28 Republicans Vote Against Bill to Protect Child Sex Abuse Victims

By Daniel Villarreal The bipartisan Respect for Child Survivors Act, a law that would aid victims of child sex abuse and their families, just passed the House in a 385-28 vote. All 28 votes against the bill came from Republicans. The bill would require the FBI to form multi-disciplinary teams to aid sex abuse victims …

Lack of sex education in GOP states puts students at risk

By Sunjae Lee Although it may be a cliche, there is some truth to the trope ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ — whether it be through teachers, pediatricians, athletic coaches or politicians who create laws directly affecting youth. But in some states across the U.S., the adults in charge of youth policies …

What is ‘sex’? What is ‘gender’?

— How these terms changed and why states now want to define them By Grace Abels This year, 17 state legislatures sought to narrowly define “sex” or “gender” in state law as based solely on biological characteristics. In Utah, one became law. Although they’re sometimes used synonymously, “sex” and “gender” have different meanings to medical …

Queer Reading

— SF State prof sees reasons for rethinking LGBTQ history by Brian Bromberger For Marc Stein, professor of history at San Francisco State University, queer history is a calling, realizing he is part of a network and a community of gay intellectuals. Many U.S. college history departments don’t even define queer history as a bona …

Americans’ support for transgender rights has declined.

— Here’s why. The culture war over transgender rights is part of a fight over competing notions of gender and sexuality, including issues like abortion and sex education by Kelsy Burke and Emily Kazyak During the 2022 midterm election campaign, Republican public officials targeted transgender rights in what NPR and other news media have called …

After Roe, teens are teaching themselves sex ed, because the adults won’t

By Hannah Natanson Sweating in the sun, two dozen teenagers spread themselves across picnic blankets in a grassy park and prepared to discuss the facts of life they never learned in school. Behind them on a folding table, bouquets of pamphlets offered information teachers at school would never share — on the difference between medical …

6 things sex educators want you to know about a post-Roe America

Quality sex education will be more important than ever. But it too faces challenges. By Keren Landman On Friday, the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the legal decision that has for decades granted Americans the right to an abortion. For young people, the prospect of dramatically reduced access to abortion creates enormous …

Biological Science Rejects the Sex Binary, and That’s Good for Humanity

Evidence from various sciences reveals that there are diverse ways of being male, female, or both. An anthropologist argues that embracing these truths will help humans flourish. By Agustín Fuentes At the recent U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sen. Marsha Blackburn triggered controversy when she asked Jackson to define the word …

Banning classroom talks about gender identity, sexual orientation aren’t helpful to kids or adults

Roberto Abreu, assistant professor in the psychology department at the University of Florida, discusses Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill and its banning discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms with young children By Lisa Deaderick One of the sections of Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill, passed by the state’s House and …

Consent Is About More Than Sex

Respecting personal boundaries is important in all interactions. The pandemic has made that clearer than ever. By Kristine Guillaume For many people over the past year and a half, every social event—hugging a relative, eating with a friend—has become a complex and sometimes-awkward dance. They’ve determined their safety needs and wants, then verbalized them to …