You can't say SCROTUM!

The first entry of this blog, which has been a long time coming, was catalyzed by a recent article in the New York Times about the use of the word "scrotum" in the Newbery Award winning book, The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron. (You can read the article here: With One Word, Children’s Book Sets Off Uproar ) Apparently, several librarians and teachers are upset that this unthinkable word should appear in a book written for 9-12 year-olds. They are demanding that the book be banned; they say that they would not want to be in the position of having to explain "that word" to a fourth grade class. Did I mention that the scrotum of concern is attached to a dog and was apparently bitten by a rattlesnake? I know that there are a ton of you perverts out there who automatically become sexually excited when hearing about a dog getting bitten on his scrotum by a rattlesnake; I just didn't realize how many of you taught fourth grade or worked in elementary school libraries. Now that's a frightening thought!

Joking aside, I've been meaning to get a website/blog started for months and this little sack of crazy was just the thing to motivate me. I'm guessing that most of you who read this, at least in the beginning, are going to be folks who know me, mainly because I plan to forward the recently purchased URLs to my friends and family members who happen to be in my address book. However, it's possible that some of you may have wandered here by accident or were directed here by a well-meaning friend or acquaintance of mine, so I guess I should start this first entry by saying just a little bit about myself and why scrotums get me so worked up.

My name is Christopher White, but you can call me Chris, Christopher, Chrissy, Little Chris (my family called me this most of my childhood), Dr. White, your highness, lord, sir, mam, honey, or any other name that pops into your mind while reading my rants. I recently completed my Doctor of Philosophy (sounds fancy, huh?) in Health Promotion at the University of Texas at Austin, but if you ask one of my friends, they'll tell you that I have a PhD in sex. To a degree, that's true - I focused on sex education and adolescent sexual issues while working on my master's and phd, plus I hear I'm pretty good in bed - officially, however, it's in health promotion. (By the way, I'm looking for a job, so if you just happened across this and know of an awesome assistant professor position in a great city or a postdoc in adolescent health/sexuality or an executive position with a nongovernmental agency promoting sexual/reproductive rights or GLBT rights, please pass on the info.) I have many, many reasons for choosing sexual health as my main area of focus, but the biggest is because I am so horrified at the manner in which we teach our young people about sex. I have also been disturbed and frustrated by the lack of straightforward, nonjudgmental sexual advice and information that's available. Okay, I'll admit that I do enjoy reading Dan Savage, but not everyone deserves to be treated like a douchebag. The purpose of this blog is to rant (and you know I will) about the current state of sex education, to rave about the good stuff that is happening (there is some out there), and to answer questions from all who seek nonjudgmental, solid advice and information.

Now, back to the scrotum...The very idea that this word is inappropriate for any age and that it is not a proper word to be taught in elementary school is ridiculous and infuriating. As many of those who have posted on the NY Times website have noted, I doubt there are few nine or ten year-olds (male or female) who have never seen a scrotum, either on a human or some other mammal, nor many who don't have some other word (probably slang) for scrotum or testicles; they may as well learn the proper name for that particular anatomical feature, right? By not teaching children the correct names of their body parts, parents and teachers are doing an injustice and disservice to children and adolescents. Imagine having an injury to your scrotum, penis, labia, or clitoris and not having the language to describe what has happened. Even worse, imagine you are a ten year-old who is being sexually abused and only being able to express that "so-and-so keeps tickling my kitty" or "touching my worm" because those are the childish terms your prudish parents have given your vulva or penis. What if you were never told what your ear was called? Imagine getting an earache and having to explain what hurts, or in an act of late teen rebellion, requesting to have the deformed flower on your head pierced at Claire's Boutique.

I think you get the point.

The complete ridiculousness of this "controversy" illustrates how silly and afraid some people become at the mere mention of certain words and phrases and why sexuality education has gotten into such a horrible state. By the way, I am often shocked when I discover how many people do not know that we have a federal policy of abstinence-until-marriage sex education in the United States; these programs often only teach a message of abstinence without any explanation of sex, reproduction, or even anatomy. Not only are teachers not taught how to discuss sex and sexuality in schools, but they are even told that they cannot discuss such things and to do so may put their jobs at risk (on second thought, maybe those teachers and librarians aren't so insane to get upset about having to explain scrotum to fourth graders!). Back to how freaked out we get about some words...it's not our fault! Really! We are the products of a intense social reform movement lasting from the late 18th century to the early 20th century that focused on abstinence from not only sex, but alcohol and spicy food, as well. Sylvester Graham, a minister, and his predecessors, such as John Harvey Kellogg who was a medical doctor, promoted a "holistic" lifestyle that encouraged vegetarianism, bland diets, exercise, and refraining from sexual activity, particularly masturbation, which was thought to lead to insanity and death. Okay, a healthy diet, low in saturated fat and plenty of exercise were good ideas and even lead to the development of the fields of public health and social work that focus on helping individuals and society live healthier, safer, and longer lives. On the other hand, the social hygiene movement also emerged that promoted abstinence from all vices, including masturbation, prostitution, prurient thought, alcohol, and drugs (boring!). The Victorians went so far as to invent devices that prevented sexual encounters by blocking access to genitals and/or resulting in pain during sexual excitement; they even believed that prurient thought would occur by the mere mention that a woman had legs (those perverts!). Also around this time, another medical profession had gained in popularity, phrenology or the study of the bumps on one's head. Supposedly, these phrenologists could tell you about your personality weaknesses and strengths and prescribe a regimen for self-improvement - not surprisingly, this often included refraining from prurient thought and masturbation.

The phrenologist eventually lost credibility as empirical science proved there was no relationship between the bumps on a person's head and their personality traits. I know you're terribly shocked! Unfortunately, a great deal of the other stuff stuck around to make sure that we were either totally fucked up when it came to sex or that we hypersexualized everything that was supposed to keep us chaste - women's breasts and legs, chastity devices and restraints, etc. To this day, many in our culture still equate the mentioning of certain body parts with lusty, uncontrollable sexual acts. It's no wonder that some people can't handle explaining what a scrotum is to a fourth grader.

In future posts: more about the t-shirts and updates on their development, why are we so uncomfortable seeing same-sex couples show affection, my dad gets embarrassed when his dogs smell each other's butts, and other fun and exciting topics.