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Students Caught Masturbating in School Shouldn't Be Punished

by Kiri Blakeley on June 15, 2012 at 4:50 PM

I know this will come as a shock -- a shock! -- to some of you, but little kids have sexual curiosity. They explore. They play "doctor." And, gasp, they masturbate. In fact, nine students at a San Diego middle school have been suspended after other classmates reported that they were watching porn on their cell phones and masturbating.

Reportedly, this is an all-boys school. Since it's middle school, I guess the boys are around 11-13 years old. Besides the fact that kids are tech-savvy enough these days to stream porn on their phones, is there anything really shocking about this? Movies are chock full of scenes of boys around this age doing the deed with dad's well-worn Playboy stash.

I'm certainly not saying the boys shouldn't be suspended. (Read that again.) School is a time for learning -- and not about one's genitals. It's a time for math, English, science -- not for Jenna Jameson. And if, as the report says, several students raised their hands to report the activity but the teacher ignored them while continuing to read a book (maybe it was Fifty Shades of Grey?) then this is wrong. Obvs! I get that!

But this is natural behavior, y'all. I bet a few of you -- at least a few -- have found evidence of your precious offspring doing the solo mambo. My sincerest hope is that these kids don't get a thorough drubbing at home by their parents for what is natural activity. Do we really need these kids growing up with all kinds of emotional trauma around sexual activity? That leads to no good.

If I were the parents of these children, I would explain calmly but firmly that there is a time and a place for figuring out the pleasures of the body. And that time and place is NOT the classroom. Then I'd do some research on what books about sex to hand the curious tykes so they're getting their information from somewhere other than YouPorn. (I just did a search on "children's sex books" -- yikes!)

What would you say to your kid if he or she was caught masturbating in school?

 

Image via Stephen DePolo/Flickr

 

Filed Under: boys, in the news, puberty, tweens

Comments

49
  • EmmaF...
    -- Nonmember comment from

    EmmaFromÉire

    June 15, 2012 at 4:53 PM
    .....you have to be kidding. Masturbating in school? it's DISGUSTING. there's a time and place. of course they should have been suspended.
  • Lilac
    -- Nonmember comment from

    Lilac

    June 15, 2012 at 5:03 PM
    You left out the part that the teacher ignored it after other students complained and that they were uncomfortable viewing the sex organs of the other students.
  • Cynth...
    -- Facebook comment from

    Cynthia Parten

    June 15, 2012 at 5:04 PM

    They should be punished. I agree that masturbation is a normal thing. But they do need to understand that school is not a place for that.


  • Littl...
    --

    LittleFrogsMA

    June 15, 2012 at 5:04 PM

    I teach middle school.  There are occasions where young men in my class are doing more than rearranging and it is desperately obvious.   The only way I have found to handle it is to look away and give them a task that requires both hands!!!!


  • Lord K
    -- Nonmember comment from

    Lord K

    June 15, 2012 at 5:04 PM
    Sheesh, silly boys! Back in the day, we kept our jerking off discrete.
  • Shelly
    -- Nonmember comment from

    Shelly

    June 15, 2012 at 5:08 PM
    Listen, kids NEED to be taught that pleasuring yourself in public, is unacceptable. It's "forgivable" now, but what about in 5-7 years when they are an adult? They will be arrested and a registered sex offender. There is NO reason, public masturbation should be tolerated. They are are old enough to know better. If they don't, they need to be taught. Yes, they SHOULD be punished. Public masturbation should always be punished.
  • the4m...
    --

    the4mutts

    June 15, 2012 at 5:09 PM
    Um, if they're looking at porn, then they know what porn, and sex are. not to mention allowed to have a phone that can connect to the internet, the parents have already failed.
    This isn't some innocent child who all of a sudden realized, while adjusting himself, that parts feel really good, and got carried away.
    These little bastards intentionally streamed porn, at school, and rubbed one out!
    If that were my kid, the phone would be gone, the bedroom door would be gone, the computers would be gone, and he would be grounded from going to friends houses for like 6 months.
    But, my kid wouldn't do that.
    Not because I'm naive enough to think he wouldn't, but because he isn't allowed for his phone to have internet. I blocked it. He doesn't even have a "smart" phone. He has an emergency phone programed online, by me, to only allow calls to 3 numbers other than 911.
    He also is not allowed to use the internet. Period. Computer, phone, xbox, nothing. He needs information? I look it up on google, and print it out for him to read, or I take him to the library.
    So this certain scenario, has been voided in my house, by a little thing called PARENTING.
    When will people learn that technology may be "kid friendly" but that its NOT FOR KIDS?
  • the4m...
    --

    the4mutts

    June 15, 2012 at 5:12 PM
    Ugh this stuff pisses me off. Especially the author worrying about damaging the kids' masturbation based self esteem?
    The boys deserve to feel ashamed, and they NEED to learn that they cannot do what they want, when they want.

    To the teacher who commented before me... are you crazy? PUNNISH THEM, write them up, send them to the office, call their parents. Some girl is likely to notice, it get back to her parents, and your ass will be fired for doing nothing about it.
  • Littl...
    --

    LittleFrogsMA

    June 15, 2012 at 5:16 PM

    4mutts,  I've never seen a student do anything that I could "punish" them for.  They've never whipped it out so to speak.   But I do act, I give them a task that requires both hands.  

    And seriously, I imagine if a teacher removed a kid for something like this, his parents would be demanding that the teacher be fired for looking at the kid inappropriately. 


  • Torra...
    --

    TorranceMom

    June 15, 2012 at 5:18 PM
    Yes, masturbation is normal. However, it isn't normal or acceptable to do it in school. The suspension was 100% warranted - if I were the administrator, I'd pursue expulsion if they were caught doing it again. School is where you hit the books, not beat your meat.
1-10 of 49 comments

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