29/05/2025
S*x education should be taught by parents. It should be direct, clear, factual and, more importantly, values should be emphasized.
In today's Lapsus Calami— ‘NO, IT’S NOT A FLOWER’: SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT
A 10-YEAR-OLD girl in Iloilo City became its youngest mother this year. Susmaryosep!
What happened?
One of our bubuwits theorized that it may be partly because of a very old-fashioned and ill-advised practice in many Filipino homes. Parents will do everything to avoid saying the words “vagina” or “p***s” in front of their children. They’ll call them “flower”, “bird”, or the ever-versatile “ano” — as if anatomical terms were spells that summon the devil himself. Haslo!
But while we are busy tiptoeing around reality, sexual predators are not. And misinformation on the internet certainly isn’t. So here we are, in a world where a 10-year-old can give birth, but can’t even name the body part involved. Tarso!
When a child tells an adult that someone touched their “flower” and the adult thinks they are talking about a potted plant, that is not cute. That is a systemic failure! Silence does not protect innocence — it protects abusers. Mga parents, this is not just about discomfort but about danger.
And don’t get us started on schools. We teach kids the periodic table, the parts of a frog, and how to multiply integers. But mention the word “clitoris” in a classroom and suddenly it’s a scandal. Heaven forbid children learn how their bodies work before TikTok teaches them how it doesn’t.
Calling it a “pepe” or “birdie” doesn’t make the world a safer place — it makes it more confusing. Proper names are not obscene. They are empowering. They are shields of clarity in a culture that loves euphemisms more than accountability.
Let’s grow up, so our kids don’t have to too soon. Let’s use the words — v***a, p***s, testicles, menstruation, consent. Not because we want to destroy innocence, but because we want to protect it.
Because if we keep talking about the birds and the bees, don’t be surprised when your child gets their reproductive health advice from, well… the birds and bees. Naku!
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Lapsus (𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯) - lapse, slip or error
Calami (𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 “𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴”) - pen
“Lapsus Calami” (Slip of the pen) is the most audacious — at times irreverent — column in Panay News. Written with a dash of dry-wit humor in the Hiligaynon language, this daily smorgasbord of what’s hot and what’s not is known for its unflinching take on local and national issues.
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