Prudifying

I never thought I'd have to invent a word to describe what's going on in the United States these days. But, then, I wouldn't have predicted the damage that the political rise of religious fundamentalism in the United States would do, either.

But, the extremes to which things are going are illustrated by the punishment of a couple of schoolgirls for a hug.

I fully understand the desire not to encourage overtly sexual behaviour in schools, and that certainly I can appreciate that as a valid intention. However, suspending students for a hug is way over the top, and inexcusably prudish on the part of school adminstrators.

Officials at districts that have banned hugging in all forms say they don’t want to have to make judgment calls about what’s a friendly little hug and what’s an inappropriate one. In districts that haven’t banned hugs entirely, administrators often say they want the leeway to treat the actions of students on a case-by-case basis.

Title IX, the federal statute that bans sex discrimination in schools, also protects students from sexual harassment. Hugging didn’t become an issue until 1999, when the Supreme Court ruled that a school district could be liable for damages in a case of sexual harassment by a peer that the district ignored.

There's a problem here when people hugging each other is "a liability". This is in the same batch of insanity that tells people to be ashamed of how they feel, who they are and what they look like.

It's one thing to recognize a situation where harassment or overtly sexual contact is taking place, it's another thing altogether to overreact and outright ban contact between students.