Alice Grayson’s Review of the Sex Education Programs

(Sexuality and Dating – a Christian Perspective)
A Student Guide for Personal Reflection*
by sex-ed author, Richard Reichert

* Only the Student Guide for Personal Reflection was present in the Religious Education Office of the Archdiocese of Boston and my review is based on reading it. The materials for this sex education program, Sexuality and Dating – a Christian Perspective, consist of the Student Guide, a companion text plus a teaching manual. The Student Guide was the only source of information I was able to read; however, the material in it is so objectionable, one need not look any further to the other missing books.

Marketing sex

Every sex education program, public school curriculum included, contains a lesson which discusses the sexual permissiveness of the times. Children are sent hither and yon to fetch examples of sex marketing — sexually explicit films, sex manipulation, etc. This faulty teaching technique I have already condemned because it sends children out — into temptation. Reichert’s program is no exception:

F. Evaluate any five currently popular TV sit-coms and/or drama shows that are receiving high ratings each week. Use the following questions in your evaluation:

1) About what percentage of the program is typically devoted to sex-oriented humor, situations, themes, dress, suggestions?

2) How does it treat genital sexual relationships?

• as casually as a handshake, as a “game,” as a fun thing everyone does?
• as a “dirty joke”?
• as a serious relationship between two responsible adults?

3) What image or concept of woman dominates the story?

4) What image or concept of man dominates the story?

5) Would the story be popular and entertaining if all the sex-orientated humor, costuming, and innuendoes were removed? Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981, p. 26

G. If you want to get serious, the following project could be very worthwhile and informative for you and others working together:

With the help of a social studies teacher or someone else knowledgeable about developing surveys, develop a questionnaire that seeks to discover the current sexual attitudes and behavior of the juniors and seniors in your high school. Topics could include: attitude toward non-marital sexual intercourse, abortion, trial marriage, teenage marriage, single parents, divorce, virginity, VD, contraception, parental guidance and rules, homosexuality between consenting adults, living together without marriage. Be sure to clear such a project with your teacher and/or other school officials. In analyzing results keep this principle in mind: Your peers today will make up tomorrow’s adult society and will shape the society in which you will be trying to raise your own children. Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981, p. 27

Review Comment

What is indeed remarkable about this program is that the sample of promiscuity comes in to meet the child. Sex markets the book! On the cover of the Student Guide is a picture of two young people, on a carnival ride, engaging in what appears to be soul kissing. A study of the facial angles allows for this interpretation; sex does sell books. This program has been published since 1981. One wonders if the picture was adapted from a painting or a photograph. One wonders who posed.

As I read this Guide, I thought I would include a sentence or two of objectionable material from every one of the thirty-nine pages. I couldn’t for two reasons: (1) it would be boring; (2) two pages were relatively harmless.

The Moral Law Is a Shopping List

The last sentences of the Guide, referring to the whole question of sexuality, read:

C. Using some or all of your reflections/reactions to the above, compose: My Philosophy of Sexuality.

You will be asked to share this statement of philosophy.
Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981, p. 40

Using the system of values clarification throughout the book, Reichert turns the moral law into a shopping list.

Chapter 6 gives an idea of the subjects up for grabs. Notice particularly under “C” in the following sample, that Reichert accepts the unacceptable inasmuch as all of the items in “A” are immoral. Also by forcing the child to choose the most objectionable, and least objectionable, Reichert conditions even the most orthodox child to temper and lessen his objections to sinful behavior. Reichert does not believe that all of the items listed in “A” should be equally eliminated from our society. Furthermore, by listing some imagined, absurd “rights” into the list, he further skews the middle toward acceptability. To Reichert, the only value is opinion and discussion:

CHAPTER C
6. What’s Happening?
The Way We Were Versus the Way We Are

A. Below are listed some rights that have a significant number of supporters and which receive a lot of publicity. Twenty-five years ago any one of them would have been automatically condemned by the majority of people in our society or would never have been considered “within the law.” First, rate each in terms of whether or not you think it is something you would support.

1) strongly support
2) mildly support
3) mildly oppose
4) strongly oppose

_____ The right of minors to obtain contraceptives without parental knowledge or consent.

_____ The right of minors to obtain an abortion without parental consent.

_____ The woman’s right to legalized abortion for non-medical reasons.

_____ The right of homosexuals to marry.

_____ The right of homosexuals to legally adopt a child or to be legal guardians of a child of their own while living in a homosexual relationship.

_____ The right of nudity on public beaches.

_____ The right to sell or purchase pornographic material publicly.

_____ The right to air X-rated movies on commercial TV if proper warning is given beforehand.

_____ The right to divorce on demand.

_____ Mandatory trial marriages before one can legally marry and have children.

_____ The right of children to “divorce” their parents and be provided other legal guardians.

_____ The child’s right to privacy wherein information gathered by a parent without the child’s consent can’t be used in court. (Parents, seeking to get help for a child addicted to drugs, can’t use drugs found in the child’s room-without the child’s consent-as evidence for turning the child in to a treatment center.)

_____ The woman’s right to abortion without the natural father’s consent.

_____ The right to practice prostitution or patronize a prostitute.

Be prepared to explain your ratings for each.

B. Of those “rights” you indicate that you mildly or strongly oppose, identify the three you consider to be most harmful or damaging to society. Be prepared to explain your reasons.

C. Choose any one of those you strongly support or that you strongly oppose and research it: …(emphasis added)
Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981, pp. 24 & 25

Values Restructuring

Values restructuring occurs on 37 of the 39 pages — even an argument could be made against the relatively harmless two exceptions. Ten representative samples of restructuring are:

1. E. Do you tend to think God as male, female, both or neither? Why? (p. 4)

2. Here are a few sample questions to help you start thinking about facts it would be helpful to know: Is there any truth to the claims for aphrodisiacs like “Spanish fly”? (p. 7)

3. B. It is now possible to a certain degree to predetermine the sex of a child—though current methods are under attack for moral reasons. It is also possible to adopt, choosing the sex of the child in the process. Given this real possibility to predetermine the sex of your child, what would you choose? Why? Is nature’s way of determining the sex of a child actually better? Why or why not? (p. 11)

4. H. As a variation on G or as an additional topic for discussion, prepare to defend one of the following positions:

1) Women should be allowed to be ordained priests.

2) Women should not be allowed to be ordained priests. (p. 13)

5. F. Some of the following statements do not deal so much with personal qualities as they do with external forms of behavior which society has tended to stereotype as either appropriate or inappropriate masculine or feminine roles. Rate each one as follows and be prepared to explain your rating:

1) strongly oppose 2) mildly oppose 3) unsure
4) mildly favor 5) strongly favor

a)____Girls who take the initiative and ask boys for dates.

b)____Boys who openly display affection toward other boys when they are close friends. (p. 17)

6. G. The personal integration of both the masculine and the feminine into one’s personality is the goal and the ideal. (p. 18)

7. C. If you should accept Jesus’ view regarding the permanency and sacramental nature of marriage, what do you feel would be minimum requirements for those preparing such a sacramental marriage? (p.29)

8. D. Jesus’ position on divorce is rooted both in the natural importance of the permanency of marriage and in his vision of marriage as sacramental. Assuming you accept that basic position, under what circumstances would you recommend the Church still allow divorce and permission to remarry, for a couple who entered into a sacramental marriage? (p. 30)

9. E. If you were a parent today, would you recommend that your teenage son keep some condoms with him “just in case”? Yes. No. Explain:

If you were a parent, would you recommend that your teenage daughter be protected by some form of contraceptive device or medication “just in case”? Yes. No. Explain:

F. What effect do you think it would have on you if your parent(s) suggested that you take some birth control apply for you.

_____ I would feel they aren’t that opposed to non-marital intercourse.

_____ I would feel they don’t really trust me to maintain control and do what is right.

_____ I would feel relieved but would still keep my guard up.

_____I would maybe begin to take some chances I have been fearful of up to now.

_____I would say thanks but no thanks.

_____I would be so surprised; I think I’d faint. Then I would really wonder what made them make such a suggestion.

_____Other:

_____Other:

Be prepared to discuss your responses. (p. 37)

10. 4) Check any of those circumstances that you feel would make petting okay, or at least not seriously sinful for unmarried young people.
Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981,
pp. 4, 7, 11, 13, 17, 18, 29, 30, 37, & 38)

Eradication of Guilt

Chapter 8 in Reichert’s Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective (A Student Guide for Personal Reflection) is the most damaging of all. It’s purpose is to excuse as erroneous any guilt which may have survived a values clarification immersion. Pertinent sections are quoted in full for your review.

8. But Is It A Sin?
Moral Principles and Your Decisions

A. Read over the statement below, taken from the beginning of this chapter.

Genital sexual activity (sexual intercourse and those proximate actions which lead to it) finds its most perfect and fully human expression only between a man and woman and a man bound together in a mutual love publicly expressed in the permanent commitment of marriage. Any genital sexual activity outside that relationship is at the minimum morally suspect because it violates a moral principle.

…describe what changes would have to be made in the statement before you could strongly agree with it. If you checked that you already “strongly agree” give your basic reason(s) for that level of agreement.

B. According to the Christian position, each of the following actions is immoral in principle. In each group is (1) most seriously immoral in principle, (2) next most serious, etc. Note: Rank within each group; do not rank all of them together.

1) _____ premarital intercourse

_____ genital sexual relations between homosexuals or lesbians

2) _____ pimping

_____ buying the services of a prostitute

_____ prostituting self

3) _____ intercourse between consenting unmarried adults

_____ forcible rape

_____ seducing a person to engage in intercourse

4) _____ intercourse between casual acquaintances

_____ between a couple going steady

_____ between an engaged couple

_____ between a couple living in a “trial” marriage

5) _____ incest

_____ adultery (one spouse unaware)

_____ mate swapping (spouses agree to the arrangement)

_____ premarital intercourse

Be prepared to explain why you ranked items in each group the way you did. Keep in mind that we are dealing with immorality in principle. We will deal with circumstances next.

C. List any three of those you marked as most serious (1) in the various groupings.
1)_____________________________________________________
2)_____________________________________________________
3)_____________________________________________________

Imagine a set of circumstances that would render each “less serious” in fact that it can be considered in principle. For instance, incest between two mentally retarded persons might not even be sinful in fact, even though it is very serious in principle.

D. From the list below, identify the three you feel most people your age would find the most embarrassing to deal with in the Sacrament of Reconciliation:

_____ sexual intercourse with a casual acquaintance

_____ masturbation

_____ genital sexual acts, but not intercourse, with a steady, someone you really like

_____ a homosexual or lesbian relationship

_____ deliberate, prolonged fantasies and/or frequent use of pornographic material

_____ sexual intercourse with a steady, someone you really love

Be prepared to discuss the reasons for your choices.

Reichert, Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective, [Student Guide], 1981, pp. 32, 33, & 34

Review Comment

Please note the progression in this chapter. First, the sin of fornication becomes only “morally suspect,” and the moral law is only held out as an ideal. Next, if the students disagree, the commandment has to change, not the students. Thirdly, the students go through a process of considering the sins that they are most likely to commit, in comparison with a list of sins that are worse. Then they are told these sins are just sinful in principle only, suggesting that frequently circumstances remove sinfulness — especially the “less serious” ones. Next a foolish yet clever example of mental retardation is submitted — as if the readers are held to the accountability of a mentally handicapped person.

All this leads up to the killer — the soul killer. The holy, precious, incredibly needed sacrament of penance is discussed in terms of embarrassment and humiliation, rather than in terms of saving grace and love. How absolutely sophomoric! These children, who are in such need of the loving forgiveness of God, are once again, carefully taught to brush aside, make excuses think of themselves, and finally — by implicit implication — to stay away from a true, holy, sacred, confession, which alone leads to eternal life. Truly Reichert’s Sexuality and Dating — A Christian Perspective is an anathema.