This appeared on WorldNetDaily.com
A sexually-explicit guide written in a way that condemns traditional North American values and promotes homosexuality and abortion to young girls learning about sex is being considered for use in public schools, and leaders at a family-values think tank are horrified.
“We have to find a way to stop this from happening,” Joseph Ben-Ami, the executive director of the Institute for Canadian Values, told WND. “People don’t know this is happening.”
The project is called, “The Little Black Book ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú A Book on Healthy Sexuality Written by Grrrls (sic) for Grrrls” and was assembled by a group including the St. Stephen’s House community service organization.
The Toronto project, now online after earlier published versions, is, according to Ben-Ami, “a thinly veiled propaganda piece that undermines healthy parent-child relationships, substitutes voodoo myths for actual science, and provides advice that, if followed, will certainly result in real and serious harm to those who follow it.”
For example, the guide states that “only 10% of the population is heterosexual ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú the rest being ‘mixed’ or bi-sexual,” but mentions no evidence. It also promotes homosexuality and labels parents “homophobes.”
The publishers give this summary of the book.
“A super-important guide for girls?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùwritten by teens for teens. Check it out: not just a book about sex, but a look at girl culture by teenagers. No stuffy school textbook. No nosy adults. Just a diverse group of teen girls from a community youth project who had questions about sexuality. To find answers, they collected stories, poetry and artwork from other youth. They also interviewed frontline health experts to get solid facts about the personalities and pressures that young women have to deal with. It’s a great mix of real-life examples and life-saving info. Topics include: – Relationships – Periods – Sex – Birth control – Pregnancy – Sexually transmitted infections/AIDS – Sexual assault All the content has been vetted by doctors, and the book is endorsed by health professionals — so girls know they’re getting good info. There’s also a section at the back with places to contact to find out more. It’s all stuff that youth need to know, and it’s all decked out in a compact, easy-to-browse zine style. The Little Black Book for Girlz is an important, take-anywhere empowerment guide. Girls shouldn’t leave their teen years without it.”
THE INSTITUTE FOR CANADIAN VALUES HAS STARTED A PETITION TO GET THIS BOOK BANNED FROM OUR SCHOOLS, BUT WITH FUNDING FROM 3 LEVELS OF GOV?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢T THEIR CHANCES ARE SLIM.
This is some of their comment regarding this book:
“The Little Black Book” is being promoted across Canada as a guide to healthy sexuality for teenage girls. In reality, it is a dangerous, unscientific and offensive piece ideological propaganda.
Among the books more egregious assertions:
- “A lot of parents are homophobic, and so are their children – until they get minds of their own.”
- “If you need a figure to represent God The Holiness then for me she?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a fat, black dyke.”
- Only 10% of the population are heterosexual while 10% are homosexual, the remaining 80% are bi-sexual.
It gets worse.
What are your thoughts on this? Does this reflect a further intrusion on the sanctity of the family by those who only wanted ?¢‚ǨÀúequal rights?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ in marriage? When they say that this book has been vetted by health professionals and doctors, who are they, and what is their agenda?
Yeah, my first thought on reading the information was who are these experts they quote and where did they get their stats?
Given the outrageous claims of the portion you’ve quoted there’s no way it’ll be adopted by Alberta, let alone the Maritimes.
Although I’m not a huge fan of the Institute for Canadian Values, I’ll definitely see what else I can find out about this “Little Black Book”.
“10% of the population is heterosexual”
Yeah right. Then how’d the conservatives get into power?
Bogus or not, why even cite stats in such materials? The point should be to make youth comfortable and accepting of their sexuality and the sexuality of others. Stats don’t do that. Something simply like, most are heterosexual, but some are homosexual or bisexual, just as some people are left handed or blue eyed, etc, would make more sense. In otherwords, help kids to be comfortable in thier own skin and tolerant of others who may be different.
The stats are an important element of their message.
It appears not to be a case of teaching kids tolerance for others (that can be done in other, more appropriate ways), but rather pushing an agenda, through the kids.
We can be certain that those who mentored these Girlzzz had a specific objective in mind. By declaring stats in this way they create doubt about every other stat that points the other way.
It’s much like those who espouse the inane theory that the U.S. administration bombed the WTC.
Rational people out there know it isn’t true, but there is a significant portion that do believe it. That is a deliberate spread of ignorance to deflect attention away from the real agenda.
If we think this is bad, it’s only the beginning for these activist types. It’s getting scary.
Well, I have a solution; homeschool. :) Ok just kidding, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But now *I* as the parent get to be in control of the type of teaching that happens (since I do homeschool)
…and the other half of that statement would be:
…and now the parent’s ability to learn and teach is the only limiting factor in the development of the child.
Better hope you’ve got a smart Moms.
Rick
Actually no (I assume that was to me?) because I don’t educate my children, they educate themselves. We facilitate the teaching, and teach where needed, we don’t fill them with facts and figures, we just start the ball rolling. I don’t have to know everything to help my children learn.
Actually sometimes, the exiciting thing is learning along with them.
Once my children reach the scholar phase, I certainly won’t be needed much anymore. The key in learning is to learn to love it, once they/we do learn to love it, they cannot be stopped (after all, a baby doesn’t have to be taught to walk, or taught to crawl, they figure it out without us having to model it for them.) Children are born to learn. Actually we all are.
Good points, Mary.
So if you aren’t giving your children facts and figures, where do they learn about things outside of their own perceptions? (I’m not arguing with you, I’m simply asking the question) =)
What happens when the parent/facilitator is not a very good one? And refuses outside assistance.
We teach them the basics and more, I am not saying we don’t. But the point I am trying to make is learning isn’t just facts and figures. Sure there is some of that, but what I am saying is we are not FILLING them with facts and figures. We want them to have a true education, not just the basics so they can function at a base level in society. We want them to excel in life. In order to do this they need more than a curriculum can give them. Learning, gleaning, having an “a-ha” moment. Understanding concepts, ideas, opinions, thoughts. Developing their own ideas, thoughts and opinions; analyzing information. Learning through experience, through reading good books (yes the classics) learning from the true master’s (the great Thinker’s of all ages). Right now they are in the “Learning to love learning” phase of learning. So yes, they get some basics, the “facts and figures” but more, I want them to learn to enjoy the process. My 7 year old already loves to read and she keeps looking for good books to read (and there are so many out there). She’s reading beyond her grade level, but that’s not even what is important. What is important is she LOVES books. You can’t teach that. They have to find that on their own.
“What happens when the parent/facilitator is not a very good one? And refuses outside assistance.”
I couldn’t tell you. All the homeschooling parents I know are good ones. They know their children, love them and help them learn. If a parent or facilitator isn’t very good, I doubt the homeschooling experience would continue for very long. It would be frustrating for both child and parent. However, there are many ways of learning, the current style of lecturer/student (teacher stands up and talks, student listens) is a relatively new type of learning (the las 100 years or so) before that learning was mainly through reading good books (classics in all genres), discussion, mentoring and “simulation” or in other words, trying it out, doing it. Even now the best learning comes in this way. I learned far more outside of school than I did within it. Not to say I didn’t have good learning sometimes, in school, but the best learning was when I loved what I was doing, was able to experience it and follow up. Not just “get through”.
And this type of learning is not just for homeschoolers, it is for all children, all people, whether in public school, private school or homeschool and beyond the elementary and secondary school years or even while not in school.
I just wonder how one would, for instance, develop a knowledge of the calculus from a parent who is not very interested or competent at mathematics.
I’ve never really questioned elementary home education becasue I’ve always assumed the facilitator waws sufficiently fluent in the subject matter, but for more advanced topics I might be prone to question the efficacy of home schooling.
By the time a child is on the road to calculus they will be able to seek other methods of learning it, quite often on their own, rather than strictly from the parent. Homeschooling doesn’t mean the parent does all the teaching.
I have seen many successful high school homeschoolers, many of whom are often ready for college earlier than their public schooled counterparts.
Again, you don’t have to be fluent in everything in order to teach it, or start teaching it. Teachers don’t leave university fluent in everything they are expected to teach. Some are better than others, but certainly not all.
I would hate to think about how hard it would be to learn the calculus or organic chemistry with only someone who did not really know the subject to guide me through it.
It’s hard enough when you have someone who knows what they’re talking about helping you… lol
Rick
What I am trying to explain is that they don’t ONLY have one person to guide them through it. This is where other mentors come in. Not in the school system. Outside of it. Quite often right from the source. You can access so many other teachers than just those in the public school system. Homeschooling isn’t about one person teaching, it’s about the parent being in charge of the teaching process, but not totally controlling it.
Again, good points Mary.
I am convinced that homescooling may be the only way to keep our children from those with agendas that disguise themselves as medical and health professionals.
We have some real weird ideas floating out there in the public system.
Larry
Thank you, I appreciate your thoughts.
You might be right. Many parents seem to be thinking this way, increasingly so. There are some strange ideas out there, and it can be alarming to find out your children are being taught morals that don’t agree with your own. Very alarming.
When I was in grade 12 oh so many years ago, we have a symposium day and one of the topics was “safe sex”. I am sure this is mild from what is taught today, but in hindsight I wasn’t too impressed because I am quite sure our parents weren’t aware that we were being taught all the different birth control methods (which everyone pretty much knew about already, anyway) and abstinence was only mentioned as a last point, almost as if they didn’t expect any person in that room to even consider it. There were some though, who already had their morals strongly set in this area. But it seemed to me they were taking this very important lesson away from the parental role, and deciding how to teach it.
I heard once, that parents should not let someone teach their child, who does not believe in God, have a strong understanding of His principles, and that in every aspect of learning, this must be present, a testimony of Him. Now, this wouldn’t apply to non believers, but to me, it is very important.
“We have some real weird ideas floating out there in the public system.”
To be fair, some home teaching parents have weird ideas as well.
Of course they do. I wasn’t saying homeschooling parents are perfect. But to be correct, the weird ideas come from weird individuals, right? :)
…and weird organizations. lol
:) but those are made by the weird people.
and i suppose that would be subjective right? :)
I’m sure to all the weirdos out there, I’m the one with strange ideas…
lol
well there is an old saying my dad used to tell me (quaker i think)
“everyone is crazy but me and thee and even thee are a bit crazy” or something like that, lol.
Well, out there in BC, I sure this book(let) will be implemented sooner rather than later. While I love BC, this issue is a thorn in my side with 4 kids going through the public school system.
The problem with the stats that are mentioned ( hetero 10 % and bi 80%), is that if enough kids hear/read this day in and day out, they will start to believe it. Especially since the pre teen and teenage years are when the kid’s hormones and sexuality kick in. Some kid may never view themselves as bi or homo but when they read this, then they think, well maybe I am! Very dangerous!
In BC, we have a homosexual couple that sued the government/BC education system and are unfortunately, getting their way. I felt sick when I heard that they are now able to create and implement curriculum in the public school system about homosexuality. If that isn’t enough, they want to make it harder for parents to remove their kids from the class when this is being discussed! The only saving grace about this is that the teacher is who I have to deal with and I think most teachers are not going to push this issue with the parents!
“when they read this, then they think, well maybe I am! Very dangerous!”
Look, I am not I am a proponent of the book, but statements like what I’ve quoted above make no sense.
I am hetero. There is no amount of literature I could have read at ANY age that would have convinced me that I’d rather be intimate with a man than a woman.
People are what they are.
What I oppose to, in principle, is the hidden agenda being pushed (if indeed it is being pushed since they’ve pulled the book from the web adn I can’t seem to find it anywhere).
Rick,
Same as you, I would not change my sexual orientation from reading this book. BUT there are many misguided youth out there who will do what their peers say.I stand by what I said previously.
I guess we can agree to disagree! :)
Rick,
Unfortunayely it hasn’t been pulled.
Here is the Amazon site from Google:
http://www.amazon.ca/Little-Black-Book-Girlz-Sexuality/dp/list/1550379542
When you are a teen, influenced by peer pressure, you can bet that books like this will have a lot of influence on behaviour.
I think what they are trying to say is that only 10% of people are 100% heterosexual. I think, especially with females, that it would be easy to verify that most girls are at least a little bit bisexual. Enough of them would openly admit that anyway. This may be a warped way of presenting statistics, but there it is. I’ve also heard the argument that the Bible does not condemn lesbian behavior, and therefore it is seen by some religious people as a harmless, safer alternative for teenage girls than straight sex, until they are ready to commit. I think they have their valid points here.
“I think, especially with females, that it would be easy to verify that most girls are at least a little bit bisexual.”
Ok, I can’t agree with this. There is a difference between experimentation and attraction. No one is “a little bit” bisexual. Or if they are I would like to see some real statistics on this.
#27, There’s no written record of Jesus condemning wife beating. Does that mean we don’t know his mind on the matter?
I’m the first to say scriptural injunctions against homosexuality are probably being misinterpreted, but to say it’s ok for one sex and not the other is the most ludicrous interpretation I’ve ever heard.
On another thread it was discussed how Bishops do not ask females the same sex questions they ask the boys.
I just scanned through this thread and it seems like the topic is are girls bi-sexual.
I guess only the females can answer this one.
George,
Bishops, SPs, MPs, etc aren’t asking anyone about masturbation anymore, at least the ones my family has been involved in. The church has moved on from that nonsense, thank G-d.
Steve.
How as the Church’s stance changed on that score?
#32, I grew up in the CofJCofLDS of Bishop’s obsessed with masturbation. I was never asked by a SP, but my first MP asked me about that and homosexuality, and being a grown man at that point, we came close to a fist fight. My wife and I keep a pulse on this, and with 5 children, two now grown, not one has ever been asked. The whole thing was nonsense youth shouldn’t have to worry about. The church continually improves. Thank G-d.
Good post, Larry.
I’ll tell what–I think there is a direct correlation between the “abomination of desolation” (wherein that which is most sacred is defiled–e.g. the temple–and made open game) and the sexual promiscuity we see nowadays running at full boilers. Both are a breach of sacred space by the profane and portend imminent destruction when manifest on a large scale.
Steve, re: #31 and #33–
It isn’t nonsense, and the Church hasn’t “moved on” from it.
For example, in the current Aaronic Priesthood Manual, the following quotation from President Spencer W. Kimball is included:
“Masturbation … is not approved of the Lord nor of his church, regardless of what may be said by others whose ‘norms’ are lower†(President Kimball Speaks Out [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], p. 10).
For a further example, the Church’s current publication For the Strength of Youth includes the following counsel:
“Do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private, sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing. Do not allow anyone to do that with you. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body.”
For yet another example, the Church’s current handbook Duties and Blessings of the Priesthood Part A contains this quote in Lesson 34:
“Among the other ways man misuses this sacred power are fornication (including living together without marriage), homosexuality, abortion, and masturbation.”
I’m sorry you believe that issue is no business of the priesthood leaders (including bishops and mission presidents) who oversee you, but it is their business and they have a duty to talk to you about it.
I think that we may just find out that a conversation about masturbation with a minor behind closed doors is a thing of the past due to the new CHI guidelines.
That would be my wager anyway.
My 12 year old was just asked by a Bishop if he masturbated and he found it very insulting. Imagine that.
Itubgaf said: “it is their business and they have a duty to talk to you about it.
I tend to agree with Itubgaf. My generation had to suffer why not let future generations suffer also?
Just kidding – I am doing my best to protect my children from nosy Bishops. That is a stupid question and one they are not to ask any of my children. The Bishop will not be interviewing my children without me in the room. He is not going to cause my children mental harm acting like God needs to know.
CHI guidelines or not, that is off limits with my children.
For Home Schooling Mary – How do you fit Home Schooling in with the Smith family hiring a teacher to teach their children?
Who is the Smith family who hired a teacher to teach their children? And what difference would that make to me as a homeschooler? Why would it matter to me what anyone else does to educate their children? Their responsibility and stewardship is up to them and the Lord, ours (Kim’s and mine) is up to us and the Lord. I fit homeschooling in as the best choice for our family. Since the Smith family isn’t a part of our family I don’t see the relationship here.
Jack,
As you can probably tell from different comments on this thread, we all know someone who is guilty as you describe it, and the results will be as you describe it.
By the way, send me your e-mail address again. My computer crashed last November and I was unable to recover anything at all. (Perhaps you could include all our e-mails as well, old friend, . . . with the emphasis on “old” LOLLLLL)
My address is the same.
If a person seeks a temple recommend—minor or adult—the Priesthood leaders who interview him or her have a duty to inquire about living the Law of Chastity. That law includes masturbation. So if you’re determined to make it “off limits” with your children, then you’re simultaneously making the temple off-limits as well. I hope you won’t.
Mary, regarding #38 and 39, the best I can figure is that Bill (a.k.a. George) thinks the family of Joseph Smith hired a schoolteacher to teach their children and that you should feel obligated to copy everything they ever did.
Doesn’t make any sense, but that’s no surprise, is it?
ltbugaf
Yes, I know, I figured that was who he was talking about. Nope doesn’t make any sense.
ltbugaf said: “If a person seeks a temple recommend—minor or adult—the Priesthood leaders who interview him or her have a duty to inquire about living the Law of Chastity. That law includes masturbation. So if you’re determined to make it “off limits†with your children, then you’re simultaneously making the temple off-limits as well. I hope you won’t.”
There is a difference between asking if a person is chaste and using a mantle to inquire into things that they should not.
ltbugaf – How many times have you gotten your feelings hurt and left ourhoughts for a period of time?
Do you always come back agreeing with Mary and get nasty like you did before? Why don’t you quit trying to be nasty in a polite way?
I realize that Molly Mormons sometimes have problems when the hard questions are asked. Just think how boring things would be if only easy to answer questions were asked and answered. No Pain No Gain or No Growth.
“Do you always come back agreeing with Mary and get nasty like you did before? Why don’t you quit trying to be nasty in a polite way?”
Ok, ltbugaf has had his moments but he certainly wasn’t being nasty. And what hard questions were you asking that “molly mormons” would have issue with?
I still say, why would I care what other people do to educate their children? And I really don’t know why you asked me about Joseph Smith’s family and their educational choices, and how that would affect me.
Bill, I left the thread for a while because it was clear that no matter what I said, someone—often you—was going to make ME the subject of the thread, rather than discussing what had been posted. It was also clear that no matter what I said, my comments were going to be comletely mischaracterized as ad hominem attacks, straw men, or other logical fallacies. It looks like you’re determined to make the environment as hostile as ossible for me, yet again. But I think I’ll try sticking around for a while—if and when I have something relevant and worthwhile to say.
To respond to what you said in comment #44: You said, “There is a difference between asking if a person is chaste and using a mantle to inquire into things that they should not.”
When a bishop inquires as to whether a member is living the Law of Chastity, that bishop needs to make sure the member understands what that law entails. One of things it entails is refraining from masturbation. If a child is participating in that practice, he/she should be helped to stop doing so. A bishop has a resonsibility to find out if that person—young or old—has a problem with the Law of Chastity and to help him/her if there is a problem. He can’t do that if he doesn’t mention masturbation. It’s not something he shouldn’t inquire about. It’s not misusing a priesthood mantle.
(One thing has me slightly confused. In your original life as “Bill” you seemed to portray yourself as an older man whose children are all grown. It seems inconsistent with your having a 12-year-old son. Are you being truthful?)
School Boy Itubagaf: I have always maintained I have married older children and some still at home.
OK. I hope you will not teach the children you have at home to despise bishops for carrying out their Priesthood duties.
I’m pro-masturbation, and masturbation has nothing to do with the LofC. Youth have real problems to deal with and don’t need there heads screwed up by sick Bishops. Also note that the prostate gods are now taking their revenge on the masturphobes of yesteryear.