HHS: Children Are ‘Sexual Beings’

CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering advice to parents and teens about sex education, including assurances that teens may “experiment” with homosexuality as part of “exploring their own sexuality,” and that masturbation should be of concern only “if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities.”

The information, located on a “Questions and Answers About Sex” link on the “Quick Guide to Healthy Living” portion of the HHS Web site, also describes children and infants as “sexual beings.”

Under the question “When Do Kids Start Becoming Curious About Sex?” the answer notes that infants have curiosity about their bodies.

“Children are human beings and therefore sexual beings,” the Q&A Web page says. “It's hard for parents to acknowledge this, just as it's hard for kids to think of their parents as sexually active. But even infants have curiosity about their own bodies, which is healthy and normal.”

As for masturbation and “what sort of ‘sexual’ behavior do young kids exhibit?” the page says, “Parents should only be concerned about masturbation if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities. Victims of sexual abuse sometimes become preoccupied with self-stimulation.”

“Thinking sexually about both the same sex and the opposite sex is quite common as teens sort through their emerging sexual feelings,” the page says. “This type of imagining about people of the same or opposite sex doesn't necessarily mean that a person fits into a particular type of sexual orientation.”

“Some teens may also experiment with sexual experiences, including those with members of the same sex, during the years they are exploring their own sexuality,” the page reads. “These experiences, by themselves, do not necessarily mean that a teen is gay or straight.”

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the conservative Family Research Council, said that the HHS Web site does include some positive information, such as statements about abstinence being the best way to avoid pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases and the need for parents to teach their children sexual facts.

But some of the information has no place on a federal government Web site, he said.

“The idea that ‘children are human beings and therefore sexual beings’ is one of the most destructive myths of the sexual revolution,” Sprigg told CNSNews.com. “To a large extent, this myth may be traced to the ‘research’ conducted by Alfred Kinsey, including the infamous ‘Children of Table 34’ experiments, which involved the deliberate sexual abuse of children as young as 6 months old under ‘experimental’ conditions.”

“The fact that young children are aware that their bodies include genitalia hardly makes them ‘sexual beings,’ and it is improper (and potentially dangerous) to treat them as such before puberty,” he said.

While it is correct to say that a physical encounter between teens of the same sex does not mean they are “gay,” it does not mean homosexuality should be promoted to teens as normal, Sprigg said.

“It is homosexual activists, promoting the ‘born gay, can't change’ myth, who all too often encourage young people to prematurely label themselves as ‘gay,’” he said.

Sprigg added that encouraging teens to become sexually active in any way is wrong: “Sexual ‘experimentation,’ whether same-sex or opposite-sex, should be discouraged for all teens,” he said. “Sex is sex, whether ‘experimental’ or not, whereas abstinence is abstinence --and the latter should be the expected standard of behavior for unmarried teens.”

The HHS Web site reassures teens and parents that having homosexual tendencies as a young person is “common” as teens “sort through their emerging sexual feelings.”

CNSNews.com asked HHS through its press office whether the information on the Web site encourages teens to be sexually active, including taking part in homosexual sex, and if it also encourages parents to accept that behavior.

The agency had not responded to the question by the time this story was posted.

wants2laugh wrote:sexuality is a part of nature from birth--- THAT is what the article SHOULD have stated. ... Raising children to think sex is wrong and unnatural makes them think something is wrong with them.

Nystyle709 wrote:I don't agree with the homosexual part. You only 'experience' homosexual activity if you're a homosexual. And the article is misleading. Children aren't sexual beings. They were largely referring to teenagers. In the physical sense, teenagers stop being children in the span of only a few years.

wants2laugh wrote:sexuality is a part of nature from birth--- THAT is what the article SHOULD have stated. My nephew was a year old and climbing under beds with knee highs to masterbate. He is now 24 and married and still has the stocking/foot fetish thing. Raising children to think sex is wrong and unnatural makes them think something is wrong with them.

Opa Shale wrote:

Sounds like you agree with the faith-based bias of Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the conservative Family Research Council.


I don't agree wholeheartedly with his beliefs, but I do agree with him that just because a child discovers their genitalia and know what it is and what it does doesn't make them 'sexual'. Sexuality is a more of a state of mind. It's a mind frame. It's how humans express themselves to each other, how they identify their orientation, etc. I'm sorry, but I don't sexualize children (key word). There is a difference between explaining to them what their body is and giving them a full blown sex ed course in their pre-pubscent years. Is it necessary to explain to a 5 yr old really why Mommy and Daddy like having the bedroom door closed at night? No it's not. And be realistic, what average pre-pubescent (key word) child is thinking about that? Their hormones hasn't even kicked it yet. Like I said before, the article is referring to teenagers, not children.


For years, teen boys have played around with each other and gone on to self-identify in adulthood as str8, never again having sexual contact with men.


Now you know there is holes in this. First of all, you can't say that to be the majority of teen (key word) boys who play around with each and identify themselves as straight. A teenaged (key word) boy who messes around with other boys, 9 times out of 10 is gay or bi. And you know it. Identifying, not that they actually are, but identifying themselves as straight could be for a myriad of other reasons. You know that there are gay men who identify themselves as straight because of family, job, enviornment, etc. Doesn't mean that they are.


And, pre-pubescent children do have sexual ideations and self-stimulation. Or at least that is what I recall with me and my cousins.