Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Stephen Fry backs P Tatchell's call to revise sex education

218 replies

Imnobody4 · 10/05/2019 18:22

www.petertatchellfoundation.org/stephen-fry-backs-our-call-to-revise-sex-education/
I think this sounds reasonable but still some niggling suspicion. IF the quality and calibre of the training and trainers were beyond reproach, if there was a broad consultation beyond just LBGT I might accept it.
I'm pleased to see they acknowledge asexual. What do you think?

OP posts:
Datun · 14/05/2019 10:53

Oh, Your username has just made sense to me !

Grin
Datun · 14/05/2019 10:54

The play ends with the teacher and schoolboy moving to Morocco where the teacher ADOPTS the boy he has been abusing

I didn't read that far.

I'm hoping to God that no one will take this pair seriously.

But the fact Tatchell has spent time even formulating the ideas is astonishing.

Justhadathought · 14/05/2019 11:00

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

FermatsTheorem · 14/05/2019 12:04

I don't think we should see this as exclusively a problem for gay teens. (Rich men advertising themselves as sugar daddies for instance...)

Teenagers of both sexes and whatever sexualities have a tough time of it. They are awash with hormones, struggling to make sense of very intense feelings of sexual desire for the first time (and with prefrontal cortexes - the bit that handles impulse control, assessing consequences, putting the brakes on harmful behaviour - a good decade away from maturity), surrounded by a totally fucked up society which commodifies sex and eroticises violence and power imbalances.

It's hardly surprising that they are incredibly vulnerable to grooming.

But the blame for that grooming - regardless of sex and sexuality - lies squarely with the mature adults in the pairing who exploit those vulnerabilities.

truthisarevolutionaryact · 14/05/2019 12:18

The outline of that play's horrific Datun. I see one of the reviews calls it a "chuckle provoking piece" so it evidently wasn't a critical play about abuse.

Given the levels of outrage over historical tweets / facebook posts by all sorts of 'celebrities' it does seem incredible that this has never been picked up before? And certainly suggests that the writer is not best placed to advise / comment on SRE for children.

FreeFreesia · 14/05/2019 12:23

I always thought PT was hard Labour but he is a member of the Green Party. My mind is now making a connection between the proposal that children should be educated on sexual practices some will find distateful (his words) and furries in nappies officially on school timetable.

Datun · 14/05/2019 13:51

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Oncewasblueandyellowtwo · 14/05/2019 15:21

PT is still tweeting about this.
I copied this just now so it was written just yesterday.
Peter Tatchell
@PeterTatchell
·
19h
I've written to Education Secretary,
@DamianHinds
urging mandatory #RSE in every school, with no exemptions for faith or independent schools & a restricted right of parents to withdraw their children. RSE should mention both risks & pleasures of sex. SEE (link: bit.ly/2VkPg4O) bit.ly/2VkPg4O

Oncewasblueandyellowtwo · 14/05/2019 15:26

Could people start emailing and tweeting, Damian Hinds, education secretary.
www.damianhinds.com/contact
It seems like Hinds has young children so hopefully he will think the same as all of us, and pretty much everyone who has replied on twitter to PT.

FreeFreesia · 14/05/2019 16:04

He's been banging the same drum for 3 years it seems
www.kaleidoscot.com/peter-tatchell-time-for-a-radical-rethink-of-sex-education-7678

Datun · 14/05/2019 16:12

Ugh. Doesn't he realise how creepy it is?

FreeFreesia · 14/05/2019 16:18

I'm going to say he doesn't care. The comments under that article told him straight 3 years ago.

FreeFreesia · 14/05/2019 16:30

You can tell I'm not happy I'm still googling.

Who knew Peter Tatchell is also a patron of the Humanists? (alongside Stephen Fry)

Justhadathought · 14/05/2019 16:35

I think there's never been a more opportune time to be a gay man than now. Certainly in the West. And those with fame, influence and fortune no doubt band together in brotherhood and common cause - in the way that men always have.

Justhadathought · 14/05/2019 16:39

Adults who sexually exploit youngsters often get away with it because the victims feel embarrassed or guilty about sex and are therefore reluctant to report it

Here Tatchell muddies the waters...He knows that there will be discussion of sexual abuse and exploitation and so he has to name check it; but he then goes on to insinuate that the reasons for children not reporting it, is because sex is seen as shameful. If only they were trained to know that sex was good and healthy, then maybe they would not feel so bad.......

Oncewasblueandyellowtwo · 14/05/2019 17:04

Doesn't he realise how creepy it is?
You'd think so, enough people are telling him.

TheGoalIsToStayOutOfTheHole · 15/05/2019 00:15

Massively creepy and the more I read of his, the more horrified I am at the whole thing.

TheGoalIsToStayOutOfTheHole · 15/05/2019 00:15

Massively creepy and the more I read of his, the more horrified I am at the whole thing.

Persifleur · 15/05/2019 00:41

WTF have I just read?
But I'm reminded of a photograph I saw 2 or 3 years ago on an anarchist-ish forum on a thread about something to do with social issues (sorry, I forget the context but it's all suddenly snapping into focus) where PT was sitting eating his lunch, unidentified and pointedly alone. It was clear from the photograph, which wasn't actually about him, that he was being ostracised. I was surprised no one had mentioned him but the reaction was as if I'd mentioned dogshit. I had no idea why.

Lumene · 15/05/2019 19:01

Children of all genders should share RSE lessons and not be segregated, to enable them to learn about each other’s bodies from the start, including boys learning about periods and girls learning about wet dreams.

No thank you. This would have horrified me as a child.

And why do Tatchell and friends think early years primary school kids need to know about the ‘desires they will have’ at puberty?!?

Lumene · 15/05/2019 19:03

15 Give Pupils All The Facts
Sex education from the age of 16 ought to tell the whole truth about every kind of sex and relationship – including sexual practices that some people may find distasteful.
The purpose of such frankness is not to encourage these practices but to help pupils deal with them if they encounter them in later life. This includes advising them of their right to refuse to participate in sexual practices that they dislike or object to.

Every kind? Really?!? That’s going to take up the entire curriculum if google is anything to go by.

ChickenonaMug · 15/05/2019 21:42

Elsewhere, Tatchell specifies that he means sexual practices such as sadomasochism (his words). I cannot see how talking about this in a mixed sex class, even if the teacher emphasises that some people may find the practice distasteful, won't risk some of the young people especially the girls being pressurised to try it.

Even if the idea is that sadomasochism is explained very briefly, how will the teacher prevent some of the sixteen year olds discussing it in more depth either in or outside the classroom?

How will a teacher teaching both that consent must be gained and that you shouldn't do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable ensure that the young people will actually go away with a respectful understanding? If only it was as all as simple as educating about consent. Equally, educating about boundaries and coercion, whilst incredibly important, needs to be sensitively done.

Whilst I am sure that some young people will discuss sadomasochism anyway, this will surely legitimise it being discussed in the school dining hall or at home between a young couple. How can the teacher ensure the safety of the girls, in particular?

I don't get the impression that the idea is to actually discuss how unrealistic porn makes sadomasochism appear or that it can be harmful.

Equally, a lesson like this on such sexual practices could well be deeply upsetting and traumatising for any child who has experienced sexual abuse. Not all of these young people will find a way to get out of attending the lesson, or any discussion that takes place outside the lesson, but Tatchell does not make any suggestion in his proposals about how to deal with this.

Where is the safeguarding framework within some of those proposals to protect girls from being pressurised into potentially harmful sexual practices that have been discussed, and perhaps in the minds of some legitimised, in class?

Where is the safeguarding to ensure that abused children are not traumatised or made more vulnerable if these proposals were implemented?

SirVixofVixHall · 15/05/2019 21:51

So a creepy , adult, childless male wants to teach my daughters about sadomasochism ?

DrG · 15/05/2019 22:02

PT and SF are probably utterly revulsed by your daughters, if they could even be bothered giving them a second thought.

It’s your baby boys they seek to ‘educate’.

Anyone else imagining the interview panel for these specialist sex education teachers..

..so Mr Kiddiefiddler what is it that makes you want to teach sexual technique to a group of impressionable children..

ChickenonaMug · 15/05/2019 22:09

SirVix "Sex education ought to tell the whole truth about every kind of sex and relationship – including sexual practices that some people find distasteful, such as anal intercourse and sadomasochism."

From the link that a PP provided www.kaleidoscot.com/peter-tatchell-time-for-a-radical-rethink-of-sex-education-7678

Also www.tes.com/news/schools-should-teach-pupils-about-sadomasochism

The problem is that he has tried (and to the uncritical eye perhaps succeeded) to make his proposals seem very reasonable and in the children's best interest but where is his evidence that is they are and where is the safeguarding?

Swipe left for the next trending thread