Volume 88 | Issue 12 | obiter-dicta.ca
The Definitive Source for Osgoode News since 1928
Monday, March 9, 2015
ONTARIO’S NEW
SEXUAL EDUCATION
from vulvas to butt-sex
ê After the last curriculum stood for over sixteen years, Ontario public school students will have an updated sexual education starting this fall. Photo credit: Maclean’s
erin garbett › staff writer
F
or the first time since the Spice Girls
reigned supreme, Ontario’s students through
grades one to eight will have a new Health
and Physical Education curriculum. On 23
February the new curriculum was released. It details
learning correct terms for body parts in grade one,
different sexual orientations and gender identities
in grade three, masturbation in grade six, and oral
sex, anal sex, and sexting in grade seven. Education
Minister Liz Sandals has stated multiple times that
this curriculum will remain unchanged. Much like
2010, when the McGuinty government eventually
withdrew plans to update the curriculum with regard
to an upcoming election, the new curriculum is not
without detractors.
Are children ready to learn about rape and consenting to sex at the age of six or seven? Probably
not, perhaps definitely not. But that’s not what this
curriculum will teach. It lays a foundation of understanding that everyone has agency and that their
body is their own. This isn’t grounded in sexuality; it
is grounded in what it means to be an autonomous,
self-determining person. And to the detractors worried about “graphic homosexual content,” different
sexual orientations and gender identities are two of
several “invisible differences” that are to be discussed
with third grade students. Under the laws of Ontario,
we must treat everyone with respect. To ignore the
existence of the LGBTQ community would be discriminatory and counter to the law.
There are parents who are concerned that this
curriculum is being forced on their children, that
they have no say in how their children are being
» see sex education, page 15
In this Issue ...
editorial
Way Home Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
news
CUPE 3903 Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
opinion
Aboriginal Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
arts & culture
Jurisfoodence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
sports
Toronto Blue Jays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13