Teaching kids about homosexuality

[Dexiro]

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.

Yeah and they grow up claiming to be gay because they haven't been educated properly on the subject. I've seen people question their sexuality because they accidentally touched a guys ass or some equally silly reason, and it's just because they don't know what being gay actually is.

Then on the other hand you have gay people thinking they're straight because they feel pressured into it with everyone telling them it's not the norm, and that it's a bad thing.

I don't think anyone benefits from not being taught about this stuff.

 

[Kebabco]

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...

Well apparently it doesn't belong to our social norms yet, otherwise we wouldnt be having this discussion now would we?

 

[Rascarin]

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.

As an adult who grew up under parents who didn't teach me about homosexuality, I am outraged that they didn't prepare me for the world I would find myself in.

Seriously - homosexuality is something that children need to be introduced to (by "introduced", I mean that they should be taught that a: homosexuals exist, and b: it is not a choice a person makes, and c: it is a perfectly acceptable way to be) homosexuality. I'm a lesbian, and I spent my entire life until I was 19 agonising over attractions and tendencies I couldn't understand because my upbringing had not prepared me to deal with them, before finally being able to realise who and what I was.

Statistically, chances are, your child will be straight. But if they do turn out to be gay, bi, whatever, you are risking some serious harm by not preparing them adequately for that possibility. And even if they are straight, they are almost certain to meet gay people during their life, and they have to be prepared to treat those people as they would any other "normal" person.

 

[Alloflifedecays]

"Also, some people love people from their own gender. You'll find out how that works in terms of what we're talking about when you're older, because it's kind of a different thing, but it's something they can't do anything about and it's all fine."

I hate the idea that being gay is just a sex thing, and I think that emphasising that it's a love thing, and something that they can't help is how to raise kids who won't see gays as freaks.

 

[Dexiro]

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...

Well apparently it doesn't belong to our social norms yet, otherwise we wouldnt be having this discussion now would we?

It does belong to our social norms, I don't see how you came to the decision that it doesn't.

 

[solar065]

I think children should be taught about heterosexuality and homosexuality at the same time. If you don't you could end up affecting their views by giving preference to one of them.
Also there's no reason to teach them separately.

Although teaching a child at 7 about sex might be a bit early in my view, there's definitely no harm in introducing them to the idea of relationships and love etc. Rather than the mechanics of sex.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I would say wait until they either ask about it, or the parents hear the kid talking about it. Then again, I would say the same thing with any sort of sexuality. They're kids, let them be kids for a while.

 

[Susano]

...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).[/quote] Or maybe sexuality is more fluid than you think? What do you mean by this anyway?

I feel sorry for people under 18 who claim to be homosexual, as it's more often than not insecurity.

What.

 

[Palademon]

I thought sex education was just about reproduction, not relationships. So technically you can only talk about heterosexuals. And I think they should discover their sexualities themselves. If you tell them all the options at the beginning it'll be too confusing. They'll think people are just reproducing wrong, and they may possibly choose a sexuality before they even find out what theirs is.

 

[Kebabco]

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...

Well apparently it doesn't belong to our social norms yet, otherwise we wouldnt be having this discussion now would we?

It does belong to our social norms, I don't see how you came to the decision that it doesn't.

I would say that a social norm only exist when, lets say, 90% of people in a society agree that deviation of the norm is an actionable offense, to be rectified by the state, social pressure, whatever. I think it's pretty obvious that there isnt a country in the world that considers acceptance of homosexuality as part of the social norm (according to this definition).

Hell, in most of the western world (assuming we only discuss the western world here), same-sex marriage isnt even allowed. That means that the majority of the population in those countries doesnt want the same legal status for homosexual relations and before you even consider homosexuality to be included in the social norm I think it might be prudent to make it fucking legal first.

 

[thefrizzlefry]

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.

Yeah, no. It doesn't work like that. I'm 17, and identify as bi, and can tell you with all certainty that it's not "insecurity". I really fucking hate when people say that. It's beyond insulting.

Edit:

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 laugh at people under 18 who claim to be homosexual, as it's more often than not insecurity.

That I can agree with. Lots of 'bisexual' kids running around because it's the cool thing to be this week. My point was just that in my oppinion, information is important when building tolerance. If she doesn't know about gays, they'll always be strange and different. Teach a kid from the start that people are different and like different things, and maybe the social stigma will eventually go away.

Same goes for you. I don't identify as queer because it's trendy.

 

[Danny Ocean]

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.

Haha. Funny story. I asked my mum about the birds and bees when I was very small, and she answered me quite honestly straight away.

Next day at school, I apparently told a girl that I wanted to marry her so "I could stick my thingy in her". She ran away screaming.

Awkward phone calls followed, and a funny story was gained.

 

[Slayer_2]

I think that's fine. I don't even know what a 7-year old is doing learning the "birds and bees". My parents let me figure it out on my own, and I'm fine. The only thing they did was give me a condom when I was 18, but I already had everything under control anyhow. It wasn't until I was 14 till I started seriously looking at girls, so I find 7 a bit early.

However, the mother's reasons seem a bit... off, if she really must teach her kid about sex at the age of 7, then she might as well cover all the bases.

 

[Keltrick]

If I child is deemed old enough to understand that a man and a woman can love each other, and engage in personal activities, I fail to see how the anotation "In some cases a man and a man, and a woman and a woman can feel this way too." Is pushing the line. Its still the same thing being taught. To me its like explaining that there are people who play football, but the fact that some people play soccer is going too far, because its not 'the norm'.

You don't have to detail graphic images of EITHER and shouldn't. Saying that on occasion it happens another way, doesn't make it a more sensitive subject.

To those who dont want to 'encourage homosexuality' until it presents itself in the child ... One would assume if your child IS homosexual, then they best not be left to stumble about in the dark until they understand and can tell you. If they are heterosexual, I dont think explaining that it happens will 'encourage them'. EeeHee, its as if we're afraid they'll 'catch the gay'.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Yes, they should absolutely be informed of both at the same time.
The way I see it, what's the fucking difference?

Its not like giving them information about something will make them more interested in it.
However, it has been proven over and over and over time after time after fucking time that withholding information makes something more interesting to people. We want to know why we're not being told something. Don't make a big deal out of this kind of thing, because it isn't a big deal.

And I'm sorry to OP, but your sister sounds like a bigot to me if she's trying to set heterosexuality up as the "norm". Because that is exactly what all of the bigots do, regardless of what they are prejudiced against: they set their own situation up as the "norm" and devalue everything else or at least whatever they deem to be the "opposite" or "abnormal".

This all stems from how I view the issue as a whole: it doesn't matter if sexuality is biology or if its a choice; neither case is a valid reason to deny someone their human rights.
And encouraging ignorance in children is a step towards encouraging bigotry and hatred in children.

 

[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.

As an adult who grew up under parents who didn't teach me about homosexuality, I am outraged that they didn't prepare me for the world I would find myself in.

Seriously - homosexuality is something that children need to be introduced to (by "introduced", I mean that they should be taught that a: homosexuals exist, and b: it is not a choice a person makes, and c: it is a perfectly acceptable way to be) homosexuality. I'm a lesbian, and I spent my entire life until I was 19 agonising over attractions and tendencies I couldn't understand because my upbringing had not prepared me to deal with them, before finally being able to realise who and what I was.

Statistically, chances are, your child will be straight. But if they do turn out to be gay, bi, whatever, you are risking some serious harm by not preparing them adequately for that possibility. And even if they are straight, they are almost certain to meet gay people during their life, and they have to be prepared to treat those people as they would any other "normal" person.

I teach my children to treat everyone how you want yourself treated. I make sure that I encourage them to make a decision about whether or not they like a person base off how the other person behaves, ie are they mean, friendly, insane, etc. I feel my wife and I have done very well with this, because both my boys have friends that are white, black, latino, etc. I feel that teaching them in this way will also encourage them to treat someone the same whether or not they are gay or straight. Either way, they are human beings, and deserve the according respect.

However, I still do not agree with, nor will I be teaching them about homosexuality, when they come to me about the birds and the bees. If they come to me and ask me about it, then thats different, and I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

[mchoueiri]

What if they taught the kid much later. When they are more mature to handle it.