Book Review: Too Hot To Handle by: Jonathan Zimmerman
Zimmerman, Jonathan. Too Hot to Handle. Princeton University Pres, 2016.
Zimmerman’s “Too Hot to Handle” unpacks the history of sexual education around the world. He uncovers the true birth of the subject and how and why it was introduced in the school curriculum. Of course, being that the topic is highly controversial, sexual education was not unanimously accepted among all cultures and schools. As countries became more culturally diverse, so did their ideas. With so many opposing opinions, Zimmerman’s main idea is that sexual education is not as clear cut as we think, it is a complex topic with many layers that must be peeled back in order to fully understand it. Zimmerman backs his …show more content…
He is able to compare different cultural views on the matter and how and why they differ. This approach is especially interesting for the reader because they are able to see which cultures are more alike in thinking than others. He is able to align certain opinions forming a comparative framework for the reader to understand. However, this framework that he presents is quite general, especially since he uses terms like “around the world,” a lot in this book. He acknowledges that the question of sexual education will never have a global consensus but also make statements like “Around the world, they (teachers) assumed that informed parents would accept the virtues and necessity of sex education; when the educators’ hopes were dashed, they demanded that schools teach about sex to save innocent children from parental ignorance.” (16) I believe that with a topic so controversial, Zimmerman could've avoided statements like those by zeroing in on opposing opinions and making certain statements statement more …show more content…
Zimmerman specifically highlights Islamic views on this topic quite a few times in the book. From reading this book, one can understand that the Islamic culture is heavily opposed to the teaching of sex in schools and believe that parents should be the only teachers of these ideas. Essentially, by taking a look at the Islamic culture, one can understand what the outcomes would be like if parents were the only ones to teach children about sex. “Australian Muslims were outraged to find schools addressing masturbation and oral sex as well as the ‘etiquette of dating,’ which violated Islamic prohibition on unchaperoned male-female contact.” (128) Besides for teaching children about safe sex, sexual education can open up their eyes to other issues like accepting members of the LGBTQ community and accepting their own sexuality without being afraid to do so. In “Sexualities in World Politics,” by Manuela Lavinas Picq and Markus Thiel, we can understand that a child who has been educated previously about these issues are definitely more open and accepting. “..Higher levels of class and education produce more tolerance, broader social and gender equality seem to be important contextual factors.” (Picq and Thiel, 94) This book also greatly discusses Islamic point of view and how because the culture is unable to accept modernization, they will never
Zimmerman, Jonathan. Too Hot to Handle. Princeton University Pres, 2016.
Zimmerman’s “Too Hot to Handle” unpacks the history of sexual education around the world. He uncovers the true birth of the subject and how and why it was introduced in the school curriculum. Of course, being that the topic is highly controversial, sexual education was not unanimously accepted among all cultures and schools. As countries became more culturally diverse, so did their ideas. With so many opposing opinions, Zimmerman’s main idea is that sexual education is not as clear cut as we think, it is a complex topic with many layers that must be peeled back in order to fully understand it. Zimmerman backs his …show more content…
He is able to compare different cultural views on the matter and how and why they differ. This approach is especially interesting for the reader because they are able to see which cultures are more alike in thinking than others. He is able to align certain opinions forming a comparative framework for the reader to understand. However, this framework that he presents is quite general, especially since he uses terms like “around the world,” a lot in this book. He acknowledges that the question of sexual education will never have a global consensus but also make statements like “Around the world, they (teachers) assumed that informed parents would accept the virtues and necessity of sex education; when the educators’ hopes were dashed, they demanded that schools teach about sex to save innocent children from parental ignorance.” (16) I believe that with a topic so controversial, Zimmerman could've avoided statements like those by zeroing in on opposing opinions and making certain statements statement more …show more content…
Zimmerman specifically highlights Islamic views on this topic quite a few times in the book. From reading this book, one can understand that the Islamic culture is heavily opposed to the teaching of sex in schools and believe that parents should be the only teachers of these ideas. Essentially, by taking a look at the Islamic culture, one can understand what the outcomes would be like if parents were the only ones to teach children about sex. “Australian Muslims were outraged to find schools addressing masturbation and oral sex as well as the ‘etiquette of dating,’ which violated Islamic prohibition on unchaperoned male-female contact.” (128) Besides for teaching children about safe sex, sexual education can open up their eyes to other issues like accepting members of the LGBTQ community and accepting their own sexuality without being afraid to do so. In “Sexualities in World Politics,” by Manuela Lavinas Picq and Markus Thiel, we can understand that a child who has been educated previously about these issues are definitely more open and accepting. “..Higher levels of class and education produce more tolerance, broader social and gender equality seem to be important contextual factors.” (Picq and Thiel, 94) This book also greatly discusses Islamic point of view and how because the culture is unable to accept modernization, they will never