Sex in Class, Is it Ever Right?

There is a young girl in a class that I am taking this summer. She has been in several other classes that I have taken, and while she is smart, she is also unrestrained, without boundaries, uninhibited, what my generation might have called a slut. Don’t get me wrong, I am no prude and have been known to discuss sexual subjects, even personal sexual subjects, but coming from the mouth of this what seems to me to be a child is wrong. It sounds wrong, it sounds indecent, taboo, like someone needs to take her outside of class and explain to her the topics that she should not discuss. An example is that I don’t care that she wishes she was both male and female and could have sex with herself all the time, and I wanted to point out to her that you don’t need male genaltalia to have sex with yourself but then she might have told me more than I wanted to know about her alone time.

In class discussion or pre-class discussions, she hones in on any little topic that she can use to make a sexual remark. I am neither offended nor shocked but I am worried. I’m worried about her ability to judge when it’s okay to cross the boundaries of conversation and pull into that conversation topics that are offensive to some to make a point or create a little humor. I think that is what she lacks, good judgment. What she needs to know is that while sitting around with her friends, sexual discussions are okay and even in some classroom settings, but not all atmospheres are right for those kinds of discussions.

Soon I will be teaching as a TA Comp. I and II and my fear is that when I finally relax and am able to allow for a little class room banter, I will have students who are uninhibited, and if so, what will be my recourse to get their minds out of the gutter without making an enemy of the student or without ruining their fragile egos.

Am I getting too old to be hip with the youngsters? Are there no boundaries these days and does everything go?