Maloney is working on a program that will hopefully provide a comfortable environment for adults and teens to discuss sexual matters, and it will focus on education for both parties. "Education in terms of anatomy, in terms of having a healthy sexual relationship, and about masturbation," she says. "The 'M' word. To cover all the things parents are afraid to talk to their kids about and that kids are afraid to ask."
Her best advice for parents is "to work through their own issues regarding sex, to get some assistance through a sex therapist or a family therapist in order to overcome their own embarrassment, their own fear, so that we can be fair to our children. They deserve to be educated; they deserve to be able to talk about sex."
She also suggests that parents be aware of what their children can be exposed to, warning that -- especially through the Internet -- there are countless places for children to be exposed to sexually exploitative and pornographic material. Maloney believes that it would be beneficial to both parents and children to discuss sex sooner rather than later, so that instead of information "coming from a punitive place, it can come from an educational point of view."
Looks like school isn't over, after all.
