A National Health Service 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 guidance, which is called Pleasure and circulated as a leaflet to parents, teachers and youth workers, says experts concentrate too much on the need for safe sex and loving relationships, and not enough on the pleasure it can bring.
Alongside the slogan ‘an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away’, it 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?’
The guidance has been drawn up by NHS Sheffield, although it is also being circulated outside the city. It came to light just a week after a study showed that teenagers who took part in a £6million Government move to reduce teenage pregnancies were more than twice as likely to fall pregnant as other girls.
(See CCFON report)
One of its authors, Steve Slack, director of the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield, argues that, far from promoting teenage sex, it could encourage young people to delay losing their virginity until they are sure they will enjoy the experience.
However, experts and family campaigners condemned the guidance, saying it encouraged underage sex and could increase rates of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Anthony Seldon, the headmaster of Wellington College, which recently introduced classes in emotional wellbeing, said the approach in the leaflets was 'deplorable'.
Dr Trevor Stammers, of the pressure group Family and Youth Concern, said the leaflet would encourage 'risky' behaviour and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases.
'It is unbelievable that this is being sent to schools. I'd like to know what scientific evidence there is to back this up. There are an awful lot of overpaid and under-occupied health promotion officers around who are obsessed with sex,' he said.
'If the NHS wants to promote a healthy heart, as it says it does in this leaflet, it should put the money into reducing smoking and alcohol. Underage sex is as dangerous as underage drink and usually leads to sexual ill-health,' he added.
He suggested that inciting underage sex was ‘nothing less than encouraging child abuse’.
Experts have recently warned that a generation of girls is being psychologically damaged by the sexualisation of toys, clothes and cartoons. Exposure to sexy images from an early age as a devastating impact on mental and physical health, leading to low-self esteem, depression and the onset of eating disorders such as anorexia, research has shown. It could lead to girls under-achieving in school and in the workplace and even contribute to paedophilia.
(See Daily Mail report)
Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian author and women's advocate, has recently warned that sexualisation of children 'contributes to exploitation and violence' and puts children in danger.
From soft porn flicks masquerading as music videos to Bratz dolls and sexualised clothing in the children's wear sections of department stores, young girls are told to value their appearance more highly than anything else.
'If we do nothing and walk by, then we accept and approve the standard for our children. The messages delivered by a culture obsessed with body image and sex limit the freedom of girls to explore other facets of their lives.
'Young women and young men are ripped off by a culture that promotes a hollow understanding of intimacy portraying the sexual element of the human body as the only value of the human person,' she aded.
(See Jubilee Centre report)
Sex education in schools increasingly gives children and young people the message that it is their right to be sexually active and that all they need is information so that they can take care to avoid the pitfalls. As a result, more and more children regard premature sexual behaviour as normal and expected, and so more and more indulge in it.
About 40,000 teenagers become pregnant every year in the UK. The number shows the highest level in Western Europe. More than half of the pregnancies end in abortion.
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