Teaching About Sex
An excerpt from a speech by Elizabeth Canfield

"I've often wondered what it would be like if we taught young people swimming in the same way we teach sexuality. If we told them that swimming was an important adult activity, one they will all have to be skilled at when they grow up, but we never talked with them about it. We never showed them the pool. We just allowed them to stand outside closed doors and listen to all the splashing. Occasionally, they might catch a glimpse of partially clothed people going in and out of the door to the pool and maybe they'd find a hidden book on the art of swimming, but when they asked a question about how swimming felt or what it was about, they would be greeted with blank or embarrassed looks."

"Suddenly, when they turned 18, we would fling open the doors to the pool and they would jump in. Miraculously some might learn to tread water, but many would drown."