In Trouble For Show And Tell

[question everything]

In Trouble For Show And Tell
By Roya Wolverson
NEWSWEEK
Nov 17, 2007

For Demarcus Blackwell, having the "sex talk" with his 15-year-old son was "kind of embarrassing." But that was nothing compared with the idea of explaining sexual harassment to his preschooler. "He doesn't have the slightest clue about sex anything," says Blackwell, of Waco, Texas, whose 4-year-old son Christopher was suspended last year for sexual harassment when a female school aide reported that the child buried his face in her chest when she hugged him. "How do you explain what's a better kind of hug?"

Blackwell is one of a number of parents whose kindergartners and first graders are being suspended, often for days at a time, for sexual misconduct based on behavior like hugging, poking and pinching classmates or school staff. In Ohio, 74 first graders were suspended for "unwelcome sexual conduct" last year, up from 52 in 2005. In Virginia, at least 13 kindergartners have been suspended in each of the last three years for "sexual touching." Massachusetts and Maryland also note recent increases in rates of pint-size offenders.

Some educational professionals are shocked that states are even collecting data about sexual harassment among children so young. "For real? I'm suddenly scared that my daughter shows her panties all the time," says Amy Rezzonico of the Arizona Department of Education, whose 4-year-old has a habit of lifting her skirt over her head in public. In some states, though, the crackdown is a way for schools to hedge against lawsuits for neglecting sexual-harassment claims. "A lot of people say, 'Well, it's just elementary-age kids.' But … our culture has a lot of vulgarity in it right now," says Jim Walsh, a Texas lawyer who trains school officials to spot sexual harassment among students. Administrators, he says, are "on guard, and understandably so."

Experts, however, say the hard-line approach is punishing normal developmental behavior. Five- and 6-year-old kids "need to touch," says Nan Stein, a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women. "Whether it's 'show me yours and I'll show you mine' or snapping each other's clothes, let's not confuse sexual behavior with sexual harassment." Blackwell, whose attempt at explanation only baffled his son, says that Christopher is "asexual." That may have changed since the words "sexual harassment" entered his vocabulary.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/70980

[zabet]

1. It is normal

action for a toddler being hugged for them
to 'snuggle' or 'nestle' the person hugging
them. Especially if they feel safe with the
person hugging them. On the rare occasion that
the toddlers actions are deliberately more, it is
because they are mimicking behavior taught to them
or shown to them by the adults in their lives.

What effect will this have on teaching sex
in the schools? Do pre-K kids need a sexual
harassment orientation class before starting
school?

[usrbs]

4. Sometimes I think that this country is allergic to common sense.

With more anti-bodies being formed every day. And this goes hand in hand with the growing repressiveness and punitive mind-set.

[lligrd]

2. WTF Has Happened To This Country?

When did we lose our common sense? This is ludicrous!

[DavidDvorkin]

3. It's more that we've become obsessed with sex

In the way that the repressed are. It's a sick and unhealthy type of obsession.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. I fantasize a mother and child finding themselves in deep trouble for the act of

breast feeding.

Meanwhile, 12-year-olds are putting on lipstick & learning how to be "sexy," and 15 year-olds are starving themselves to death trying to imitate skeletal fashion models.

This culture has truly lost its marbles.

[canadianbeaver]

6. OH...for f'sakes......this is got to stop.......

What is wrong with these people......

No wonder I have chosen not to have children.....if they have to go thru this sh*t....and this is just one reason....

I don't want a child because the world is turning more and more into something I don't want to be apart of..let alone bringing in a child to become a slave to the corporate elite....and unfortunately the world won't get any better in the near future, for me to reconsider..as I will be too old then....

Why is sex bad? Why does the west think that a breast shown is offensive?

How can one think that an innocent child thinks like an adult?

The US has become one f'ucked up place to bring a child into...

Not in a million years did I EVER think that humans could be so twisted to think that a 4 YEAR OLD person is coming on to them..or making "unwelcomed sexual conduct"....get over yourselves people...

When those that make the laws...are breaking them in droves....what is one to think? the world has flown the coop....

WTF??????????

[Didereaux]

7. this crap all comes from an unholy alliance of...

...touchy-feelies and the religious zealots. I am not certain who jumped on whose bandwagon first, but I suspect it was the religiuos nuts who spotted the opening when many years ago the touchy-feely set went overboard on sexual harassment. As with all causes these idiots get fired up on, it had some basis, but lacking a normal functioning brain they had not the intelligence to recognize the perimeters of the problem and started seeing 'it' everywhere. The zealots simply expanded the 'harassment' to include children, even pre-schoolers. One has to wonder how they will handle those 'suggestive' poses and snuggling that shows up on sonograms of twins in the womb?


sheesh! I'm beginning to abhor the color maroon! as in 'What a bunch of maroons! bugs circa 1956 or some such

[sarcasmo]

8. It's all about collecting Data.

Then the Government will have something to use on you when you get older.