Most teenagers aware of friends who want to swap gender
THE majority of teenagers know someone at their school who claims to want to change gender, according to a report which raises the alarm about sex education.
Schools are widely teaching contentious gender ideology that could be exploiting vulnerable children, says research by the Civitas think tank.
A poll in March of almost 1,200 teenagers aged from 16 to 18 in England found that 10 per cent claimed they wanted to change their gender or had already done so. A further 54 per cent said they knew someone at their school who claimed to either want to change their gender or had already done so.
In March, Rishi Sunak ordered an independent review of sex education in schools in England after MPS and parents raised the alarm about age-inappropriate content.
The review, expected to impose age ratings on sex education lessons, is due to be completed by the end of the year. Schools have been told that they must show parents any teaching materials used after external providers attempted to block teachers from doing so.
The Government has also pledged to release guidance for schools on how to respond to pupils who identify as trans during the summer term. Miriam Cates, the Conservative MP campaigning for reforms to sex education in schools, said: “What is happening under the guise of relationships and sex education is a population level psychological and social experiment on our children and young people. To tell a whole generation of children or allow them to believe that they can somehow change their sex is an experiment with completely unknown – and likely very damaging – outcomes.”
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of children reporting with gender dysphoria. In 2021-22, the NHS reported more than 5,000 referrals to the gender identity development service run by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, up from just under 250 a decade earlier.
Stella O’malley, psychotherapist and director of the Genspect group, said: “If you’re a vulnerable teenager unhappy with your body, and if you learn that actually what might be wrong with you is that you could be a different person, it’s a very alluring concept.”
Jo-anne Nadler, a parent campaigner who wrote the Civitas report, said that legislation has “opened the door” to radical activists, and “ushered them straight into the classroom”.
Schools are at risk of breaching their legal duty not to politically indoctrinate children as they attempt to comply with the Equality Act when handling sexuality and gender issues, Ms Nadler said.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Following reports of inappropriate materials being used to teach relationships and sex education, the Education Secretary has already brought forward an urgent review of the curriculum, which will be informed by an independent panel.”