DWQA QuestionsCategory: Human CorruptionMost cultures have strong taboos in place regarding children and early sex education. Are those taboos enlightened or naive?
Nicola Staff asked 2 years ago
This is an area of great controversy currently because there are strong opinions and differing perspectives that clash in many respects, but the historical tendency to delay discussion of sex among children until they are reaching adolescence is practical and sensible in many respects. First of all, children are blithely unaware of sexuality and its true implications because they simply do not have sexual feelings prior to adolescence, so it will not be something they can truly relate to and understand in any deep and meaningful way, nor are they at risk of misunderstanding and misusing abilities they have not expressed yet, and cannot happen unless they are manipulated in some way by older persons wanting to exploit them as a sexual partner. There is some danger in awakening sexual interests too early, and this can happen because human beings have had prior lifetimes, and there can be awareness of sexual activities and interests that are perceived intuitively and may arouse curiosity in young children. That might get them into trouble if adults who supervise them develop a sexual interest and exploit those early expressions of curiosity. So these practices are simply an extension of a native aversion to incest in any form, and that is a natural protective instinct that is a built-in component of human nature. It is also culturally condemned, but the aversion to engaging in incestuous relationships is not a response to there being a cultural taboo but rather the opposite, that cultural taboos exist because there is a native human aversion to the idea of incest being indulged in, and that is part of Creator's Plan as well, to create a separation of interest and affection, in terms of sexual feelings, to avoid children and their parents having sexual relationships because this will distort healthy development of the young. It is always destructive and gives rise to many problems, later on in life particularly, so these restrictions have a sound basis in reality, to make certain sexual practices off-limits. So any exposure to sexual information can hold some potential risk of creating too early an awareness and interest in sexual matters that is unnecessary for the young to know about, and thus brings an element of risk even though well-intentioned.