Government urges under-16s to experiment with oral sex

Times Online ^ | February 21, 2003 | Glen Owen

[Gamecock]

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.”

[Gamecock]

Hmmm, was Clintoon a consultant on this?

[NormsRevenge]

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

Oh, man. Life just got a lot more complicated.. I'm still working on multiculturalism.

[Ciexyz]

Sheesh, this course even goes beyond the "M" thing that Donna Shalayla (spelling?) advocated.

[Mr. Mojo]

It [the oral sex program] aims to reduce promiscuity

LOL!

[Arpege92]

I don't even know what to say.....

[Maedhros]

Damn.

[Gamecock]

Yup, and they are our Allies in the war on terror.

[null and void]

ping!

[Senator Goldwater]

A lot of people will find this hard to swallow.

[Malcolm]

Oral sex IS sex, kids. Call it what it is, not what a bunch of crude adults WANT you to think it is.....

[CFC__VRWC]

Bill Clinton's legacy continues to grow.

[hatfieldmccoy]

Hmmm... another example of the Brits stiff upper lip

[Wolverine]

Oral sex linked to cancer of the mouth

[NormsRevenge]

another blow to the empire

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmmm, was Clintoon a consultant on this?... Well, it's possible... the local paper in Lexington, Ky. had a story about Oral (Clinton-Monica) sex in JR. H.S. in this area, about 2 years ago after The Sinkmaster visits the state in '96... it may have started then...We just didn't know then ...Bubba like 'em young...research ya know :)

[arly]

is this a leftover from the Klintoon doctrine?...

[NormsRevenge]

Wasn't a noted increase in orally transmitted diseases in teens and younger reported recently? This could push our society over the edge into an epidemic, possibly, even, maybe.

And teen pregnancies was going down, too, I think. Please correct me, if not.

[honeygrl]

can't they just hand out birth control pills and condoms if the problem is that bad?

[Quix]

Perhaps he authored it as a ghost writer?

If so, it must have been a real tortured decision whether to own it out of his pride or ghost it to avoid reasonable public outrage.

[wildbill]

"I don't even know what to say."

Better keep your mouth shut.