Sex at 13 is not normal, Mr Clegg. It’s illegal

WHEN I WAS 13, I spent my time running round in scruffy shorts and T- shirts, pigtails flying, climbing trees without a care in the world. Boys, yuk! They were best ignored.

The closest I got to anything grown-up was my trainer bra.

How different it is today, when the modern world destroys girls’ innocence at such a young age. Constantly sexualised by TV, pop music, teen magazines and the fashion industry, they are subjected to siren voices at every turn.

You might expect, however, that one place they would be safe from such pressures would be in the schoolroom. No longer.

As the Mail revealed this week, Department of Education official guidelines — endorsed by Nick Clegg — now state that penetrative and oral sex should be regarded as ‘ normal’ behaviour for 13-year-olds.

Many in the teaching profession are rightly appalled by the directives, not least because sex under the age of 16 is a criminal offence.

What next? Taking drugs to be sanctioned by teachers? Shoplifting to be deemed ‘normal’, too?

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this new liberal initiative is that it robs parents of their moral authority.

It is surely for a girl’s mother and father, not for their teachers or the Government, to decide what is appropriate sexual advice for a girl whose body is barely developed.

Research consistently shows that sexual experiences at such a young age can lead to lifelong psychological scars.

Isn’t that the lesson teachers should be spreading?

And at a time when the full horrific legacy of child sex abuse in the Sixties and Seventies is only now coming to light, what sort of message do the new guidelines send out to paedophiles?

Just imagine the outrage if a middleaged pop star dared to describe 13year- olds having sex as ‘ normal’. They’d be in the dock faster than you can say Jimmy Savile.

So why haven’t Mr Clegg and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan been interviewed by police for encouraging illegal underage sex?