as the 'norm'.

Do you escapists think that children should be told about homosexuality and homosexual relationships at the same time as they're learning about straight relationships?

Absolutely not.

If an adult wants to make the decision that that lifestyle is for them, thats their business. But I completely disagree with teaching a child about it. As a parent, I find it outrageous that anyone would try to do so, to be honest.

 

[Josdeb]

My pregnant sister has a 7 year old step-daughter who's in the process of learning about the birds and the bees. I was a little rattled to learn that my sister is only teaching her about hetrosexual relations, saying that it would be 'inappropriate' to tell her about homosexuality at such an early age as the step-daughter might discuss it at school and awkward phone calls from the teachers might follow. Since my sister is in a hetrosexual marriage she argued that it's what her step-daughter encounters on a daily basis, and thus is what she should be taught as the 'norm'.

Do you escapists think that children should be told about homosexuality and homosexual relationships at the same time as they're learning about straight relationships?

Absolutely not.

If an adult wants to make the decision that that lifestyle is for them, thats their business. But I completely disagree with teaching a child about it. As a parent, I find it outrageous that anyone would try to do so, to be honest.

What about kids with gay parents? That would be very confusing...

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

What you should be doing isn't to teach kids about how to deal with gays or bis but how to deal with people, if you're doing it right then the whole issue of sexuality shouldn't even cross their mind.

That's never really going to happen. We live in sexualized societies, where your orientation is a large part of who you are (or at least considered important by the rest of the world). Claiming that it won't ever cross a persons mind is a bit naive.

EDIT: I also liked how you neglected to comment on my third paragraph, you know, the one where I mentioned how statistics show that acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality is at an all time high and most people are supportive of the homosexual community and their efforts towards obtaining equality.

And what do you think brought about this acceptance? Avoiding the subject of homosexuality like you propose that parents should do? Or treating it as something common and normal?

 

[Amphoteric]

Heterosexuality is no more important that homosexuality to teach

 

[jamesworkshop]

I don't think it really matters she will find out about them anyway