Looking for explanations…

I feel awfully saddened by the fact that kids’ childhoods are being cut short by the earlier onset on puberty, but this is the reality. I hate the idea of 14 & 15 yo kids fumbling their way through those early experiences, exposing themselves to all sorts of risks, which effective sex education can mitigate.

It has always been adults who have a problem with sex education. Kids only laugh about it or become bored with it because of the awkwardness & reluctance of adults.

It is adults who feel ashamed & embarrassed about sex, and who pass their hang ups on to young people, making it easier for predators (older people & peers) to exploit them. Shame might seem like a way to protect young people from the dangers & risks associated with sex, but the fact is that it is a method which works best for those who wish to harm young people, not nurture them. It is a method used & abused by the patriarchy, not by a loving, caring & supportive society.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-28/teenagers-lobby-for-better-sex-education/106726302?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

'We need to talk about sex': Young people call for sex ed to grow up

A long-running survey of Australian teens has identified falling condom use and unwanted sex as major concerns for young people starting relationships.

May 27 at 11:08pmWeb
Show threadKenneth BousquetMay 27
@Susan60 Yes, your point is right on!
Appropriate sexual education based on self respect is key to a normal life and enjoyment meeting others.
Show threadLooking for explanations…May 27
@KennethBousquet
Self respect, yes, & empathy & respect for others, of any gender.
Show threadDroppieMay 27

@Susan60 and an even worse subset of this

saddened by the fact that kids’ childhoods are being cut short by the earlier onset on pubertyis all the trans kids plunged ever earlier into a permanent physical ruination, whilst horrific adults bicker about whether trans is real & deny vital time-sensitive assistance to them

sorry to purloin your post... i just can't see one without the other

#trans #transkids #puberty

Show threadLooking for explanations…May 27

@MsDropbear42

I read a blog by my oldest the other day, about their experiences as a young school kid, and how they had as many friends of one gender as the other, until the new primary school opened on our side of the town. In grade 3 by then, they were expected to hang out with people of their “own gender”, and had left many friends of the “other” gender behind. And so began their Dysphoria.

I bawled, & bawled, & bawled.

Show threadDroppieMay 27
@Susan60 💔🤗
Show threadLooking for explanations…May 28

@MsDropbear42

In retrospect, they have been very very good at masking “negative” feelings, the type that make other people uncomfortable - sadness, anger, frustration etc. I think this is probably due to a certain level of alexithymia, but also possibly about not making waves during a time when “family issues” were developing. But I certainly had no idea they were enby, or knew what that was. I was always very supportive of rejecting/challenging gender norms, & made it clear that I didn’t expect/require my kids to be heterosexual, but had never considered … neutrality.

Show threadDroppieMay 28
@Susan60 to be characteristically upbeat & optimistic, as i always am n i'll sue anyone who says otherwise, at least nowadays so many of us feel able to emerge into our real selves even after years of self-censoring. i still bemoan all my "lost decades", but am grateful now that eventually i found myself... so hopefully your child [coz all our kids are always our "kids", despite mounting decades, ha] has achieved or is achieving nurture & comfort in not needing to mask like that any more.

different & similar: your sense of sadness at not contemporaneously knowing what they were going thru, seems similar to my sense of it nowadays, about my 30'ish son finding out he's #ADHD in only recent years, which symptoms emerged for him, but unknown to & unrecognised by us, at the end of primary school. he was dux of his highschool first year, the last year he felt in control, & sadly academically descended steadily thereafter, to his & our immense confusion & worry. as a parent i look back now & often cry at how massively confused & disoriented he must have been feeling, quite alone in the world. 😭
Show threadCyMay 28
14 & 15 is not early onset on puberty...
Show threadRaymondPierreL3May 28

@Susan60
200% !

We toilet train our kids, we talk with them about drug use (alcohol, tobacco), we discuss gambling habits and gaming, love and hate, ethics and morals, work and play, healthy habits and consent, so what’s the big issue in talking with them about sex and coitus. It’s all in Parenting 101 I’d say — too many fail that basic course.

Show threadLooking for explanations…May 28

@RaymondPierreL3

Which course was that? 😩

Too many parents put it off, then realise it’s too late, & don’t bother at all, thinking it’s redundant. But if anything, it’s the relationship side of things, the empathy, respect & issues of consent that most need attention.

Even if a kid’s parents model a healthy respectful relationship (& many don’t), with so much awful porn & the “Mano sphere” exerting such sway, kids might make mistaken assumptions about how their parents behave behind closed doors, what a man &/or “dominant” partner might demand, & the women/partner tolerate or accept.

Show threadRaymondPierreL3May 28
@Susan60
Yes ‘role modeling’ is a difficult, if not an impossible task for parents given all relationships seem to be about ‘power’ over another. I don’t understand why we haven’t all figured out that the only power that matters is ‘self-empowerment. I’d argue it is all we need to live a happy, fruitfull life — lots of assumptions here, I know, but power relationships are soul gutting and life draining IMO.
Show threadLooking for explanations…6d ago

@RaymondPierreL3

Some people are only happy if they “win” & if that, for them, means someone else has to lose. Trump is a perfect example.

Show threadRaymondPierreL36d ago
@Susan60
Yes. Thankfully we’re not overrun by those ‘Alpha’ types. Whether winning makes them happy is open to debate. Striving to win all the time is hard physical and mental work. And when they loose they’re likely to be depressed, angry and vindictive (even more hard work). So you begin to question their motivation or their state of mind.