Tabooed Sex

Katherine Sender argues in her article, Sex Sells Sex, Class, and Taste in Commercial Gay and Lesbian
Media, that heterosexual sex sells, while homosexual sex doesn't. I had never really thought about that before. Sex is everywhere, so why is one form of it so taboo?

My roommate is an elementary education major. Her assignment for the week was to pick a controversial picture book and write an argument as to why she would introduce it to her class. After a trip to the library, we now have a number of gay and lesbian introducing kids' books on our coffee table. This has brought up a number of conversations with various people about what is appropriate to teach a young child.

Children are bombarded with sex before they understand what it is, and a lot of it is ignored. However, even I (and I like to think I'm liberal-minded) found myself uncomfortable with a few of the books. I realized the trend. The books I was more comfortable with didn't include sex and one of the characters easily could have been switched out for a member of the opposite gender. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen, is a cute story about a little girl-hamster who get's very jealous when she find out her uncle is getting married. This fiance happens to be a man-hamster, but it makes no sexual references. Also, if one of the man-hamsters was pictured in a dress but the story was exactly the same, no one would be confused. The King & King series, by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, is all fun and games. Even in the story where the kings meet each other, it is very comfortable because sex is not involved.

However, two other books created a lot of conversation. Heather has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman, has good intentions, but little details are uncomfortable. One page, specifically, feeds a lot of the sexual controversy conversations. The text on the page reads
   Kate and Jane went to see a special doctor together. After the doctor examined Jane to make sure
   that she was healthy, she put some sperm into Jane's vagina. The sperm swam up into Jane's womb.
   If there was an egg waiting there, the sperm and egg would meet, and the baby would start to grow.
Granted, this is not actual sex, but planting the idea of artificial insemination into an elementary schooler's head was a little much for us to grab onto- especially so graphically. On the same page, in the picture, the mother is sitting with the doctor with part of her shirt off. Part of the breast is extremely visible, for no apparent reason. These two details made everyone who saw it, a little confused as to why they are in a children's book. In Daddy's Roommate, by Michael Willhoite, there are countless images of the two men, or at least one of them, shirtless. They have chizzled arms and pecks, and in some images, their crotch areas are very pronounced. There are pictures of them hugging, rubbing suntan lotion on each other, and a general sexual tension throughout. Though the story itself is very straight forward and not sexual, because the sexuality in the images is so in your face, many people have felt confused as to the book's motives.

Even though it makes a lot of people uncomfortable, it is very good to introduce the idea of a gay relationship to a young child at a time when they don't have an understanding of it as a subordinate culture. Many people in our generation did not grow up with this idea. My first introduction to a gay relationship (that I remember), was when I was 12. An uproar occurred when a Russian pop band, t.A.T.u., released the music video for "All the Things She Said" in 2002. The video included a story of two school girls who are in love but are not accepted. The biggest issue was the fact that the two girls kiss. Because I had no concept of what the problem was, my first experience with homosexuality was in a controversial light. This is not a good introduction for a child.

I find it interesting that what we are introduced to as a child can affect your thoughts on a subject without you realizing it. I thought I was very liberal, but obviously I have my own issues introducing gay sex to a child, and by the conversations I've had, so do many others my age. Dominant sexuality in the media has to be pushed a lot further for it to be deemed inappropriate for children, and a lot of it is overlooked. It's my hope that the liberals of the elementary schools now are even more open minded than the liberals my age.