[Surfside] (UK) Govt urges under-16s to experiment with oral sex

[Paul Makepeace]

We are truly living in surreal times.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-585546,00.html

[full article]

A GOVERNMENT-backed course is encouraging pupils under 16 to experiment
with oral sex, as part of a drive to cut rates of teenage pregnancy.

Family campaigners believe that the course, called A Pause, is having
the reverse effect by exciting the sexual interest of children.

The scheme, which has been pioneered by Exeter University and is backed
by the Departments of Health and Education, trains teachers to discuss
various pre-sex "stopping points" with under-age teenagers.

It aims to reduce promiscuity by encouraging pupils to discover "levels
of intimacy", including oral sex, instead of full sexual intercourse.

More than 100,000 children are now taking the course at one in every
thirty secondary schools. It forms part of efforts to tackle Britain's
teenage pregnancy rate, which is the highest in Western Europe.

Robert Whelan, director of the Family Education Trust, said he hoped
that the Sexual Offences Bill, currently going through the House of
Lords, would lead to the course being banned. A provision in the Bill
would make it an offence for anyone to "arrange or facilitate the
commission of a child sex offence".

He said: "I don't think anyone believes that teaching pupils about oral
sex will stop them having full sex -- it is more likely to make them
want to try it, and it doesn't protect them from sexually transmitted
diseases."

John Rees, programme manager for A Pause, said that he was keen to teach
children that "it is acceptable simply to hold hands" and to discover
different levels of intimacy.

"We make it clear that there are many ways to manage relationships --
that it doesn't all have to be about full sex," he said. He added that
he was "very worried" that the Bill would end the scheme.

Lynda Brine, a teacher from a Doncaster comprehensive who recently
attended a training day for the course, says in today's Times
Educational Supplement that she was primed to deal with detailed
questions about oral and anal sex. "I was amazed. Are these really the
sort of questions to which we as a profession should be responding?" she
writes.

"There was no framework for talking about responsibility or the
emotional side of relationships. By following this course, I feel that
teachers are implicitly supporting under-age sexual activity." 

-- 
Paul Makepeace ....................................... http://paulm.com/

"What is the answer to the question? Tofu spread thinly over a naked
 body."
   -- http://paulm.com/toys/surrealism/