This Week's MIP Digest
This Week's MIP Digest
DESE wants to teach minors that they can consent to sex, find out which MA district teaches 6th graders that males and females both have sperm, and more.
Here’s the weekly MIP Digest!
The MIP Digest is a regular feature with all the great information that has been posted in the MIP Facebook group during the previous week and sent directly to your inbox. It won’t capture all of the interesting comments and conversations that happen in the Facebook group, but it will include the highlights and provide a quick overview of the content, in case you missed it.
Because of vacations we didn’t get the Digest out last weekend, so this edition contains info from the previous two weeks in MIP.
First, here are the posts from our Admins:
True talk from the ADF and Sam Adams
Excellent video from Chris Rufo exposing the transgender empire
Every parent should watch this. It’s a 12-minute movie about the history of the dangerous transgender movement.
Click HERE to watch on twitter.
For when they tell you: “transgender surgeries aren’t happening on kids.”
Click HERE to watch on twitter.
Planned Parenthood is NOT your friend
Planned parenthood is not the friend of women OR children, especially unborn children. If you work for PP please consider leaving. THIS ORGANIZATION can help you.
Fortunately, it seems there is much less interest in Planned Parenthood’s sex-ed summer camp than they had hoped. Read more about it HERE.
The countdown continues: only a month left to submit your comment on DESE’s new health framework!
Editor’s note: This information is from the post on July 17th. The title of this section was updated to reflect the current date. To see the original post on Facebook, click HERE.
*****
It's time for another friendly reminder to send DESE your public comment on the new draft Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework.
Every week until the public comment period is over we will be highlighting one objectionable area of the framework and providing you with an example of a curricula that would align with the Framework.
Today we are highlighting this lesson on personal boundaries from the Rights, Respect, Responsibility (3Rs) curriculum. This curriculum is produced by Advocates for Youth, an activist organization whose Director of Sexuality Education and Training served as a Content Advisor for DESE's draft Framework. DESE has not released their list of recommended resources for this Framework yet, but we can tell a lot about what curriculum will probably be recommended by the people they asked to be Content Advisors!
This lesson correlates to the following standards for grades 3-5 viewable on pages 24 and 25 of the draft Framework:
Personal Safety [3.2.PS]
8. Demonstrate the use of assertive behavior, refusal skills, and actions intended for personal safety
Healthy Relationships [3.3.HR]
2. Define and demonstrate ways to respect personal boundaries including physical, verbal, sexual, and emotional boundaries and how to respond if those boundaries are violated.
A few notable quotes from this lesson:
Explain that if you say you are okay with being touched in a certain way, you have given your “consent,” and write that word on the board. Explain that “consent” is another word for permission.
"And you can touch your own body any way that you want! (But sometimes touching our own bodies is private, so we do it alone.)
Now, lessons on personal boundaries often initially sound like a good idea because of course we want kids to keep their hands to themselves! But we can teach 3rd graders to respect each other's space without bringing sexuality into it like this standard does.
And while a supporter of the Framework may argue that the standard says that sexual boundaries should not be violated, I would remind them that NO sexual contact is appropriate for 3rd graders and a 3rd grader's "personal boundary" isn't relevant!
(And in what world is it appropriate to have 3rd graders coloring pictures that talk about touching themselves privately?!)
But again, don't take our word for it. Read the lesson for yourself!
You can download this free lesson online HERE.
Or read the lesson and view its super-creepy coloring pages on THIS POST. (Editor’s note: a few pages are included here on Substack. Click through to Facebook to see all of the pages.)
Oh, and make sure to notice that the coloring pages are produced by Yes!, a "nonprofit that provides anti-oppressive, consent-based, pleasure-focused sexuality education to people of all ages."
Let's say it louder for the people in the back... children cannot consent to sex!
So will DESE list the 3Rs, which contains this lesson, as one of their recommended resources? We can't say for sure, but since Advocates for Youth (who wrote the 3Rs!) had a seat at the table in creating this Framework, we have every reason to believe that they will.
And even if they don't, ANY CSE curriculum that is recommended to meet these standards could contain material like this.
This is just ONE of the many reasons we urge everyone to contact DESE and tell them that is Framework is not appropriate and cannot be accepted.
To submit your comment today, click HERE to use MFI's easy submission form.
Or read THIS POST for other ways to submit your comment, plus lots of other useful links.
And finally, we also have a pdf one-sheet (front and back) that you can share with anyone who needs to know about the graphic and harmful content in DESE's draft framework. It's just a sample of the concerning issues with DESE's draft and it doesn't include everything, but it's a great way to introduce new people to the CSE agenda, what it means for MA students, and how to take action against it.
Click HERE for the FREE download.
If you haven't sent your comment in yet, don't wait!
ALL about the coercive and discriminatory vaccine bills
We shared a few posts encouraging MIP members to submit testimony rejecting the coercive and discriminatory vaccine bills being proposed. Testimony has passed, so rather than reshare those posts, HERE is a link to a blog post from Massachusetts Family Institute giving an update on how the hearing went.
(Spoiler alert: MIP members showed up BIG time and provided excellent testimony! Kudos, all!)
We encourage everyone to stay plugged in to MIP for the latest updates on this important parental rights issue going forward. We’ll keep you posted!
The countdown continues: only a month left to submit your comment on DESE’s new health framework! (Part 2)
Editor’s note: This information is from the post on July 24th. The title of this section was updated to reflect the current date. To see the original post on Facebook, click HERE.
*****
It's time for another countdown post, and friendly reminder to send DESE your public comment on the new draft Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework.
Every week until the public comment period is over we will highlight one objectionable area of the framework and providing you with an example of a curricula that would align with the Framework.
To see our previous countdown posts, click HERE and HERE.
Today we are highlighting this 7th grade lesson on sexual behavior from the Get Real curriculum. This curriculum was produced by the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Shira Cahn-Lipman, Planned Parenthood’s Associate Director of Education Strategy served as a Review Panelist for DESE's draft Framework, and this curriculum has been recommended by the state in the past. DESE has not released their list of recommended resources for this Framework yet, but if DESE’s past recommendations and their choice of review panelists tell us anything, we can expect to see Get Real on their list!
The lesson “Deciding About Sexual Behavior” correlates to several standards listed in DESE’s draft Framework for grades 6-8. Two examples of correlating standards are below. You can also find these on page 30 of the draft Framework:
Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Sexual Health [6.1.GS]
3. Describe possible short- and long-term consequences (positive and negative) of engaging in sexual activity and identify ways to avoid negative or potentially harmful consequences.
Healthy Relationships [6.1.HR]
1. Analyze the similarities and differences between friendships, romantic relationships, and sexual relationships and discuss various ways to show affection within different relationships (e.g., holding hands, hugging, kind words, acts of kindness, kissing, sexual behaviors).
A few notable quotes from this lesson:
“Explain that in order to make decisions about sexual behaviors it’s important to understand why people have sex… Ask students to name some positive outcomes of people engaging in sexual behaviors when they are ready (for example, getting to know yourself or another person, expressing affection, taking healthy risks, feeling good)… Ask student to silently reflect on the question: How does what you’ve learned from parents or other influences play a role in the decisions you make around sexual behaviors? Ask student to reflect silently on the pros and cons of what they have learned from parents and other influences.” (p. 7-41)
“After placing the behavior cards, tape wrapped condoms onto the cards for oral, anal and vaginal intercourse. Ask students what condoms do to reduce the risk of pregnancy and STIs (keep fluids from being transmitted). Explain that abstinence is the healthiest choice for seventh graders, but for people who choose to engage in oral, anal or vagina intercourse, one protection method will help prevent unplanned pregnancy and STI transmission: the condom. Explain that they will learn more about condoms in a future class. Explain that when condoms are used correctly every single time, they greatly reduce the risk of pregnancy and STIs. Move the behavior cards to new categories to reflect anal sex with a condom, vaginal sex with a condom, and oral sex with a condom or dental dam.” (p. 7-42)
“How does information about condoms change the way you think about risk?” (p. 7-43)
Defenders of this curriculum would be quick to point out the nods given to abstinence, but if abstinence was really Get Real’s goal, why would it spend multiple lessons talking about condoms? And why would it ask leading questions that push kids to accept sex with condoms as less risky, when even the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists puts the condom failure rate at 18 out of 100 - and common sense tells us it would be even higher amongst impulsive middle schoolers?
And not only does the lesson give fake nods to abstinence while pushing condoms, it asks kids to reflect on the “positive outcomes” of sexual behaviors while considering the “cons” of what their parents have taught them about decisions about sex. It’s all so transparent, really. Regardless of their insertion of some obligatory abstinence language, Planned Parenthood has never been in the business of promoting sexual restraint, and they certainly aren’t going to start now.
But again, don't take our word for it. Read the lesson for yourself!
Maybe this is a good time to remind the folks at Planned Parenthood that SEVENTH GRADERS CANNOT LEGALLY CONSENT TO SEX?
Because it feels like they forgot.
Not to mention, do you want your child’s teacher talking to them about “grinding?" Or dental dams? Or defining oral or anal sex to them? How is ANY of this appropriate for the public school classroom?
It’s not.
So, will DESE list Planned Parenthood’s Get Real, the curriculum that contains this lesson, as one of their recommended resources? We’re pretty sure they’re “planning” on it!
This is just ONE of the many reasons we urge everyone to contact DESE and tell them that is Framework is not appropriate and cannot be accepted.
To submit your comment today, click HERE to use MFI's easy submission form.
You can also read THIS POST for other ways to submit your comment. You’ll also find lots of other useful links including our extensive 33 page evaluation of the most concerning content in this draft Framework.
And finally, for folks who prefer a quick look at the issues with DESE's draft Framework, click HERE to download our pdf one-sheet. This little document is perfect for the TLDR people in your life who don't have the time for a deep dive but still want to be in-the-know.
As of July 24th, 641 people have commented through MFI's easy online system. If you aren't one of them, send your comment in today!
Chloe Cole and other brave women speak truth to the House
Today the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government had a hearing on "The Dangers and Due Process Violations of 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Children."
Chloe Cole spoke, and you can watch her opening statement here.
And after you watch, you can share her powerful testimony with your friends, and refer to her experience when people try to tell you that gender affirmation helps kids.
Thank you, Chloe, for courageously raising your voice!
To watch the whole hearing (which is well worth your time), click HERE.
Attention Sharon Parents: The Analysis of Sharon Public Schools Sex Ed Curriculum is now Available!
The Analysis of Sex Education Resources used in the Sharon school district has just been posted to the MFI Sex Ed Map, linked toward the bottom of this post. If you live in Sharon, you are going to want to see this.
It seems the Sharon Public Schools has no idea what a male or female is... they even tell 6th graders that nocturnal emissions involving ejaculation of sperm cells can happen to both sexes!
No wonder kids today are confused!
As the adage goes, "you can't make this stuff up."
But don't take our word for it, check out these pics! And these are only a few of the inappropriate and unscientific lessons being taught to Sharon students, so after you check out the pics, read the full report.
To read MFI's full analysis of sex ed in the Sharon school district, click HERE. This report also contains a link that will take you to all of the information provided by the district, plus more valuable information collected by a parent advocate:
Don't live in Sharon? Share it with your friends in Sharon, and take a look at it yourself. Resources like these have been found in districts across MA, not just Sharon. And if DESE's new Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework is implemented, we will see even more content like this statewide.
To see what was has been found in other school districts so far, visit the MFI Sex Ed Map HERE.
Click the link and then scroll down until you find the map. Click on your town to see if your district report is ready! New reports are being uploaded to the map every week. If your district report isn't posted and you want to help MFI get information on what sex ed curriculum is being used in your district, email us at massinformedparents@gmail.com.
Remember, per MA law you can OPT YOUR CHILD OUT of sex ed! Click HERE for more information on your rights and a link to a sample out-out form:
Other helpful links shared by MIP members:
Our MIP members shared SO many excellent links, and started so many great discussions over the last two weeks that we can’t fit them all here! We strongly encourage everyone to visit MIP on Facebook to see all of the posts. To make sure you don’t miss any, start at the main group page and use the feed preference tool to tell Facebook that you want to see “New Posts: Show Recent Posts First” (see pic below). Once you do this, you will be able to scroll down the page and see all of the posts from the previous two weeks, in order. This is the best way to make sure you don’t miss any of the great MIP content shared in the group.
COMING SOON: Brave Books Story Hours
A couple weeks ago in MIP we shared information on how MA libraries can participate in Brave Books’ “See you at the Library Day” on August 5th, 2023. You can read that post HERE.
Since then, two MIP members shared info on events in their local community. These Story Hour events are ONE WEEK from today. We want to make sure we help get the word out about these great events, and we hope lots of folks can participate!
To check and see if there are other “See you at the Library” locations in MA, visit Brave Books’ website HERE and scroll down to find the interactive map.
And if your library is participating and this info hasn’t been shared yet on MIP, submit a post and we’ll help you get the word out!
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