Some short and sweet thoughts on morality...
In the human sphere, moral interactions have a common thread of all participants being Informed, Consenting, and Empowered. To be uninformed is to be exploited. To be nonconsenting is to be forced. To be unempowered is slavery [empowerment has to do with recourse]
We need to be educating (age appropriately) about the ethics of Informed, Consenting, and Empowered activities, including how it applies to human relationships and sexuality.
- Informed (STDs, pregnancy, intimacy, feelings, real risks, appropriateness, expectations during and after)
- Consenting (doesn't need to be forms signed in triplicates but it DOES need to be explicit and all parties have a burden to ensure the willing consent of all others, not just assume it, NOT force it, NOT put it under stress or pressure or to account for such stress and pressures where they do exist)
- Empowered (empowered to say NO, and have NO mean NO - and have it recognized and respected by the law)
Someone forcibly kept in the dark about the facts of sex is therefore being treated IMMORALLY, by their parents and by anyone exploiting this uninformed state.
Make it your mantra: Informed, Consenting, and Empowered -- and don't just ensure it for yourself, take the moral responsibility to help ensure others are equally Informed, Consenting, and Empowered in your interactions with them.
