Parliament vote AGAINST sex education being compulsory in all schools!

[video="youtube;1bdFh-Cx2AM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bdFh-Cx2AM[/video]

Everything Peter Hitchens said.

Reply 82

Original post by _gcx

That's such an awful way of thinking. A viewpoint's popularity does not evidence feasibility, validity, practicality or moral/ethical/human rights coherency.

Agreed. The bandwagon fallacy is quite popular around these parts.

As for your argument, cases of abortion, STDs and teenage/underage pregnancies have gone up. Let's bring some facts and statistics to the table:

"In all, 185,824 abortions were carried out on women and girls in England and Wales last year. That was 1,253 (0.7%) more than the 184,571 performed in 2014, and the largest number since the 189,931 carried out in 2011."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/17/abortion-rate-england-and-wales-five-year-high

"Britain, nevertheless, has a sky-high level of teenage pregnancies, with 2.9 out of every 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 giving birth every year."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-28860/UK-tops-league-teenage-pregnancy.html

"New figures released by Public Health England show 41,193 people were diagnosed with gonorrhoea in 2015, representing an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year. 5,288 people were diagnosed with syphilis in 2015, a rise of 76% since 2012."
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/gonorrhoea-syphilis-sti-statistics-uk-sexual-health-crisis-warning-a7120761.html

Reply 83

Once you defeat the argument that sex-education is effective at combating ignorant sexual-behavior, then what good is it? This is obviously a job for the parents; the government fails at social issues like these.

Reply 84

gracendabananiye

I think sexual education should be compulsory, at least to a certain standard in with education on how to be medically safe and information on contraception. Even though this is a low standard, its higher than some and it ensures the important message of preventing STIs and unwanted pregnancy will be taught.

This isn't necessarily against any particular religion to simply be taught this information, plus these issues can arise in both marital and non-marital partners.
If schools go further than this I think is their choice, however the important basics must be taught at a good standard. Because surely this help to reduce the need to medical care etc., i.e. should save us and the government money in the long run.

Reply 85

aspirinpharmacist

I've only recently realised how privileged I was to have as much sex education as I did at school, and even that had considerable gaps seeing as it was, to my memory, focussed entirely on straight people. I mean I really didn't appreciate it at the time, I was 13, but the point is that there are kids that young who have sex, and they need to be safe. Perhaps it's hypocritical of me because this is a really strongly held belief of mine, but I really do think that regardless of whether the school is a faith school or not, sex ed should be provided. Sex ed isn't about endorsing sex at young ages, but giving people the tools to understand it, and how to protect themselves and others (also there is so much evidence that suggests that teaching abstinence is completely counterproductive). Thankfully nowadays we have the internet and there are some great resources available for sex ed, but there's no guarantee teens will be able to access that. And I say this as someone who's asexual and will very probably never use most of what I was taught in sex ed. But even for me there was a lot of important stuff about periods and whatnot that I needed to know, and things that I didn't understand even with a fairly decent education. Ignorance is so dangerous and maybe it's the fact I work in healthcare so I'm aware of the importance of knowing how your damn body works and how to keep yourself safe where possible but I do not think anyone's religious beliefs make it ok to send kids out into the world with no understanding of sex. It's irresponsible and it's immoral, if your religion prohibits sex before marriage that is absolutely bloody fine but once people get married? If they want to have sex they're going to need to understand fundamental stuff about how that goes down. I think part of my issue is that sex ed is usually tied into reproductive education and when we deny people sex education we're often denying them other information about how their body works (see my above point about periods, it is completely wrong not to teach people anything about what's going to happen to them once a month).

Long story short, yes. Keep kids safe. I think those classes also need to incorporate important lessons about consent, and your ability to say no at any time, and that being drunk removes your ability to consent, and also giving kids who aren't straight the tools to be safe too. Funny how we still ignore that in sex ed despite the fact that the lack of decent sexual education for LGBT+ people was a major contributing factor to the AIDs epidemic and led to a lot of deaths. But what do I know.

Reply 86

LadyMcCartney4

I think it should be offered to teenagers in all schools but I don't think it should be compulsory. I didn't need to go through the humiliation of putting a condom on a plastic penis in front of all my 'classmates'. I think teens who are interested in sex should have sex ed, and those who are not have the right to not attend.
Every kid should be taught about consent though, I think that's important given the number of young men who don't understand what consent is.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 87

drbluebox

Going by vague memory at school our sex ed class was just watch a video of two naked people and a quick diagram of body parts, and I remember my brother showing me a porn mag he found by the river and me thinking womans private parts looked horrible, and I believed until my teen years my brother telling me women did a number 3 out of their bum lol.

And at 17 leaving home I saw South Park with my flatmates and asked "whats the clitoris" and they burst out laughing.

Reply 88

Tiger Rag

22

I've yet to see a decent argument against sex ed in schools. As others have said, you're going to have to teens who have sex anyway and you need to teach them how to have it safely, which I don't remember being taught at all.

Whilst there are some decent resources online, there are also some poor ones. But how would you know what to believe?

Reply 89

Moonstruck16

5

Better kids get some guidance prior to discovering porn.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 90

Original post by Tiger Rag

I've yet to see a decent argument against sex ed in schools. As others have said, you're going to have to teens who have sex anyway and you need to teach them how to have it safely, which I don't remember being taught at all.

Whilst there are some decent resources online, there are also some poor ones. But how would you know what to believe?

Did you see my response? I've brought in facts and statistics, which I've yet to see from the pro sex-ed side.

Reply 91

Tootles

21

Original post by discobish

Being educated about sex isn't going to necessarily encourage young people to do it. If anything, a lack of knowledge and understanding about it will harbour curiosity and young people may be more inclined to want to explore it for themselves, as it seems somewhat 'taboo'.

In The Netherlands, they introduce sex education (although diluted) to children as young as 4, and on average teens in the Netherlands do not have sex at an earlier age than those in other European countries/the US. Plus they seem to have much lower teen-pregnancy rates than the UK.

This.

I was four when my mother fell pregnant with my younger brother. When I asked my parents The Inevitable Question, they simply told me. And that was that. No innocence destroyed, and I didn't go out bonking from the age of eleven onwards. In fact, I didn't get round to having a relationship or any sexual experience until I was twenty-two.

It's the same as drink, in my mind. I was allowed to drink with my parents (in the privacy of our own home, in responsible moderation) from being a small child onwards, and so by the time I was eighteen, I wasn't interested in going out and getting drunk. Most of the other people I know, however, weren't allowed at home.

Society thinks that protecting children consists of hiding everything from them, but really it's more like innoculation. Let them know about sex, so they appreciate it as something to be treated with caution, and the same with drink.

Reply 92

Tiger Rag

22

Original post by discobish

Being educated about sex isn't going to necessarily encourage young people to do it. If anything, a lack of knowledge and understanding about it will harbour curiosity and young people may be more inclined to want to explore it for themselves, as it seems somewhat 'taboo'.

In The Netherlands, they introduce sex education (although diluted) to children as young as 4, and on average teens in the Netherlands do not have sex at an earlier age than those in other European countries/the US. Plus they seem to have much lower teen-pregnancy rates than the UK.

I could be wrong; but don't we have some sort of relationship / sex ed from the age of 5 now?

As a female, I had mine at 10 and I remember the boys at primary had it at 11 with us.

Reply 93

cherryred90s

Original post by Tiger Rag

I've yet to see a decent argument against sex ed in schools. As others have said, you're going to have to teens who have sex anyway and you need to teach them how to have it safely, which I don't remember being taught at all.

Whilst there are some decent resources online, there are also some poor ones. But how would you know what to believe?

Surely parents should be teaching their kids about sex?

Reply 94

discobish

OP

Original post by Tiger Rag

I could be wrong; but don't we have some sort of relationship / sex ed from the age of 5 now?

As a female, I had mine at 10 and I remember the boys at primary had it at 11 with us.

Some schools may offer that, which is brilliant :smile:

It's just a shame it's not considered important enough to be mandatory in all schools.

Clearly the majority of students want it and (in my personal opinion) I think it's a crucial subject to integrate into the curriculum so that children/teenagers grow up having a healthy, responsible and knowledgeable attitude towards sex :h:

Reply 95

discobish

OP

Original post by cherryred90s

Surely parents should be teaching their kids about sex?

Definitely, but unfortunately some parents refuse to talk about sex with their children, or may not have the healthiest opinion on it themselves.

I'm lucky to have a close and open relationship with my mum, so from a young age was encouraged to speak to her or ask any questions I may have had about sex, to which she always gave me an honest and age-appropriate answer.

This certainly shaped my attitude and knowledge about sex from a young age, which was needed seeing as my school did not provide adequate information - most of it just addressed different body parts and the menstrual cycle...

For those lucky enough to come from an open and liberal household, it just means they'll be getting double the education, which is definitely not a bad thing!

Reply 96

Original post by discobish

Definitely, but unfortunately some parents refuse to talk about sex with their children

And that's the all-consuming veto as to why we should have the state teach kids sex-ed?

Reply 97

Toasticide

17

Original post by langlitz

"Hence why voted I yes"

>triggered

triggered by what? me saying yes?

Reply 98

discobish

OP