Weekend Reads: Finland Drops Subjects, Pornhub Teaches Sex Ed, and Super Bowl Weekend

Happy Weekend Readers! Here in the US it is Super Bowl Sunday, where the Atlanta Falcons will look to upset perennial champions the New England Patriots. There will be funny commercials, Lady Gaga and a football game somewhere in there. I am making what is technically considered a “mess” of chicken wings and a metric ton of guacamole. Go Falcons!

Finland, where the cutting edge of education is honed, is moving forward with a plan to drop “subjects” altogether…

There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.“

Instead of individual subjects, students will study events and phenomena in an interdisciplinary format. For example, the Second World War will be examined from the perspective of history, geography, and math. And by taking the course ”Working in a Cafe,” students will absorb a whole body of knowledge about the English language, economics, and communication skills.

Despite what the Trump administration contends, the process of vetting refugees is brutally thorough, and it is a problem that burdens women and children in particular.

Arkansas has passed a new law that would makes 95% of abortions a felony, and would allow fathers to veto an abortion. Even if the father is a rapist. Fuck you Arkansas.

When her school decided to eliminate the girls basketball team, Sydney Phillips still wanted to play for her school and asked to play for the boys team. When the school refused her parents sued. Then she was expelled. Teen Vogue has the story. 

While Teen Vogue has been woke as fuck since the election, they aren’t the only women’s publication taking a more active role in social justice circles. Elle.com has joined with independent investigative outlet ProPublica   to offer their readers a place to report hate and bias crimes. 

Elle’s announced participation in the “Documenting Hate” project is in line with the fearless, reader-oriented commitment to political reporting that many were somehow surprised to find in the pages of women’s magazines and websites during the 2016 presidential race. In fact, it all makes perfect sense.

Elle.com, like other women-focused outlets, is helmed by a woman and features, almost exclusively, women writers. In addition to editorial director Leah Chernikoff and executive editor Chloe Schama, the site recently welcomed former MSNBC host and professor Melissa Harris-Perry as editor-at-large, with her work focusing on “the intersection of race, gender, politics, and yes, even fashion, telling the often-overlooked stories of women and girls of color” across Elle’s platforms. The young women and women of color leading the way at Elle.com mirror the demographics of their readers — populations that are also significantly more likely to experience identity-based violence according to the limited data that’s already available.

We here at Grounded Parents have a variety of viewpoints on the appropriateness of pornography, at the very least we’d like consumers to consider ethical consumption and avoid aggregator sites like PornHub that often stiff creators. But if PornHub has to exist it is interesting to see them delve into the realm of responsible sexual education. 

Sophie Belle of Assigned Male Comics (which rocks btw) has a Kickstarter for her children’s book My Dad Thinks I’m a BOY?! I plan on helping her out, how bout you?

I treat Super Bowl commercials like I treat Star Wars movies… NO SPOILERS! But I plan to come back later this week if any of them are cromulent to our endeavors.

Of course there is alternative programming…

Featured Image Credit: Sophie Belle