With recent stories in
the media such as Rehteah Parsons’ suicide after a photo of her rape emerged in
her high school, causing the teenager to be bullied for a year, a new campaign
in Quebec will be emerging this summer to bring sex education back to the
classroom.
In winter 2008, at the midst of what would be another re-election, the Charest Government decided upon an education reform that would end sex education in Quebec, making it the only province in the country without this program in its high school curriculum.
"They want us to implement this in all of our classes but they haven't given us anything concrete, no curriculum to teach," said music teacher Andrew Mangal.
The campaign entitled The Lilith Project has several
mandates involving equal rights, but it’s first is dedicated for sex education
to be implemented in provincial high schools- this time, for good. It may sound
like an impossible task at first, since many groups, such as Head and Hands, the
Quebec Women’s Federation and Quebec’s Planned Pregnancy Federation have
rallied over the years to no avail.
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| The Lilith Project's logo: Truth outweighing beauty on the scale of justice. |
According to the
province's Health Ministry's statistics, “the number of women who contracted
gonorrhea between 2004 and 2008 was five times higher in the 15-24 age groups.”
Concordia University spent two years organizing to bring the Gender Advocacy Center on
campus until it was finally approved.
But there may be light
at the end of the tunnel when looking next door; In Ontario, after eight long
difficult years, the Miss G Project has brought Gender Studies as an electives course in their high schools. “In
2008, The Ministry of Education committed to offering Gender Studies as part of
the new (revised) Social Sciences and Humanities curriculum and since then we
have been consulting with the Ministry in the writing, piloting and revision of
the course.”
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| The Quebec Women's Federation and Planned Pregnancy demanding for sex education in 2010 |
Sex education may be a
touchy subject, but if students are not learning this in the classroom or from
parents, the dangerous fact is the knowledge being implemented from media and
online, where pornography is increasingly rampant with technology, teaching
them a negative message on their sexual identity and gender identity alike.
A disturbing
pornography film was recently done based on the 2012 student protests, the
scenario being a female student exchanging sexual acts for money to pay for her
university education post-strike. Camille Robert, a spokeswoman with
Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSE), said the film is
"extremely disturbing."
She said cases of
female students selling their bodies to pay for school is "unfortunately
real" and said the movie is "condemnable" and exploitative.
Thus the lack of this subject causes self-esteem issues, abusive relationships and even negative professional relationships, where the student grows into an adult with repressed sentiments that can be the cause for crime and much of the hostility seen in society.
Sigmund Freud may have
been controversial with his views on female hysteria, but if there was one
point he made relevant to everyone, it’s this; “The behavior of a human being
in sexual matters is often a prototype for the whole of his other modes of
reaction in life.”
To sign and share the
petition demanding the Education Minister Marie Malavoy for sex education’s
return to Quebec high schools, click here:
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