Florida can pass a bill that would ban young children from talking about menstruation at schools. Pixabay (Representational Image)
Florida can pass a bill that would ban young children from talking about menstruation at schools. Pixabay (Representational Image)
After the “Don’t Say Gay” law, United States’ Florida is considering banning young children from talking about menstruation at schools.
Proposed by Republican Representative Stan McClain, House Bill 1069, would restrict discussions on human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and other similar topics at public schools to grades six through 12 – typically children in the age group of 12 to 18, reported the Associated Press (AP).
The bill has already been passed by the Florida House Education Quality Subcommittee and will now be advanced to the state House floor for a vote. If passed, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is likely to sign it into law.
What does the bill say and why is it controversial? Let’s take a closer look.
Florida’s House Bill 1069
The bill intends to bolster state control over sex education.
It would require teachers to get a nod for books and other materials used in sexual health classes. District school boards will have the power to decide the course material and instructional content available in schools and classrooms.
The Republican-backed legislation would also make teachers teach a specific definition of “sex” and “reproductive roles”.
According to the bill, “sex” is either female or male “based on the organisation of the body of such person for a specific reproductive role.”
It further says that a person’s reproductive role and sex depend on “sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.”
The proposed bill would also require teachers to use pronouns that conform to a student’s gender assigned at birth. As per Vox, critics have said this is an “attack” on transgender students and faculty members.
Under the law, educators would need to teach students that “sex is determined by biology and reproductive function at birth; that biological males impregnate, biological females by fertilising the female egg with male sperm; that the female then gestates the offspring; and that these reproductive roles are binary, stable, and unchangeable”.
It also promotes abstinence-only education among adolescents.
The proposed legislation also makes it easier for parents or a “resident of the county” to object to the course material being taught at schools. It says objections can be raised if the content being taught is “pornographic”, is “not suited to student needs,” or is inappropriate for a student’s grade level and age group.
Any material that has been objected to has to be removed from a classroom within five school days from when the objection was raised. It could not be brought back to the curriculum until the issue is probed and resolved.
It would also allow parents to file a petition against instructional material adopted by a school board.
Does this include a ban on period talks?
Yes.
McClain, who sponsored the bill, confirmed at a committee meeting recently that discussions around menstruation to students below sixth grade would be prohibited.
He said the proposed legislation aims to bring uniformity to sex education across the state and pave way for parents to object to books or other materials they find inappropriate for younger kids, reported AP.
Later, McClain said he was open to amendments to the bill.
The outrage over the bill
The bill has been criticised by many quarters, including the Democrats who say limiting talks about puberty and periods to middle school and higher grade levels could be harmful to younger children.
As per Cleveland Clinic, girls experience their first periods between the ages of eight and 16. In the United States, eight-year-olds are usually third graders.
“Imagine a little girl in fourth grade, going to the bathroom and finding blood in her panties and thinking that she is dying,” Democrat Representative Ashley Gantt said, addressing McClain during the committee hearing.
“She doesn’t actually know what’s going on. And her teacher does not even have the ability to tell her that this is a part of life.”
“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in 5th grade or 4th grade, will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?” Gantt asked, as per The Guardian.
To this, the Republican legislator replied: “It would”.
According to Vox, Gantt said in her test testimony, “Teachers are a safe place. Schools are a safe place. [But teachers] can’t even talk to their students about these very real and biological things that happen to their bodies, these little girls. It wasn’t even contemplated that little girls can have their periods in third grade or fourth grade”.
“If we are preparing children to be informed adults, we need to inform them about their bodies and that’s something very basic.”
Time magazine noted that children in the US are heavily reliant on schools for sex education.
“That is why it is strange that parents in Florida would want schools to stop providing this educational service for girls that has helped countless girls and their parents,” Lara Freidenfelds, a historian and the author of The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America, told The Washington Post.
A recent study led by Margaret L Schmitt has stressed on the need for educating children about periods.
“Many adolescent girls in the USA are under-prepared to navigate puberty and menstrual health comfortably and confidently,” Schmitt along with her co-authors wrote, as per The Washington Post.
Planned Parenthood has also criticised the Florida legislation, saying it would take “total control from local school districts in approving sex ed curriculum and give it to the State Department of Education”.
It also said the bill presents a “reductive and binary view of sex” and stigmatises LGBTQ students, reported The Guardian.
Terming it “absurd”, Annie Filkowski – the policy and political director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates – said: “This bill shines a bright light on Florida’s political leaders’ perpetual thirst for power”.
Florida’s controversial laws
If this bill gets DeSantis’ approval, it would join a series of conservative laws signed by the Republican governor who seeks to transform the education system in Florida.
Seen as the leading contender to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination next year, DeSantis has launched a fight against what he says is “woke ideology”, say media reports.
As per USA Today, the Florida governor has already barred transgender-student athletes from taking part in school sports.
He has also approved the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill that prohibits teachers from teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten to grade 3 students.
With inputs from agencies
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