In a move that has angered parents, students who attend a small private school in Minnesota went for an educational field trip to a sex novelty shop in Minneapolis.
According to the Star Tribune, students were not exposed to material deemed sexually explicit, like pornographic material. But sex toys were visible as the students sat in front of the store’s library.
The trip was supposed to expose kids to a healthy sexual environment as it was the culmination of the school’s month long sexual education course.
“What I saw happening on our trip, I thought it was beautiful because kids could talk to these sex educators without any shame, without any fear,” school director Becky Hodges told the Star Tribune.
But because parents weren’t notified ahead of time about the trip, some of them have a righteous reason to be angry.
The students are fairly young, ranging from middle to high school age, and some bought condoms before exiting the store.
While sexual education is a needed learning component for students, taking young kids on a field trip to a store that sells sexually explicit material is certainly out of bounds if parents aren’t notified prior to the trip happening.
Also–the school may have breached city code by taking students to the store. The Star Tribune further reports that “those under 18 years old should be exposed to “sexually provocative written, photographic, printed, sound, or published materials deemed harmful to minors.”
A lesson for the school, and maybe parents as well; ensure that there is a level of over-communication before students are taken for a field trip, whether it is to a novelty shop or a zoo.
