LogFAQs > #974940530

ParanoidObsessive posted...

We basically need to try and teach kids early enough that it actually helps, but not so early that it's kind of meaningless to them (which means they won't internalize any of it). The ideal would be figuring out the perfect age to teach as well as the perfect way to teach it without being too clinical (which kids will ignore because it's boring or uncool) or too awkward (which kids will ignore because it's embarrassing).

This is why a lot of newer sex ed curricula start in kindergarten (at which point it's pretty much just "bad touch," though even that has been found to dramatically increase the likelihood of catching sexual abusers) and gradually introduce new concepts over subsequent years. That way, you make sure everyone has age-appropriate information before it's needed, plus you've normalized it to avoid the "not listening because it's awkward" issue.

Of course, despite exhaustive data indicating that comprehensive and early sex ed yields clear benefits in pretty much every metric of population sexual health, the usual suspects just clutch their pearls and cry about grooming and push to revert to curricula that haven't been updated since 1974, so actually reaping those benefits is hard.