I thought that headline would get your attention. I have just spent the last twenty minutes watching a Channel 4 sex education video aimed at 14 year olds. There. I've said it. Now before you get the wrong idea, it was all in the interests of research. A reader emailed me this earlier...
On a rare day off work I caught a brief portion of Channel 4's Programmes for Schools this morning. To say it shocked me is an understatement. The programme was a new Sex Education show for 14-year-olds.
Please, if you could spare 5 minutes, just watch for a couple of minutes from 6:15 onwards (after two adverts). If this is what Sex Education is understood to mean in New Labour schools, then is it any wonder we have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe??
I'll let the video speak for itself.
I watched the full programme (all in a similar vein to that portion) and not once was any mention made of what contraception was or what options are available. Call me stupid, but I thought THIS is what Sex Education was supposed to be! I wonder how many other parents know exactly what their children are being 'educated' in in these lessons at school.
Well, curiosity got the better of me. I am probably about the least prudish person you could hope to meet. I am not averse to the odd dirty joke or double entendre, as regular readers will realise, but would I want my 14 year old daughter to watch this video and be "educated" about sex via it? I think not (not that I have a 14 year old daughter, I hasten to add). The overt and covert message seems to be that sex is fun and everybody should be doing it as often as possible. Contraception, let alone abstinence hardly rate a mention. The word condom is used once, I think. But you do get to learn about all sorts of different positions and see interviews with people who gleefully tell you that they lost their cherry behind a bikeshed at the age of 13.
Don't get me wrong. The worst thing you can do is teach kids that sex is somehow shameful, but should we really be encouraging kids to have sex before the age of 16?We know it happens, and it always will, but this video almost pressurises kids into thinking they're abnormal if they're not bonking for Britain at the age of 14.
Nowhere is there a mention of the concept of consequence. There are a couple of mentions of the danger of getting STDs, but nothing on how to prevent them. Actions have consequences and films like this surely have a responsibility to explain what the consequences of sex - especially under 16 sex - are.
Truly, I am not being a fuddy duddy about this. Watch the video youself HERE and see for yourself.
UPDATE: If you've watched the video, who do the two cartoon characters remind you of? yep, that's right, Beavers and Buttplug.
Certainly contraception is not allowed to be mentioned here in the land of the kilt because of the Catholic lobby.
ReplyDelete"Channel4.com currently only supports Windows PCs using Internet Explorer 6 or 7. "This is due to restrictions with the rights and technical protection measures required.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you are using Firefox 2+ (on a Windows PC) you can get a plugin from here which should allow you to watch the programmes on Channel4.com."
So with all Macs, that lets me off the hook.
Just like the irritatingly much plugged SkyPlayer in fact.
Oh and the 'sex is fun thing'; it is.
Let's talk about JUST SEX (See Jubilee Centre for details) - Three new sex ed videos will be rolled out over the coming week - each explicit about some of the consequences of "unfair sex" - incidentally, here's a fact you don't often hear: a survey of 20,000 young people a couple of years ago showed seven out of ten resisted peer pressure to have sex before the age of consent - so, it's a myth that "everyone's doing it"!
ReplyDeleteIs it me or does the video look nothing like the screen shot?
ReplyDeleteIf this weird CGI thingy is the programme then WTF? The history of the Missionary Position?
Borat does sex education?
*lies down with cold flannel on forehead*
What a bag of absolute sh*te
ReplyDelete"Anything goes, all sex is good"
Just what Fred West said, no doubt.
Idiots
Helena Handcart
But remember, the kids have rights, innit!
ReplyDeleteThe BBC's report on the Pope's message in Cameroon was beautifully headlined 'Pope says condoms wrong' except he was preaching abstinence and fidelity.
ReplyDeleteThe French call the orgasm 'le petit morte' - as in life there is death or something.
I'm no fan of abstinence only as it's clearly unworkable but as an ambition coupled with free jonnies in a neutral place in secondary and 6th forms then cool.
They would be better of going back to the old backs we had in my school. Crap drawings, but more informative than this video. We even got a demo on how to put a johnny on, with a banana as prop.
ReplyDeleteWell it is a video that attempts to be "down with the kids" - but it sure isn't going to teach them what they need to know.
ReplyDeleteLabour have completely dumbed down schools and the educational system(and what is worse they have no shame).
Dick the Prick said... “The BBC's report on the Pope's message in Cameroon was beautifully headlined 'Pope says condoms wrong' except he was preaching abstinence and fidelity.”
ReplyDeleteWas he buggery. You can see what he said.
Take a look at last night’s Channel 4 News story page.
Go there and watch the Channel 4 news report video - press the “Watch the report” link;
OR look in particular at the video of the Discussion - Dr Rachel Baggley & a (mad) catholic Joanna Bogle with anchor Jon Snow - hilarious;
AND there’s the pope’s remarks which sparked the story.
“Pope blames condoms for HIV
By: Lindsey Hilsum - C4 News
“Pope claims condoms are part of the problem, not the solution, to the Aids epidemic, sparking controversy at the start of his first trip to Africa.
“Speaking to reporters en route to Cameroon, Pope Benedict insisted chastity and marital fidelity were the only ways of preventing the spread of HIV.
“His remarks have outraged aid organisations trying to combat the disease, which is thought to have infected more than twenty million people.”
The story is in this morning’s [18-3-09] Guardian The wrong message on condoms - The pope is trying to take away one of the few things ordinary Africans can do to help themselves and there is an opinion piece and discussion (Pope claims condoms could make African Aids crisis worse) on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site.
The Indie [18-3-09] also carries the story and a discussion (Pope says condoms won't solve Aids).
And even The Times [18-3-09] has weighed in - The Times = March 18, 2009 - John Paul’s 1990 speech ‘sentenced millions to die’
Hmm...
ReplyDeleteIs this really surprising from the lefty televisual media.
We caught a BBC programme the other night which was about various ethnic 'princes' coming to the UK; looking for 'lurve', wives girlfriends sex.
Well my wife thought it would be interesting - I thought it was exploitative voyeurism in the extreme.
As these guys were well 'princes' (Sri Lanka, Zulu and Indian) I guess they thought they could avoid the racist accusations - but you would never have guessed from this programme the aversion the BBC has to stereotypical golliwogs.
It was purile in the extreme and needless to say the incredibly ignorant naive Indian got put up with a homosexual.
At this point my wife began to have doubts about the BBC's editorial standards.
You may not like this but it was clear the gay guy had none of the doubts/inhibitions of the female dates the BBC lined up. Straight into full kissing yoghurt massaging mode with him.
It may be Mr Dale that you still have a charming naive good natured view of the garbage which passes for TV, as peddled by the institutionally left wing national broadcasting corporations (BBC/C4) - not me.
Condoms ARE part of the problem
ReplyDeleteWhen Africans stop shagging anything that moves, AIDS will no longer be a problem.
Africa can be free of AIDS the moment Africa changes it's behaviour.
AIDS is a CHOICE.
Old Holborn, you (and the pope) need to retake Humanity 101 and Human behaviour 101.
ReplyDeleteNah
ReplyDeleteI just don't put it about. Neither does the Missus.
So simple really. Yet millions are dying because they are too stupid to cross their legs.
If the gay community can do it, so can Africans. Or maybe not.
Simon Gardner@6:54
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find that sky player works very well with a mac.
Is this something else you've decided to rant on about without actually bothering to find out even the basic facts?
Simon also said it didn't work in Firefox. Well, I use Firefox and it was fine for me.
ReplyDeleteColin said... “I think you'll find that sky player works very well with a mac.”
ReplyDeleteWell they say it doesn’t so that’s as far as I got...
Iain Dale said... “Simon also said it didn't work in Firefox.”
ReplyDeleteWhen?
Er, in your comment at 6.54. Well, that's how it read to me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThose were a copy/paste of what your link produced at me - hence the quote marks.
ReplyDeleteSimon - OH is right. Condoms give a veil of security and affirmation that shagging about is a cracking idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's a complex issue and abstinence and fidelity plus contraception and education are exactly the way forward.
Liberty has consequences as Alfie has discovered.
And when has the Pope responded to drivel liberal pants. Either support him or don't - he ain't government.
OT - Dave Davis did well on Rd4 about policing - in conclusion he said 'none of you have convinced me at all!'. Quality.
The pope - like his predecessor - is a religious mass-murderer.
ReplyDeleteWhich predecessor was that? Charlemagne? I reckon the Pope's average is a shedload better than secular gimps taking religion in vain.
ReplyDeleteGeez Simon - sometimes your selectivity and home made antagonistic cynicism to anything just to bloody argue makes you appear like a guy who hasn't got a clue.
The position of the Catholic church can be condemed for its intransigence but mass murder?? Yeah, famous mass murderers (well, i've seen Mass murdered a few times but I just assumed he was pissed).
The catholic church is a top-down autocracy. Indeed it prides itself on this fact. The pope’s word is officially final and absolute. He is the arbiter of everything in the catholic church and thus responsible personally for its policies - all of them.
ReplyDeleteTo be a good catholic, you have to believe in the absolute and complete authority of the church and in particular the pope personally. This has been laid down in published church laws that are a matter of public record. This is in contrast (say) to the CofE.
The direct consequence of the pope’s and the church’s policy banning physical barrier contraception for its adherents is (it is reliably estimated) some 2 million extra deaths through AIDS during the last pope’s rule.
Ergo - the last pope is personally responsible for and caused some 2 million extra AIDS deaths. It’s as plain as a pikestaff.
It is no excuse and never has been to say the pope merely issued the orders and therefore is absolved of responsibility for all those deaths. He did it. He personally did it. He was personally guilty.
And the new pope continues the slaughter.
This is the worst modern religious atrocity I know of. Of course there are others - but this is the biggie.
I refer you again to The Times today [18-3-09] John Paul’s 1990 speech ‘sentenced millions to die’.
And I also refer you to an excellent discourse “Did the last pope kill 2 million via AIDS & ban on condoms?” here which may have been initiated by someone not a million miles from here following extraordinary and disgusting behaviour by Tom Harris MP.
The pope is responsible for people dying of aids - are you mental? Seriously - are you absolutely mental?
ReplyDeleteHow can people catch AIDS if they only shag 1 person ever? He knows he's talking shite but it is instruction and not enforced AT ALL! Ergo? Ergo nowt.
You can't possibly be a Catholic so you're just against religion - well, bully for you.
“The pope is responsible for people dying of aids...”
ReplyDeleteAbso-*******-lutely. See above.
(And see The Times link I gave you.)
I ain't reading shite by a numbnuts. The Bishop of Rome has always taught fidelity and the sanctity of marriage - if people wanna ignore it then it's hardly his business.
ReplyDeleteIf I said 'don't do crack' and you did - is it my fault that you become addicted and rob a granny?
Get a grip.
As I say, and as I have elucidated, the pope and the last one are both mass murderers. I pass no comment about their merits or demerits in marriage guidance. But still, they are homicidal lunatics. (Not therefore one’s obvious first port of call for emotional or psycho-sexual advice.)
ReplyDeleteTo return to the main topic. Anybody having sex under the age of consent has legally been involved in a rape.
ReplyDeleteThis also applies if both parties were under the age of consent. I know this because I was a juror on a trial of this type.
So basically, Channel 4 is showing a programme for schools that encourages rape.
That's not good is it? It's really rather worrying. What the beep is going on? I'm quite socially liberal but, what the beep?
Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007. This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total.
ReplyDeleteFrench foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said: “While it is not up to us to pass judgment on church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life.”
In Berlin, German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in a joint statement: “Condoms save lives, in Europe as well as on other continents.
”Modern assistance to the developing world today must make access to family planning available to the poorest of the poor - especially the use of condoms.
“Anything else would be irresponsible.”
Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders said it was “extremely harmful and very serious” that the pope was “forbidding people from protecting themselves”.
“There is an enormous stigma surrounding the subject of Aids and Aids sufferers face serious discrimination,” he added.
“The pope is making matters worse.”
Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, said the pope’s “opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans”.
On Wednesday, the UN program against HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, rebuked the pope’s comments, saying condoms are an essential and effective component in preventing the disease.
“With more than 7,400 new infections each day, the world cannot stop the AIDS epidemic without stopping new HIV infections,” Geneva-based UNAIDS said.
“Condoms are an essential part of combination prevention,” it added, advocating a range of social, behavioral and medical measures.
According to the UNAIDS 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic, some 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV positive. Some 33 million people worldwide are estimated to be infected with the HIV virus, which can lead to AIDS.
In Germany, Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Health Minister Ulla Schmidt responded to the pope’s comments by saying that condoms are a “decisive” tool in the fight against AIDS and HIV.
AIDS is “still one of the greatest threats to humanity,” the politicians said at a press conference in Berlin. Modern development work needs to involve providing access to condoms to the poorest of the poor, they said, adding that anything else is “irresponsible.”
German EU parliamentarian Wolfgang Wodarg, a medical doctor, also criticized the statement. He told AFP news service the pope’s “ideological unworldliness and irresponsible comments” put him “severely at fault.”
Stronger words were used by German Green European deputy Daniel Cohn Bendit, who told French radio simply, “We’ve had enough of this pope.” He went on to describe Benedict’s remarks as “close to premeditated murder.”
Heavily catholic France also severely criticized the pope’s remarks. A foreign ministry spokesman called the stance “damaging to health policy,” and said the condom “is an important element in the fight against the spread of the virus.”
Belgium’s Health Minister, Laurette Onkelinx, said the pope’s comments “Reflect a dangerous doctrinaire vision (that could) demolish years of prevention and education and endanger many human lives.”
Nah - it's Terry Wogan's fault.
ReplyDeleteColin said....
ReplyDelete[digs out email] There you go - from: help@skycustomersupport.com
“Sky is always updating the functionalities of it’s equipment and services, and is always aiming to provide the best possible service to our customers. Unfortunately, however, as with any piece of electrical appliance or new features it takes time to make them compatible with all systems.
“It is not to say that Sky Player will not be available to Mac users in the future, it is that there are no timescale at this moment in time to advise you of when this service may become available to you.
“I hope the above information is of assistance to you etc...”
I’m interested to know you’ve got it working
Its very simple if channel 4 is encouraging under age sex then the producer should go to prison.
ReplyDeleteSecond it's not illegal for kids of 12 to have under age sex ... As long as they understand what they are doing. Again under age sex should bean offence. It is not. You obviously don't understand the law
Just wanted to thatbecause it's not illegalfor 12 year olds who understand to have sex, then sex education makes it legal for them
ReplyDeletePerhaps Dave ought to ask Gordon at PM questions. But I doubt either of them think the law stinks.
"Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007. This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total"
ReplyDeleteHow did that happen then smart arse?
Wise up Africa. Stop shagging anything that moves. All it takes is ten years and then the entire continent is Aids free.
YOUR choice.