Sex as a Cultural Battleground – Poland and the Fight over Sexual Morality | DW Documentary

Mar 30, 2021 • The topic of sexuality has polarized polish society - conservative sex education in schools, a deeply rooted catholic sexual morality and a government that openly demonizes sexuality in minors.

Required sex education doesn‘t exist in conservative Poland. Only the optional course, "Preparation for family life" is offered, molded by the over conservative watchful eye of the church. Schools in theory still have the option through clubs and NGOs to supplement their sex education outside of classrooms, but in reality, this only happens in a select few of the larger cities. If the government‘s conservative ruling party, PiS, has its way, even this opportunity won‘t be available for much longer. A new law has been proposed that would make providing sex education to minors de facto illegal, and punishible by up to three years of jail time. The initiative was championed by the homo- and transphobic alliance "Stop Pedofilii", which means to "Protect children and adolescents from sexual violence through LGBTQ-activism", as stated on their banner.

Their homophobically motivated crusade against sex education is supported by the government and comes at a time when the social climate for non-heteronormative people in Poland is becoming more and more dangerous. Meanwhile, almost 80 municipalities and districts have declared themsevles "LGBT-free zones". How do those affected live in such a political climate? This documentary accompanies young Polish women in their struggle for progressive sex education and for an open Poland.

The Women Bringing Sex Ed to the Arab World

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Activists are using social media to do what Arab countries have failed to do: teach women about their bodies. They are aiming for nothing less than a cultural awakening.

CAIRO — When Nour Emam decided to devote herself to educating Arab women about their bodies, the subject was so taboo that one of her first challenges was figuring out how to pronounce the word “clitoris” in Arabic.

“I had never heard it,” said Ms. Emam, 29, a women’s health activist from Cairo. “No one uses it, so there’s nowhere to find the right way to say it.”

After careful research, now she knows, and so do her hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, where she hosts one of the leading platforms for sex education in the Arab world.

With formal schooling on sexuality minimal to nonexistent in much of the Middle East, and a patriarchal culture that has left many Arab women ignorant and ashamed of their own bodies, Ms. Emam and a growing number of activists have built online platforms to try to fill the gap. » | Mona El-Naggar and Sara Aridi | Thursday, November 18, 2021

Sex Education: The Clash of LGBT and Religious Rights – BBC Newsnight

How do we balance the secular norms of an inclusive society with religious freedoms? LGBT and religious rights are both protected by law - so what happens when they clash? A change in the law is about to make it tougher for parents to remove their kids from relationship and sex education classes on religious grounds so, whose rights are more important?

'Promote Gay Relationships as Positive in School,' Teachers Say

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The government should be forced to portray gay relationships in a positive light

The government should be forced to portray gay relationships in a positive light, teachers say, causing outrage amongst influential Christian charities.

The call on schools including a "positive portrayal" on same-sex relationships emerged as part of a motion on a debate for a "manifesto for a new government on LGBT rights in schools, which was being debated at the NUT union's in Harrogate.

The motion, which was passed, calls on teachers to put pressure on the government to "make it compulsory that all schools' sex education policies include a positive portrayal of same sex relationships".

Campaigners have been calling on wide-range mandatory sexual relationship in every school. Under current rules, local council-run secondary schools only to provide basic sex education, including subjects such as Sexual Transmitted Diseases. There is no emphasis on a particular gender.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT union, said: “The NUT calls for all parties standing in the 2015 General Election to show their commitment to tackling the discrimination faced by both LGBT students and teachers in schools by following the ten point action plan outlined in the Motion. This includes making it compulsory for all schools’ sex education policies to include a positive portrayal of same sex relationships, promoting LGBT History Month in all schools, and encouraging schools to develop a curriculum that is inclusive of LGBT issues.

“We need education policy that develops curriculum for children and young people that supports the democratic values of a diverse Britain – including LGBT equality. » | Javier Espinoza, Education Editor | Sunday, April 05, 2015

Too Much? German Schools Plan to Teach 'Sexual Diversity', Parents Outraged

In Southern Germany, an initiative to teach schoolchildren tolerance toward sexual minorities has provoked an outcry from some parents. Some conservative families only want their kids taught traditional values and say its all too much too soon.

Schools Accused of Reviving Section 28 in Sex Education Policies

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ministers have ordered an immediate investigation into evidence schools have been enforcing a bitterly controversial rule banning the “promotion” of homosexuality 10 years after it was abolished.

Officials at the Department for Education are looking into dozens of schools and academies whose official sex education policies include clauses replicating Section 28, the law which was blamed for discrimination against gay people.

Sources said ministers were “concerned” about the disclosures, following research from the British Humanist Association, which campaigns against faith schools.

It comes amid international controversy over a law passed in the Russian parliament banning the promotion of homosexuality, an issue which Stephen Fry, the broadcaster, recently raised with David Cameron.

Section 28, introduced by the Thatcher Government, was a clause in the Local Government Act 1988 which forbade councils from allowing teaching which promoted the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

It was repealed by Tony Blair in 2003, with support from Conservatives. » | John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor | Monday, August 19, 2013

Benoît XVI dénonce les cours d'éducation sexuelle
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le pape a déploré ce lundi que des cours d’éducation sexuelle ou civique soient "imposés dans certains pays européens" aux enfants

Le pape a qualifié d’"atteinte à la liberté religieuse des familles" la participation "imposée" à "des cours d'éducation sexuelle ou civique véhiculant des conceptions de la personne et de la vie" qui "reflètent une anthropologie contraire à la foi et à la juste raison" en recevant en audience l’ensemble du corps diplomatique accrédité auprès du Vatican pour la traditionnelle cérémonie des voeux de Nouvel An.

L’Espagne notamment a introduit depuis 2007 des cours d’éducation à la citoyenneté au programme (rejet de l’homophobie, droit au divorce et à l’avortement, acceptation des familles homoparentales etc..) jugé trop "progressiste" par l’Eglise.

Appelant une nouvelle fois au respect de la liberté religieuse, le pape a dénoncé des "menaces contre (son) plein exercice", en Occident, citant sans plus de précision "des pays dans lesquels on accorde une grande importance au pluralisme et à la tolérance, mais où la religion subit une croissante marginalisation". >>> AFP | Lundi 10 Janvier 2011

Spanish Region Takes Hands-on Approach to Sex Education
THE GUARDIAN: Officials launch campaign to teach young people about 'sexual self-exploration and discovery of self-pleasure'

It is a subject that would make most governments blush, but officials in the Spanish region of Extremadura have launched a major programme to encourage what could be described as a more hands-on approach to sexuality.

The region's socialist government has launched a €14,000 (£12,600) campaign aimed at teaching young people how best to set about "sexual self-exploration and the discovery of self-pleasure" – or to put it less delicately: masturbation.

"Pleasure is in your own hands" is the slogan of a campaign that has sparked political controversy and challenges traditional Roman Catholic views on people having sex, even on their own, for non-reproductive reasons. >>> Giles Tremlett in Madrid | Thursday, November 12, 2009

Five-year-olds Need to Play with Dinky Toys Not Learn about Sex! Children Need Their Innocence and Fantasy for Healthy Development
THE TELEGRAPH: Sex and drug lessons will be compulsory under plans announced by the Schools Secretary.

Under the new curriculum, pupils as young as seven will learn about puberty and the facts of life and five-year-olds will be taught about parts of the body, relationships and the effects of drugs on the body.

Once they reach secondary school, pupils will learn about contraception, HIV and Aids, pregnancy and different kinds of relationships - including same sex unions and civil partnerships.

So-called Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is to become compulsory in both primary and secondary schools from September 2011, and will be enshrined in new legislation.

Faith schools will not be able to opt out of any part of the new statutory curriculum, Ed Balls also confirmed today, although they will be able to teach topics within the ''tenets of their faith''.

Under current rules parents have the right to withdraw their child from sex education classes up until the age of 19. Sex and drug lessons from age 5 >>> | Thursday, November 05, 2009

Keep the Faith: Should Muslim Children Receive Sex Education?
THE INDEPENDENT: A group run by a member of a radical Islamic organisation is opposing plans to give five-year-olds sex education.

In an underground hall at the London Central Mosque in Regent Street, a group of parents sitting on plastic chairs is clustered around a power point. A small, neatly dressed man at the front welcomes them, introducing himself as Yusuf Patel. "As Muslims we believe in values," he says, "We believe in haraam and halal, but sex and relationship education (SRE) teaching in this country does not provide this. It is the responsibility of parents to see their children educated, but not at the expense of these values."

Patel's organisation, SREIslamic, was established eight months ago to encourage Muslims to respond to the Government's consultation about whether to make SRE compulsory and extend it to five-year-olds. Since then, the organisation claims, it has held 40 workshops across the country and collected tens of thousands of signatures from Muslims opposed to the measures.

But Patel is not only a concerned parent and campaigner. According to his website, he is also a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organisation that Tony Blair considered banning in 2005. Patel's brother, Jalaluddin, is the former UK head of the political party, which is barred in countries including Germany, Russia and Egypt. Should we be concerned that, like other far-right or religious groups in Britain, SREIslamic might be using a sensitive community grievance to pursue a wider political agenda?

Although Hizb ut-Tahrir says it does not advocate violence, it is opposed to Western-style democracy and believes in establishing a global caliphate under sharia law. There is no evidence of its involvement in terrorism, but some of its members have defended terrorist acts abroad, most recently when a member described Pakistani militants as "brothers". >>> Lila Green | Thursday, July 23, 2009

NHS: "An Orgasm a Day Keeps the Doctor Away"
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: NHS guidance is advising school pupils that they have a "right" to an enjoyable sex life and that regular sex can be good for their cardiovascular health.

The advice appears in leaflets circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers and is meant to update sex education by telling students about the benefits of enjoyable sex.

The authors of the guidance say that for too long, experts have concentrated on the need for "safe sex" and committed relationships while ignoring the principle reason that many people have sex.

Entitled Pleasure, the leaflet has been drawn up by NHS Sheffield, but it also being circulated outside the city.

The leaflet carries the slogan "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away". It also says: "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes' physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?" NHS tells school children of their "right" to "an orgasm a day" >>> Roya Nikkhah | Sunday, July 12, 2009

This Stupid, Irresponsible Government! Pupils Aged 11 to Learn about Gay Sex
TIMESONLINE: Compulsory sex and relationships lessons for 11-year-old children are to include classroom discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships. Secondary pupils will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while primary school children will learn about their bodies and friendships, a review of sex education has concluded.

The review was ordered in October after ministers announced that sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons should be made compulsory to help primary and secondary pupils to “navigate the complexities of modern life” and to ensure that children learnt their sex education from the classroom, not the playground.

The changes to personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) classes mark the culmination of decades of campaigning by sexual health organisations, who believe that the patchy nature of sex education in schools is helping to fuel a record level of teenage pregnancy and STIs in England. >>> Alexandra Frean, Education Editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

THE GUARDIAN: Faith Schools Free to Preach against Homosexuality

Government plans include sex education for all pupils / Catholic schools welcome clause on teaching 'values'

Sex education is to be made compulsory in all state schools in England but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside marriage and homosexuality, under government proposals.

The plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five, published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their "values" to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.

It means that all state secondaries in England - including faith schools - will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move. >>> Polly Curtis, The Guardian’s education editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009