More on the UK Government’s a consultation on Relationships and Sex Education in English secondary schools.
Question No. 2 is:
Thinking about relationships and sex education in secondary schools, what do you believe are the three most important subject areas that should be taught for different age groups/key stages and why. Please include any considerations or evidence which informed your choices.
There’s so much I would like to say, but the 250 word limit is cruel. I really want to give clear evidence of research and not just make political arguments that are all too easily dismissed.
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Teaching LGBTI+ issues is essential – it’s science, not political indoctrination.
The human being is a fantastically complex machine. Even the basic genetics is not a clear binary. “Most women are 46XX and most men are 46XY,” according to the WHO (Gender and Genetics). “Clearly, there are not only females who are XX and males who are XY, but rather, there is a range of chromosome complements, hormone balances, and phenotypic variations that determine sex.” And it gets even messier (Sex redefined): “What’s more, new technologies in DNA sequencing and cell biology are revealing that almost everyone is, to varying degrees, a patchwork of genetically distinct cells, some with a sex that might not match that of the rest of their body.”
With our bodies such a blend of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, is it any surprise that sexual orientation varies so much, or that gender identity can be at odds with appearance? These are not ‘special snowflake’ choices, but innate biology. More and more is being learned about ‘gay’ genes (What do the new ‘gay genes’ tell us about sexual orientation?): “It adds yet more evidence that sexual orientation is not a ‘lifestyle choice’. But the real significance is that it takes us one step closer to understanding the origins of one of the most fascinating and important features of human beings.”
And scans have shown that, in some respects, trans men have male brains and trans women have female brains, and that this can develop as early as 2-3 years of age (Transsexual differences caught on brain scan).
Francis James Franklin (Alina Meridon) 