The headline on the Media Research Center front page screams “Taxpayer-Funded PBS Pushes Teaching Sex-Ed to 4-Year-Olds,” accompanied by an image of the logo for the PBS Kids channel.
It’s a lie.
Nowhere in the May 29 article by Katie Yoder does it claim that PBS Kids is running sex education — or that sex ed directed at 4-year-olds is happening anywhere on PBS. Instead, Yoder complains that on PBS’ “NewsHour” website — again, not a kid-friendly place — there’s an article that “held up the Netherlands as an example for the United States in ‘sexuality education’ – for those as young as 4-years-old to learn ‘honest conversations about love and relationships.'”
Yoder selectively quotes from the article claiming that it talks about “sex ed classes … for 4-year olds” -but waits until the next paragraph to concede that the article states that “You’ll never hear an explicit reference to sex in a kindergarten class.”
Yoder doesn’t even raise any specific objections to the “sexuality education” lessons being taught to 4-year-olds, which include “able to properly name body parts including genitals. They also learn about different types of families, what it means to be a good friend, and that a baby grows in a mother’s womb.” She has simply gone into a right-wing freakout over the words “sexuality education” and “4-year-olds” being in close proximity.
Yoder does declare that Dutch parents have “totally abdicated their responsibility to the state” by letting schools teach them how to talk to their kids about sex. She doesn’t explain, however, why empowering parents with knowledge is a bad thing.