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Opinion: Florida Republicans’ stunning bout of misogyny and ignorance

Jill Filipovic

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion on CNN.



CNN
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The Florida GOP is on a truly stunning tear of misogyny, ignorance, homophobia and censorship, culminating in a bill that just passed the Florida House that would bar young girls from discussing menstruation, including their own menstrual periods, in school. Fifty three years since Judy Blume wrote “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” some Republican legislators still seem less comfortable with puberty and sexuality than pre-teen girls (maybe they should go see the movie when it hits theaters next month).

The Florida bill states that education around sex, reproduction and sexuality cannot begin until 6th grade. On Wednesday, when Florida state Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Democrat, asked her Republican colleague who sponsored the legislation, state Rep. Stan McClain, if the bill means that girls who get their periods before sixth grade couldn’t discuss that in school, he said yes.

“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in fifth grade or fourth grade,” she asked, “will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?”

“It would,” McClain said.

And while he clarified that barring such discussions wasn’t the bill’s intent, and that he would be open to amending it, the bill passed as-is with universal Republican support. The proposed prohibitions of this bill, however, are not in the Senate version, said a spokesperson of state Senate president Kathleen Passidomo, explaining that the bill still has one more committee hearing before it goes to the full senate.

While the average American girl is 12 when she gets her first period, the age of menarche has been decreasing, with girls starting to menstruate at younger and younger ages, making precocious puberty something of a “new normal.” Half of American girls get their first period before their 12th birthday. And girls who menstruate early are also more likely to be sexually active at a younger age.

In Florida, those girls – who arguably need the…

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