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The vocal minority turns up the volume on protesting sex education

Feb 20, 2019
5 min

The vocal minority turns up the volume on protesting sex education

The smartphone generation, my two teenage children included, have had to deal with the lure and pressures of 24/7 access to the digital world during their formative years. Now 13, my daughter came of age when getting an iPhone at the end of primary school was a rite of passage. Suddenly everyone with a smartphone had a “porn production studio” in their pocket, as American sex-advice columnist Dan Savage puts it. Being concerned about the impact of pornography on young people

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Candy shop, self-harm, easy, a void: how children see porn

Jun 11, 2018
6 min

Candy shop, self-harm, easy, a void: how children see porn

We are, all of us, among the first generations to be vulnerable to and blindsided by an easy access to porn. In some American states pornography has, controversially, been labelled a public-health risk and even a public-health crisis. It’s hard to contest the fact that porn is now a safeguarding issue and a mental-health issue because it invades – often uninvited – children’s developing minds, sexuality and identity. One way to counter the normalisation of pornography is by m

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WOW: The lowdown on sex ed

Mar 16, 2018
7 min

WOW: The lowdown on sex ed

The full-on three-day WOW (Women of the World) festival, now in its eighth great year at London’s Southbank Centre, is galvanising and uplifting – a rush of input, ideas and exchange. This year I’m on a mission to navigate the seemingly hundreds of workshops, theatre, comedy and music events by targeting discussions around sex-ed topics. My daughter, age 12, is amenable to coming along on Saturday on condition that she’s accompanied by a friend. They arrive in time to hear a

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Hiding in plain sight: what’s missing from your children’s sex education

Feb 13, 2018
5 min

Hiding in plain sight: what’s missing from your children’s sex education

What is one of the most important elements that is missing from your children’s sex education? What’s missing is you – their parent. Although we live in a highly sexualised culture, it rarely comes naturally to talk openly with our children about challenging issues like body image, unwanted touching, the impact of porn, sexting, pleasure and consent. But research consistently shows that both parents and children want to communicate with each other about these and other sex-ed

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At the heart of Valentine’s Day: 14 tips for talking openly with children and young people

Feb 5, 2018
3 min

At the heart of Valentine’s Day: 14 tips for talking openly with children and young people

Valentine’s Day is a catalyst for talking with children and young people about love and healthy relationships – and the perfect symbolic moment to emphasise that respect, LGBT inclusivity and enthusiastic mutual consent should be at the heart of relationships and sex education (RSE). Presenting – for 14 February 2018 – 14 ways that parents can be their children’s best relationships and sex educators… 1 Start talking openly with your children early on. Think: “Little and often

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Up against it: the urgency of confronting children’s exposure to pornography

Dec 19, 2017
4 min

Up against it: the urgency of confronting children’s exposure to pornography

Never having grown up with an endless supply of explicit sexual images at the touch of a mobile phone or on screens in their own homes, today’s adults can be in denial about the extent to which their digital-native children have to confront and negotiate their way around pornography. Unequipped to talk openly about it, many parents stay silent and teachers often feel too awkward to have honest conversations with students. Pornography underpins a multitude of interrelated conc

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