Sexual Rights and SIECUS

Dr. Miriam Grossman, the author of “You’re Teaching my Child What?” recently appeared on the Michael Medved show to debate the Vice President of Information and Education of the Sexual Information and Education Council, Martha Kempner. SIECUS is the lead architect behind Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) which is rapidly replacing Abstinence until Marriage curriculums across the nation and here in North Carolina.

Governor Bev Perdue signed the “Healthy Youth Act” into law in June 2009 and met with the North Carolina State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction in early September to discuss North Carolina’s new sexual education laws. Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) will replace the 15 year-old Abstinence until Marriage curriculum beginning with the 2010 school year. The primary goal of CSE is to help young people build a foundation as they mature into sexually healthy adults.  

Grossman, however, offered startling facts to counter SIECUS’ public claims which mislead parents into thinking that “their child’s health” is the main priority. In reality, SIECUS adopts different policy statements, depending on the audience, and is keeping the primary audience, students, in the dark. CSE’s material for teens focus on sexual rights and the “freedom” teens have to make their own decisions at any age, regardless of what adults think.

Grossman cites the CSE pamphlet, Talk About Sex, as a prime example of how SIECUS is misinforming kids and minimizing the main premise for safe sex—abstinence. Talk About Sex “enlightens” students that “sexuality is a part of who you are” and that “everyone has their own way of expressing their sexuality.” Students can then flip through the mini-book and learn about their “sexual rights” which include; the right to choose how much risk one is willing to take sexually, the right to participate in whichever behaviors one is most comfortable with, and the right to express one’s sexuality—and how to do it. Funny, I can’t remember reading about sexual rights in the constitution, nor do I remember learning that sexuality is a “right”.

The truth about the materials SIECUS puts out is that parents are undermined and their role as a “parent” is ignored. Dr. Grossman urges resistance to this form of mis-education which tells students that while delaying sex is the only sure way to prevent infection and pregnancy, it is only one option among many. Simply put, CSE comes between parent and child. Grossman points out that ninety percent of parents want their children to delay sexual behavior but when they participate in CSE, they will hear an entirely different approach that does not have the child’s best interest in mind. The result: an unstable foundation of lies, false information and manipulation that holds sexuality as a right and not a personal decision.