An extremely graphic cartoon video being used in Britain’s primary schools for sex education has generated the wrath of at least one parent. The Daily Mail reports that the Channel 4 sex education DVD, “Living and Growing”, prompted Lisa Bullivant, from Legbourne, Lincolnshire, to take her seven year-old daughter out of East Wold Primary School and place her in another school.
Mrs. Bullivant said, “The cartoon was very graphic. My daughter was frightened and children have unfortunately been copying what they have seen.”
The video clearly shows a naked man and woman having sexual intercourse on a bed, while a female narrator explains what is going on. The video also shows two children fully nude.
“When grown-ups find someone they like a lot, they might decide to have a sexual relationship with each other. This means they sometimes have sexual intercourse together, or sex for short,” says the narrator.
“Sex is one of the ways grown-up people show they love each other. That’s why it’s sometimes called ‘making love’… It’s very exciting for them both.” The video goes on to explain the mechanics of intercourse.
Mrs. Bullivant told the Mail, “Seven to nine-year-olds should not possess this knowledge. There is no educational or psychological benefit or need for children of this age to have full knowledge of what sexual intercourse actually entails.”
She has complained to the school, which said a letter had gone round to parents about the video before it was shown to children. Now Mrs. Bullivant is seeking a meeting with the director of education at Lincolnshire County Council.
A spokesman for BBC Channel 4 defended the video, saying it is one of their most popular, and that it was “age appropriate.”
“Living and Growing has been in the marketplace for nearly ten years and has been very well-received by the educational community.”
The video has been recommended for use in primary schools by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the same department that is ushering legislation through Parliament to make sex education compulsory in all grades. The legislation proposes to remove the right of parents to withdraw children over 15 from classes.
In related news, a report issued last month, commissioned by the Home Office, blames sexually graphic and violent material in the media, for “sexualising” children and recommends greater parental controls.
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos, the author of the report issued late last month, said there is a “clear link” between graphic images and “a tendency to view women as objects and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behaviour as the norm.”
The report recommended greater parental control on video game content and that material available over the internet and mobile phones should be filtered.
“Music channels and videos across all genres have been found to sexualise and objectify women. Women are often shown in provocative and revealing clothing and are depicted as being in a state of sexual readiness. Males on the other hand are shown as hyper-masculine and sexually dominant,” the report said.
Meanwhile, a leading condom manufacturer in Switzerland has announced that it will make Britain a “top priority” market for a line of condoms specially sized for use by boys under 14. The announcement comes after a study by the Swiss Federal Commission for Children that showed boys between 12 and 14 were not using “sufficient protection” during sex.
Nysse Norballe, a spokesman for the company Lamprecht AG, said the “hotshot” condom is only produced in Switzerland, but “the UK is certainly a very attractive market since there is a very high rate of underage conception. The UK would definitely be top priority if we marketed abroad.”