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National sex education

June 12, 2012 @ 8:25 am (Updated: 8:37 am - 6/12/12 )

cedargrove

Any idea that this was a subtle kind of sexual abuse disappeared when testimony began in the Jerry Sandusky trial with Victim #4 saying he was treated like a girlfriend. (AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark)

Any idea that this was a subtle kind of sexual abuse disappeared when testimony began in the Jerry Sandusky trial with Victim #4 saying he was treated like a girlfriend.

"Very often he said he ended up between Sandusky's legs or his thighs were being kissed," said CBS' Barry Bagnato.

What Bagnato heard in that courtroom depicted something more than horseplay.

"At some point he said it escalated, his hand being placed on body parts. In his words, 'He'd get erect and try to sneakily put it in my mouth.'"

And why would a kid -- even a 12 year old -- let this go on and and on? Because he needed a father figure, and those gifts:

"Golf clubs, snowboards, drum sets and trips," said Bagnato.

Victim #4 is now 28 and says he regrets not coming forward sooner -- which might have spared the other boys.

And I bring this up because I was reading an elementary school sex curriculum today -- designed for 5th graders -- kids the age that Victim #4 was when this all happened.

Here's what it says:

You have a right not to be touched on your private parts.

You have the right not to look at other peoples' private parts.

-- Even if "The person is older and bigger, promises to do favors or buy gifts, or you liked the touch to begin with, it took you a long time to get up the courage to tell, or the person is in charge.

The curriculum points out that this kind of exploitation happens gradually. And it teaches you to SAY NO, to LEAVE, and to BE RUDE.

It's the kind of course that tends to draw complaints from parents because teachers sometimes have to answer questions like "What is oral sex?" And it can get graphic. But so is what we're hearing in that courtroom.

Do you want a kid who will just let it go on, or one who recognizes perversion immediately and has the courage to pull the alarm the moment it happens?

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Comments (7)


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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Pediphiles goe where the kids are
    June 12, 2012 8:24 am
    Jerry Sandusky is a prime example of a predatory pediphile. Evidently he knew what he wanted and set everything up to get his way. Even a foundation to 'help' poor boys. That is what they do. In Boy Scouts. In churches. And in youth sports. It is not the fault of these institutions. It is the fault of the predators.

    Why didn't Penn State react ? Aside from disbelief, these monsters also present themselves to other adults in these programs as upstanding, unselfish and assets to their programs. But, as the Church has learned. As the late Joe Paterno maybe never learned. We MUST suspend our disbelief.

    But as long as too many adults are unwilling to believe such evil exists, too many children will continue to be abused. Who knows is any of these kids tried to report Jerry Sandusky, but would they have been believed ?

    No. The Sandusky's of this world know that few will tell - and fewer will be believed. To the shame of all of us.

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  • kata wrote...
    excellent post ron
    June 12, 2012 10:21 am
    Anyone thinking that any vocation that works with children is somehow "more safe" than any other is kidding themselves. Children should always be first with every safeguard in mind but no good will come of encouraging parents to abdicate even more responsibility to strangers.
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  • irony wrote...
    sex ed should not be used for liberal propoganda
    June 12, 2012 11:11 am
    pro homosexual propoganda should be filtered out of sex education and honesty about hiv/aids coming from homosexual male sex and not monogomus hetersexual sex.
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  • Charp wrote...
    @irony
    June 13, 2012 11:41 am
    "pro homosexual propoganda should be filtered out of sex education and honesty about hiv/aids coming from homosexual male sex and not monogomus hetersexual sex." Where to begin... There are MANY different ways in which HIV/AIDS is spread and even monogamous heterosexual couples can still contract them. It's not just a problem for homosexuals and not educating students about how to protect themselves is just plain stupid. Ignorance of how the disease is spread will not prevent someone from catching it any more than ignorance about sex ed will prevent teenage girls from getting pregnant. Stop trying to blame everything on homosexuals. Oh, and filtering 'pro homosexual propoganda' out of sex ed is roughly analgous to filtering 'pro tire rotation propoganda' out of driver's ed. Homosexuals exist, but teachers aren't getting toasters for eductating students about them.
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  • xplanes wrote...
    I have an idea
    June 12, 2012 4:45 pm
    Instead of teaching kids how to say no to sexual predators and describing in detail all the sick ways they may try to abuse them let's just remove these perverts from society for ever and do so publicly. It wont take long for the culture to adapt to the new normal where you give up you life when you mess up someone else's. It just seems reasonable to me that the guilty in life should bare the brunt of the responsibility for this, not every innocent child in every classroom. It's pretty sad when we adults refuse to deal with this problem and think it's OK to make the children have to deal with it instead.
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