Tina Gong is the proud creator of a new female masturbation app—HappyPlayTime—which aims to educate the fairer sex on all things DIY below the belt. While the app is undeniably awesome—there is still an incredible amount of ignorance and stigma surrounding self-stimulation—Apple has reviewed the bouncing pink vulva and won't offer it in their App store. . . even with a 17+ rating.
This is pretty much really women-hating and totally weird. This is the same company that offers people Grindr right?
Not only is this app not scandalous, it's also something that could be incredibly useful. The Kinsey Institute says that as of 2010, 76.8 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 claimed they masturbated, but didn't feel comfortable talking about it.
This is the kind of top-down misandry that seems to be informing sex education all the way down to grammar school.
This, of course, isn’t the first time sex education has prompted hand-wringing hysteria.
“Sexualization in kindergarten and primary school.”
This is the language being waged in a war against sex education for youth in Switzerland, first launched when parents freaked out about the use of genital plush toys in schools.
A few years ago, when the U.N. outlined guidelines for educating kids as young as 5 on sexual subjects, it prompted these unhinged (though admittedly highly clickable) headlines: “U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds” (Fox News) and “New UNESCO Sex Education Guidelines Call on Children to Promote Abortions” (LifeNews.com).
Back in 1969, the John Birch Society called public-school sex education a “filthy communist plot” and “smut, raw sex.” Going even further back, to 1913, Chicago’s decision to become the first public-school system to implement sex ed caused such a backlash, not only was the program excised, but the superintendent ended up resigning.
So are the critics right? Is teaching children about sex the first step to their future lives as strippers and prostitutes?
Um, no.
The venerable Mayo Clinic suggests opening the door to sex ed by teaching kids about their bodies as early as they’re curious about it, while noting even toddlers may express such inquisitiveness. They also advise that it’s best to teach the proper names for genitalia—exactly as those feared Swiss sex toys were designed to do.
So basically, the Swiss sex ed program was designed to help kids understand their bodies in a healthy way, as recommended by medical experts. Is that really something to get panic-stricken about?
Unless, of course, it actually is a filthy communist plot.
Photo: Coutesy of HappyPlayTime
