Published January 17, 1999

If you ask Aurelia Davis[i], it’s all about sex.  She got her chance on Tuesday to meet with the Supreme Court of the United States and explain.  She and her attorneys told why her daughter LaShonda, a fifth grade student at the time, would feel degraded, abused, humiliated, and threatened by the physical and verbal sexual aggressions of a male student.  LaShonda had expected her teachers and principal to take action.  But, evidently, they thought her complaints were just about sex.

Ask other parents.  How many of us are worried about our children and the possibility of teen pregnancy, date rape, STD’s, unwed mothers, abortions and AIDS?

How many parents are worried about the role models available for their children?  We know Jerry Springer and MTV as examples of the sexual values transmitted on television.  Even national sports heroes give a bright spotlight to sexual abuse and exploitation that is minimized in the media as a “boys-will-be-boys, indiscretions” of manhood.  At least parents were able to point to the leaders of our country as examples of sexual integrity.

What about women in business?  If not for the President with the sexy blue eyes, sex in business is labeled abuse.  Women spent years legally gaining acknowledgement that “Sex is Power.”  Every major corporation posts notices to their employees warning that sexual harassment is punishable by law.  Sex between working associates is forbidden.  Consenting or not, it is forbidden.  Business leaders know that sex is more than pillow talk.  It’s access to power, to money, to status.  It is the ultimate manipulation.  It’s not just sex.

What about family values so important to politicians at election time?  Families are held together by the sacred marriage vow of loyalty and devotion given in front of  friends and family.  Simple words of “fidelity” are vowed in a human “oath.”  Sex is vowed as an act of love and commitment.  How do politicians expect to lead America back to “family values” if they can’t demonstrate the inviolability of a marriage oath?  Never mind an oath to a grand jury in a court of law.

What about today’s students?  Vast monies have been spent telling young people their best defense against drugs, sex, and violence is only three words:   Just Say No.  We moralize as adults, telling students they have the power to choose the right.  Schools are toughening their discipline codes, telling students they must pay the consequences of bad choices.  If we expect them to say “no,” and to accept consequences, how will we explain President Clinton to them?

On January 12, Aurleia Davis, her daughter LaShonda, and attorneys of the National Women’s Law Center were in court to remind the Supreme Court and the nation, it is about sex, no ‘just’ about it.