Tag Archive | Ontario

5 Myths and Facts about Ontario’s Sex Ed Curriculum. Again.

It’s three years later, and here we go again with the Ontario sex ed curriculum. I’m getting too old for this….stuff. Thanks, Doug Ford.

Full disclosure: I’m kind of a curriculum geek. And a raging feminist. So naturally, the day the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Elementary) was released, I spent hours going over it with a fine-toothed comb to generate a comprehensive précis made up of every single quote that had anything to do with the “sex ed” parts. If you want, you can read that here.

The next day, since misconceptions and misinformation about the curriculum were already flying around the internet, I wrote this article, which got a fair amount of play on The Huffington Post.

My goal was to address the main myths that were being put out and on which many people were basing their opinions. I disregarded my own rule and read the comments (and boy, did I feel disgusting afterwards), listed the 5 most common myths that were being shared and referenced, and discussed them. Read on….

Blurry images of the Ontario Health & PE curriculum document in the background. Text overlay reads "The sky is [not] falling! The 2015 Ontario Sex ed curriculum myths and facts."

The sky is [not] falling! Ontario Sex Ed Curriculum Myths and Facts

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Sexual Bullying Hurts Everyone – and it has to STOP.

May14

3:20 pm May 15, 2015 – Update

Hannah’s parents met this afternoon with the school superintendent, principal, and vice-principal. Nicola reports the school has apologized for the lack of urgency and communication; has pledged to arrange a restorative justice process, including parents, with professionals; and will institute new protocols for teachers around dealing with issues of a sexual nature. This sounds like a good first step on the way to some positive changes.

12:00 pm May 15, 2015 – This post has been updated at Nicola’s request to remove identifying information.

10 year-old Sexual Bullying Victim is Afraid to Return to School

Hannah loves going to school but now the Ontario fourth-grader is too scared to return, and her mother Nicola can’t blame her. On Monday, Hannah experienced the second of two incidents of bullying with a disturbingly sexual tone. A group of fourth-graders was approached at recess by four grade 7 students, and verbally harassed. One of the boys allegedly told Hannah that he was going to “shove a lollipop up her a**” and make her “suck [his] d***.”

Hannah’s mother spoke to the school principal, and although the boy admitted to the incident, as far as she knows no further action was taken by the school. As of Wednesday, Nicola’s calls to the superintendent and her school trustee have not been returned, and the principal did not respond to a request for comment for this post.

Sexual Bullying Hurts Everyone and it has to STOP.

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The sky is (not) falling – part 2 – Myths and Facts about the 2015 Ontario Sex Education Curriculum

Feb24

Yesterday I spent the day going over the newly released 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Elementary) with a fine-toothed comb to generate a comprehensive précis made up of every single quote that had anything to do with the “sex ed” parts.

Unfortunately, misconceptions and misinformation about this curriculum are continuing to make their way around the internet, mostly because people seem bound and determined to willfully ignore the actual facts before forming an opinion.

So today I’m going to address the most common myths about the new curriculum.

2015 Ontario Elementary schools sexual education curriculum myths and facts

The sky is [not] falling! The 2015 Ontario Sex Education Curriculum Myths and Facts

Myth #1

Explicit sexual content, including oral and anal sex, consent, and rape will be taught to children as young as 6.

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The sky is (not actually) falling! Highlights of the 2015 Ontario Sex Ed Curriculum

Feb23

Today is the day!! The revised 2015 Ontario Health And Physical Education Curriculum (including, of greatest interest to most people, sexual education) has finally been released. Hooray!!! This means that at long last we can actually put aside our speculations and take ACTUAL FACTS AND QUOTATIONS woefully out of context!!

The sky is [not] falling! A comprehensive precis of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum – Elementary

Just kidding! We’re all going to act like grown-ups here and assess the facts objectively before jumping to any conclusions. And to help out with that, I’ve taken some time this morning to go over the new curriculum with a fine-tooth comb and provide you with a summary.

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