Pornography is in the news, and the classroom, again:

The Prince George’s County school system is investigating an incident in which a fifth-grade music class at Glenn Dale Elementary School caught a glimpse of a pornographic movie instead of the planned feature, “Star Wars.”

Glitch Gives Kids a Peek at Pornography - washingtonpost.com

From the little revealed in the article, this is either the work of a a sneaky student prankster or an embarrassingly disorganized teacher. I wonder if the maelstrom is on its way.¹ I also wonder, again and again, why we are so hyper-vigilant about nudity and sex but so lax about violence, student health, racism, bullying, ethnocentricity, and other influences that run un-checked through the hallways and that are most definitely more damaging than an image of the naked body doing what the naked body likes to do.

Maybe better sexual education–from schools, parents, and society–instead of Puritanical sexual fear, would help eliminate some of the rampant sex-ism that I hear every day on the radio and see every day on television … and that is echoed every day in the hallways of our schools. Whatdayathink?²

1. the same maelstrom that clobbered Julie Amero [back]
2. Before anyone asks: of course this stupid mistake should never have happened. And no, of course I’m not arguing that we should show porn in schools. [back]

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