Children Are “Sexual Beings”
August 24, 2011
PENNY STARR of CNS News reports:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering advice to parents and teens about sex education, including assurances that teens may “experiment” with homosexuality as part of “exploring their own sexuality,” and that masturbation should be of concern only “if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities.”
The information, located on a “Questions and Answers About Sex” link on the “Quick Guide to Healthy Living [2]” portion of the HHS Web site, also describes children and infants as “sexual beings.”
Under the question “When Do Kids Start Becoming Curious About Sex?” the answer notes that infants have curiosity about their bodies.
“Children are human beings and therefore sexual beings,” the Q&A Web page says. “It’s hard for parents to acknowledge this, just as it’s hard for kids to think of their parents as sexually active. But even infants have curiosity about their own bodies, which is healthy and normal.”
As for masturbation and “what sort of ‘sexual’ behavior do young kids exhibit?” the page says, “Parents should only be concerned about masturbation if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities. Victims of sexual abuse sometimes become preoccupied with self-stimulation.”
Starr reports the reaction of Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council. He said:
The fact that young children are aware that their bodies include genitalia hardly makes them ‘sexual beings,’ and it is improper (and potentially dangerous) to treat them as such before puberty.
— Comments —
Sarah writes:
If we start labeling our babies as sexual beings then we leave the door wide open for disgusting sexual predators who stalk our children at schools and parks. This infuriates me! If I heard another mother saying that her baby was a sexual being I would feel that her behavior was child abuse. Just because toddlers are curious about their own bodies (their eyes, hands, ears, voices, and noses more so) it does not mean that they are engaging in sexual acts! This is perverse to the highest degree. A sexual being is a person who is capable of having sex….not an innocent, trusting toddler.
