In further “the world is going insane and I want to go to space” news, a school district in Southern California has pulled the 10th edition of Merriam Webster’s dictionary from the classroom.

Why? Because it contained what they felt to be a graphic definition of “oral sex”. For the record, this appears to be legitimate, and not an Onion-style spoof, or anything. The offending definition – which as I understand it, was not accompanied by illustration or instructions – read: “oral stimulation of the genitals”.

I understand wanting to protect and shelter our children, and have them learn adult concepts and terms when they’re at an age ready to process that information and understand it, and I appreciate parents wanting to ensure their kids get the kind of education (sexual and otherwise) they feel appropriate.

But the world is made up of television and internet and other kids and older kids and words written on walls. That’s just the way it is. I think a clinical definition written in a dictionary – which might bring up more questions, which we can always encourage our children to openly bring to us – is a much better place to start than having a kid hear a term, not know what it means, have nowhere to look, and either come up with their own erroneous ideas, or trust what they’re hearing on the tire swing.

The more we try to hide and censor and bury and shelter – aren’t we just adding more layers of “it’s dirty, it’s bad, it’s something to be ashamed of”, so that when children hit puberty and start to have perfectly natural sexual feelings, the chances of them feeling really terrible, secretive and shameful about it are increased?

Personally, I think open communication, honesty and encouragement of questions and discourse is the best way to have healthy, happy kids. Removing access to education and learning seems backwards to me.

Just my two cents.

But hey, maybe Merriam-Webster should consider publishing a “Krazy Kids” version of their dictionaries, with every 10th definition consisting of “Ask your parents.”