9 THINGS ONTARIO'S NEW SEX ED CURRICULUM IS NOT

Recently, Ontario launched a new sex ed curriculum… and some parents are freaking out. Like, really freaking out. To them I say - stop it! - and consider this: things Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum is NOT.

1. All that new.

Via i1.wp.com

In her breakdown of the myths and facts about the new curriculum, Karyn Pickles spells it out: "Depending on how old you are, it might have been putting condoms on bananas, or a filmstrip in a dark classroom. Maybe the boys and girls were split up, maybe they stayed together? But you learned it. Very little has actually changed from the previous curriculum in terms of what is actually being taught."

2. Anti-religious.

Paul Haring / CNS/Paul Haring / Via i.telegraph.co.uk

For God's sake (ha), we're a province that still funds Catholic schools with public tax dollars and recites the Lord's Prayer in the Ontario Legislature. The curriculum gives students basic facts about sex at developmentally appropriate ages but also tells them to seek guidance from trusted adults – parents and religious leaders, included. #WhaddupRabbi!

3. Unscientific.

Corbis Images / © CORBIS / Via macleans.ca

Speaking of the facts, starting in grade 1, the kids are going to be learning scientific ones, like the correct names for body parts. It's time to call a vagina a vagina.

4. Unique.

Via d3nsxkvkfprphq.cloudfront.net

If this was a race against the other provinces, Ontario would have lost so hard. That's because we were the ONLY province in Canada where the sex-ed curriculum hadn't been updated since 1998 (read: not since Tinder; Instagram, and SnapChat) making it the oldest in the country. Calling body parts by their actual names? Kids in BC have been learning that since kindergarten, and how awesome are people from Vancouver?

5. Part of a Hidden Homosexual Agenda.

Via fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net

The curriculum has finally caught up to Canadian law: it now recognizes gay and transgender people (*slow clap*). And yes, Premiere Kathleen Wynne happens to be a lesbian. She also happens to have a Master's degree in Education, was a School Board Trustee, and the former Minister of Education. Her lesbianism ≠ that kids are being taught to be gay! That would be like teaching kids to be a race other than their own…which is impossible. What is possible, and what the new curriculum will teach, is that people can be different - and not to hate them for it.

6. Teaching six-year-olds about rape.

Via info7.com.mx

Mmm, no. What it's actually doing is teaching kids in grade 1 to recognize dirty pedos and then introducing the concept of "consent" as the right to say "NO" in grade 2. To not teach kids this is crazy dangerous, particularly in light of a 2014 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal which found that more than a third of Canadians have suffered from child-abuse.

7. Teaching kids to sext.

Via cdn.sheknows.com

We're talking about a generation that's never used a rotary phone, of course they already know how to sext! The new curriculum is actually teaching kids the risks of sexting, with the actual teacher prompt as, "Sexting – or the practice of sending explicit sexual messages or photos electronically, predominantly by cell phone – is a practice that has significant risks. What are some of those risks?"

8. Designed by a pedophile.

Via pandasecurity.com

It's awful on so many levels that a guy named Ben Levin, who was charged with multiple counts relating to child pornography, had a hand in developing the failed 2010 sex ed curriculum. But education, child development, policy experts, and 4000 heads of school parent councils across Ontario developed the 2015 curriculum - Levin not included. All of the changes are trying to make kids less vulnerable to exploitation, so if you think about it: pedophiles are the ones who would benefit most from the older curriculum remaining in place. *Shudder*

9. Mandatory.

National Post / Via wordpress.com

Ultimately, parents can actually choose to pull their kids out from all or part of the Physical and Health Education Curriculum. Those poor souls are usually kept at home or supervised in another part of school while the class takes place…and TOTALLY not learning about sex from the internet, TV, and kids on the playground.

To read the new 2015 Ontario Physical Health and Education Curriculum for yourself – and you really should before having any opinion on it – click here.