Ruminations: 21st Century Updated School Sex-Health Curricula

"The material in question — as Minister of Education, frankly as a parent — is completely inappropriate to be in a classroom."

"We want to make sure that material is not going to be a part of the resources that will be provided to students …"

"I want to make sure that the Ministry of Education, also, is undertaking a review of our own information to ensure that it is appropriate — and age-appropriate in particular."

Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan

"Sex from A-Z is a set of cards intended for gay, bi and queer young people. This is a fun and accessible resource that facilitates humorous and frank discussion among young people about sexuality and HIV and STI prevention. It can also be used by service providers as a discussion tool in workshops and training sessions."

"[The cards target young people as a] discussion tool [in workshops, with the instruction to] affirm [and be] sex positive [about every one of the sex acts depicted]."

"Do not make fun of any of the topics, including ones you personally enjoy. Affirm choices, theirs and other people’s who might be into the topic."

"A lot of people think that's really hot" [sample phrase on how to react 'properly' to some of the cards]."

"If you do decide to go condomless, use lots of lube and get tested regularly for HIV and STIS."

Planned Parenthood/CATIE ABC Card instructions

Saskatchewan's Minister of Education has taken steps to ban Planned Parenthood from presenting their version of healthy sex education in the province's schools. On June 19 at Lumsden High School, the major secondary school in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, a community of 1,800 residents north of Regina, a Planned Parenthood coordinator delivered a Grade 9 presentation billed as a standard course on sex education. One student -- the students were 14 and 15 years of age -- left the presentation carrying home with him a complimentary deck of cards.

That deck of cards led to a shock and outrage for their content detailing extreme sex acts some of which carry the potential for danger to anyone's health. The deck: "Sex: From A-Z" has 26 cards each with a sexual term (and cartoon) for every letter of the alphabet. Targeted toward young people as a "discussion" tool. Several cards detail acts of sex revolving around domination and risky sex, including urine and fecal matter: "Yellow and brown showers", describing urinating and defecating on a sex partner. With instruction to "keep them on the outside of your body".

The under-18 targets of the card game, under "raw sex" are informed that although unprotected sex leaves them vulnerable to HIV, it remains a matter of personal preference. Produced and distributed by CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange), a Toronto-based non-profit almost entirely funded by government grants, they have a Disney-like flair to them.

The same type of cards produced some controversy in British Columbia when they were distributed to children by a public health nurse, but this time the cards that CATIE had produced in that instance had focused on "safer snorting", as a guide to drug consumption.

In the Lumsden instance focusing on sex, following a complaint by a parent, the high school administration sent an email to parents explaining that the cards were not a core component of the presentation, but rather were placed on a table of "secondary resources" accessible by students. "Staff do preview resources, but one of the resources consisted of an A to Z sexual vocabulary which was not in the scope of the Grade 9 Health curriculum", the email conveyed to some incredulous parents.