Can you spell ‘birthday sex’?

I still can’t believe it happened.

“Mr. Teacher?”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“Could you type in ‘birthday sex’ for me?”

He just said it like it was nothing, like he shouldn’t even be embarrassed for asking. An 8-year-old, sitting in an 8-year-old-sized chair at the 8-year-old-sized desk in the ages 12-and-under computer lab at the public library where I work asked me, the adult charged with supervising him, to help him find the lyrics to “Birthday Sex” by Jeremih.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s the one that goes, “Don’t need candles or cake / Just need your body to make good birthday sex,” that mentions “sexy jeans” and “switchin’ positions.”

And how old are you?

I guess I can’t say it was the first time I’ve been surprised by what I’ve seen in the computer lab.

After guiding a young girl to addictinggames.com, I returned a few moments later to find her playing “Dress Code Nightclub.” The object of the game: dressing up a virtual sorority girl in the skankiest clothes possible. Like the description says, “If you don’t look dope, you’ll never cross the velvet rope!”  

Some might argue that such games aren’t targeted to kids. They might assert that their intended audience is older and more mature – specifically, bored college students who wear sweatpants and sit in the back of class, playing hour upon hour of “Fantastic Contraption” to pass the time – not that I’m confessing to anything.
Though that might be partially true, I can’t concede that these Flash game Web sites don’t realize that a good chunk of their audience is much younger, nowhere near the age to wear the leather miniskirts and lace stockings that they choose for their online dress-up dolls.

There’s nothing like working with children to show you the trashiness of our culture.
It just can’t be avoided. Whether it’s the content of the site itself or the ads featured in its margins, something sexual can’t help but pop up on the screen of even the most innocent Web site. And though I’d never be one to advocate censorship (honestly – I work for a newspaper), I can’t help but feel this is wrong.

Studies have shown that young people who view more sexual material on television and in the media have a higher likelihood of engaging in early sexual activity themselves.  

While I understand it’s impossible to raise children in a safe bubble, free from advertising, culture, fashion and Hannah Montana, I can’t help but think that we could lay off the sexualized messages until they are at least out of elementary school. Yes, at some point they should discover sexuality, but not before they’re tall enough to ride a roller coaster or big enough to be out of a car seat.

Because there’s something wrong when a kid who still gets recess and snack time at school asks me about birthday sex.