Political row over new sex education proposals
SEX education is always controversial. But now the Welsh Government has come in for criticism for almost entirely removing the word “sex” from its curriculum along with the terms male and female.
The Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) Code does not explicitly reference “boys”, “girls”, “straight” or “heterosexual”.
The Welsh Government said: “The Code is designed to promote equality and inclusivity, including LGBTQ+ inclusivity, so that all learners can value difference and diversity as a source of strength.”
The Code was debated for 30 minutes in the Senedd before members voted to make it mandatory teaching for children aged three to 16.
But critics, including women’s groups and Conservative MS Darren Millar, are unhappy.
Women’s group Merched Cymru said removing the terms male and female or girl and boy made a mockery of trying to address issues such as the sexual harassment by boys towards girls highlighted in a recent Estyn report. Homophobic abuse was also highlighted in that report.
A Merched Cymru spokeswoman said the document was “ideology, not sex education” but people working in schools and parents were scared to speak out because the debate had become so toxic.
“We would like them to put the sex back into the report. This is key in schools.
“A majority of sexual harassment in schools is boys against girls. If we don’t use these terms we can’t look at the problem,” she said.
“Everyone’s rights need to be balanced but I think things have been shoved so much a certain way it is having a negative impact on girls.
“RSE needs to be factual and useful. Lots of women want to talk about this but are worried about the impact on their careers and lives,” she said.
“They know if they speak openly they will have a lot of trouble.”
Writing on a blog for Merched Cymru, Martha Gwion warned: “If you don’t acknowledge the sexes, how can you see and address sexism? The squeamishness of Welsh Government in the code is bizarre.
“An RSE Code where girls and women are invisible apart from references to their bodily functions is more than just counterintuitive. Such coyness and aversion to naming our bodies, our reality and oppression, is antithetical to highquality relationships and sex education.
“Women and girls do not experience violence, abuse and oppression because they are feminine, but because they are female. Welsh Government should focus less on being different to their counterparts in England and on pleasing lobby groups, and more on doing better for our children and young people.”
Mr Millar said the code had been influenced by a “woke ideology” and wants parents to continue to be allowed to remove their children from sex and relationship classes.
“I regard parents as the primary educators of their children, not the state, and I believe that the Welsh Government’s removal of the parental right to withdraw their children from sex education lessons was a massive retrograde step for parental rights and choice,” he said.
“What is clear is that the Welsh Government is trying to disguise a controversial set of ideas over which there’s a great deal of debate as some sort of settled catalogue of truths that all pupils should be taught.
“The code is very heavy on respect but it’s clear that that respect does not seem to extend to many Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, members of other faiths, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or those whose views may be at odds with those espoused by the Welsh Government.
“The evidence suggests that the code and the draft guidance have been influenced heavily from a particularly ‘woke’ ideological viewpoint and the draft guidance in particular screams ‘woke’.
“Out of the 4,000 words we see the words male mentioned just once, female twice – both in relation to female genital mutilation.
“Men doesn’t appear at all and neither do the words girl, boy, straight or heterosexual. Any relationships and sexuality education code that seeks to avoid these words simply isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Minister Laura Anne Jones claimed children are being “indoctrinated” in gender identity ideology.
“The erasure of sex undermines safeguarding and erodes the concepts of privacy, boundaries and consent, putting girls particularly at risk.
“A code where girls and women are invisible, apart from a reference to their bodily functions, is more than counterintuitive.
“Girls and women exist, and it is staggering a small minority are trying to erase us from society.”
Plaid’s Sioned Williams said opposition raised during the consultation to the code earlier this year “often masked prejudice and discriminatory attitudes against transgender people”.
“I would like to go on record and reconfirm mine and my party’s commitment to ensure LGBTQ+ pupils’ responses and experiences need to be heard and affirmed and our continuing promise to actively promote LGBTQ+ pupils’ rights,” she said
The Welsh Government defended its stance.
A spokesperson said: “The code is designed to promote equality and inclusivity, including LGBTQ+ inclusivity, so that all learners can value difference and diversity as a source of strength.
“Learning about sexual violence is a mandatory part of the code, at the developmentally appropriate point.
“By promoting a consistent concept of what healthy relationships look like, supported by high-quality teaching and learning, we will support our whole-society approach to end the abuse of women and girls in Wales.”