This morning’s Boston Globe recounts the fateof a bill that would have modernized the sex education curriculum in the state of Massachusetts:
At a time when everybody, everywhere, seems to be talking about sexual misconduct, Massachusetts is still having a hard time talking about sex ed.
A bill that would modernize sex education in Massachusetts schools appears ready to die a quiet death for the fourth legislative session in a row — despite its timely attention to healthy relationships and affirmative consent.
Massachusetts is one of 26 states where there is no requirement to teach sex education in public schools — and no way of knowing whether the schools that are teaching it are using unbiased, medically accurate information.
“This seems like a no-brainer,” said Gina Scaramella, executive director of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
This is yet another example of a curious phenomenon that is observed nationwide in this country. Legislators often panic at the thought of legislating on subjects that have become fairly non-controversial among almost all of their consitutents, except possibly the fringe right. The same Massachusetts legislature has tied itself in knots over marijuana legalization, often attempting to scuttle it, despite the expressed will of its voters, in a referendum.
I would submit that this is yet another example of an asymmetry in American politics. I can’t think of any issue on which there is a widely shared consensus that is opposed solely on the fringe left of which any legislator is afraid. Of course, that may be because there is no fringe left in this country, but the point still stands.
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