Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Time to put the genie back in the bottle?

The FPA's latest booklet on sex education has certainly got a lot of adults complaining. One thing is for sure, it will get a lot of children's tongues wagging.

The family planning industry have spent the past 25 years preaching the same mantra: "Tell kids everything they want to know about sex and the number of teenage pregnancies will start falling". Except the opposite has been happening. And the more teenage pregnancies rise, the more graphic and explicit the sex guides become, the latest booklet is no exception.

Anne Weyman, Chief Executive of the FPA (Family Planning Association) is quoted as saying:
"...Young people are exposed daily to a range of contradictory messages about sex and they need clear guidance to make sense of it all..."
which is precisely why the FPA have bought out a guide telling 13-16 year olds how to say no...whilst simultanously telling them how to give a blow job.

It's a bit like trying to cure drug abuse by telling crack addicts where to inject themselves.

Maybe it's time the FPA and their friends woke up to reality. Kids don't need peer pressure to have sex when they have their own teachers telling them how to use a condom. Contrary to the argument that kids don't like being told what to do, that's precisely what teachers are doing. Teachers wield more influence than they realise, it's about time they used it.