Letter to the Editor

Sex-ed issues more complex now

To the editor:

Sex education -- more-or-less comprehensive or more-or-less rigorously limited -- has been around in human societies since the dawn of time. The cultural background of that education, however, has changed, and thus the type and kind of education has changed. Even chimps practice a sort of sex ed, and young tortoises have to learn ... well, you get the picture.

In any case, our current need for sex ed that is complete and comprehensive flows out of our need to control worldwide overpopulation -- the single most dire threat to our planet -- the spread of venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy, the nurturing of reproductive rights and responsibilities for all persons and other issues and problems that arise from the complexity and sheer size of our global society.

In the dawn of time social groupings were small, and sexual issues much less complex, even if they have always been difficult matters to deal with.

ROB DILLON, Cape Girardeau