Curse of sexual ignorance

Humans are biological creatures. We eat, poop and reproduce. Sexual intercourse is biological. It doesn’t have to be religious or moral and have stigmas placed on it by society.

Recent Spokesman columns and letters reflect outrage over sexual education bill ESSB 5395. It’s not an attempt to teach porn to first graders. Sexual ignorance has long been a curse of society. I was told as a child that babies came from a cabbage patch and watched storks delivering babies in cartoons.

As an altar boy, a priest could have sexually abused me, and I wouldn’t have known if I was assaulted or loved. Same goes for the Boy Scouts. Keeping children ignorant about sex doesn’t protect them or shield them from sin.

A “just say no” curriculum doesn’t work for sex. Teen pregnancies and STD’s attest to the failure of ignorance in preventing unwanted behaviors.

Back in the 1950’s a pregnant girl would disappear before the bump. She would be taken to a home for unwed mothers and have the baby. The church would adopt the baby to a couple that couldn’t conceive. The girl would return to society with a plausible excuse. Later, the pill and early legal medical abortion provided alternatives.

If you don’t want abortions, then for heaven’s sake support sex education and access to contraception for children before they reach puberty. Religious guilt over sexual sinning is still available in addition to public sex education.

Pete Scobby

Newport