NHS videos for kids branded "pornographic"

The National Health Service has been slammed after it produced a series of videos promoting the use of condoms during sex. The videos have outraged parents who branded them “pornographic”.

Several short clips uploaded to the YouTube website are modelled on the Channel Four programme ‘Skins’ and targeted at teenagers. The explicit ads show a young woman having unprotected casual sex with a male while he films the trysts with a hand-held camera. The interactive video called “Condon, No Condom” is promoted on the NHS website and is expected to be circulated virally online and used by teachers.

Outraged parents and YouTube viewers have flagged some videos as inappropriate which suggests that only users who are over 18 can watch them.

Rachel Drummond-Hay, who produced the video, said that the ad was meant to be “titillating rather than pornographic and that a friend’s 15-year-old daughter “loved” the film.

However, parents and campaigners have complained that the NHS does not promote abstinence as the “right option” to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

Norman Wells, the director of the Family and Education Trust, said that the NHS should not be sending out the message that casual sex “leaves no regrets”.

“It is grossly irresponsible of the NHS to present a graphic portrayal of unbridled lust in which a young woman is depicted as no more that a sex object and then to tell young men that they have “made the right choices” simply because they have used a condom.'”

Vivienne Pattisson, the director of Mediawatch, said that she was concerned that there were no effective controls to prevent children from watching the clips.

In July 2010, a study conducted by the Government’s schools inspectorate found that some schools were failing to help children to “say no” to sex in their Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education lessons. The report said many children pick up information on sex from TV dramas and video clips.

Sources

Daily Mail
Daily Telegraph