“Come meet other advocates who are successfully working with MFI.” MFI’s director of community alliances, Michael King-who has plans to expand his group’s so-called “opt-out” efforts to Millbury, Franklin, Medway, Milton, Bedford, Dedham, Sharon, Westford, Woburn, and Burlington-welcomed his guests.
The cause for celebration? “Over 3,000 (and counting) students have been opted out of pornographic sex education in Worcester and beyond!” read the invitation. That very same January night, while parents, teachers, and other community educators discussed Worcester’s 3Rs, an altogether different group gathered in-person in Worcester at a party hosted by the Wakefield-based Massachusetts Family Institute. Even in Massachusetts-considered the most liberal state in the nation. It emphasizes healthy relationship skills and family involvement.ĭespite access to programs like these, despite robust public support and research, “The demands for scientifically accurate medical information about sex have repeatedly run into a brick wall of moralizing,” writes historian Courtney Shah, author of Sex Ed, Segregated: The Quest for Sexual Knowledge in Progressive-Era America. Worcester’s 3Rs is one example of a CSE curriculum, but there are many. Milton sixth graders, for instance, participate in “Puberty: The Wonder Years,” a program developed in Michigan for grades four through six, as well as “Get Real: Comprehensive Sex Education That Works,” a medically accurate, age-appropriate middle and high school curriculum created by Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. It increases bystander intervention, fosters healthy relationships, improves communication and media literacy, and reduces homophobic bullying. According to the paper, it helps to prevent child sexual abuse as well as dating and intimate partner violence, and also improves reporting of abuse. In 2020, a paper in the Journal of Adolescent Health surveyed 30 years of research demonstrating that comprehensive sex ed-known as CSE-works. They include the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Scores of health institutions support sex ed that is termed “comprehensive,” meaning age-appropriate, medically accurate, inclusive, and evidence-informed. According to an array of polls, some 80 to 90-plus percent of Americans support it in middle and high school. To say that most people are in favor of sex ed is an understatement. “I’m so glad that folks are here recognizing how…potentially lifesaving sex education can be,” Nora Gelperin, AFY’s director of sexuality education and training and one of the 3Rs authors, offered in welcome. “Being queer,” Dejesus said, “I didn’t know anything about myself.” Even in elementary school, Dejesus felt like “the odd one out all of the time.” By middle school, Dejesus said, “it was so difficult and so lonely.”ĭejesus’s sentiments echoed those of their hosts that evening, the YWCA Central Massachusetts, the Worcester Youth Deserve Coalition, and the nonprofit group Advocates for Youth, which also developed Worcester’s new sex ed program, called the 3Rs: Rights, Respect, and Responsibility. Ziray Dejesus, a 2020 graduate of Worcester North High-who’d never taken such a class at school-was there to address the group. On a frigid January night, a group gathered on Zoom for a teacher-training seminar on Worcester Public Schools’ brand-new K–12 comprehensive sex education curriculum. When using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo check the safe search settings where you can exclude adult content sites from your search results Īsk your internet service provider if they offer additional filters īe responsible, know what your children are doing online.Illustration by Benjamen Purvis / Photo via Getty Images Use family filters of your operating systems and/or browsers Other steps you can take to protect your children are: More information about the RTA Label and compatible services can be found here. Parental tools that are compatible with the RTA label will block access to this site. We use the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls. PARENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED: If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to keep any age-restricted content from being displayed to your children or wards. Furthermore, you represent and warrant that you will not allow any minor access to this site or services. This website should only be accessed if you are at least 18 years old or of legal age to view such material in your local jurisdiction, whichever is greater.
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