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Lurie Children’s Hospital, in conjunction with the University of Surrey and the University of Bedfordshire, is piloting a new sex education program, which purports to allow students to teach each other about sex, according to a new report by the Daily Caller.
The new program “educates” minors about a wide variety of adult topics with a particular emphasis on the libertine marvels of sodomy and gender expression. The program includes a Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) workshop series addressing “gender-affirming” sexual communication, healthy LGBTQ relationships, anal sex, HIV and the HIV-prevention medicine PrEP, according to their website.
The program’s underlying philosophy is to challenge ostensibly harmful sexualized behaviors and cultures prevalent in schools. According to a report from News-Medical.net, it aims to enable young people to understand sexual development and safe, responsible, and ethical sexual citizenship as a life-long journey. This approach purportedly brings young people more fully into the conversation, aligning with best practices for relationships and sex education (RSE) courses in schools.
The program addresses pornography and other adult topics, highlighting the need to look at the entire ecosystem of sex, relationships and sexual development.
“Addressing pornography in isolation will not solve the challenges faced by young people. Instead, we need to look at the entire ecosystem of sex, relationships, and sexual development. Young people are learning from family, peers, school, and the increasingly complex world of digital media. We need to talk with young people about their understandings of sex and relationships—body image, consent, social norms, and stereotypes that surround sex and relationships,” says Dr. Emily Setty, co-lead of the program from the University of Surrey.
Jonny Hunt, lecturer in applied social sciences with the University of Bedfordshire and co-lead of the program, added: “There are widespread concerns about the impact pornography may have on the attitudes and behaviors of young people, predominately the fear that young people are learning more about sex and relationships from pornography, rather than from safe adults. This coupled with concerns around online misogyny promoted by influencers such as Andrew Tate.
“Essentially, we are making room for young people to discuss the issues that matter to them. Our curriculum is designed to help young people to critically engage with questions around where their information, attitudes and values regarding sex and relationships comes from; to challenge gendered social scripts and focus on the development of critical life skills — or sexual citizenship,” Hunt added.
The program was piloted in May 2023 at the independent Kew House School in West London. It involved 10 hours of student sessions with Year 9 and 10 students, four hours of teacher training and dedicated parent sessions to involve them in the discussion. Another pilot course was conducted at Priestlands Secondary School in Southampton.
