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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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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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The importance of educating parents to educate their children

Feb 9, 2018
3 min

The importance of educating parents to educate their children

In today’s digital and highly sexualised world, there is a pressing need for relationships and sex education (RSE). Recent media coverage and increased public awareness around some of the topics it covers – such as consent, sexual harassment and the impact of porn – as well as the fact that it will be mandatory in secondary schools as of September 2019 mean that RSE is on the national radar. Discussion of sex and healthy relationships – whether it’s through the lens of safegu

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Where Outspoken stands on the government consultation on relationships and sex education (RSE)

Feb 7, 2018
13 min

Where Outspoken stands on the government consultation on relationships and sex education (RSE)

Near midnight on 12 February 2018, the website for the Department for Education (DfE) seemed close to crashing. The deadline was imminent for contributing to the government’s consultation on updating relationships and sex education (RSE) and personal, social, health, economic education (PSHE). The goal was to update guidelines that have not been revisited for 17 years in order to “make sure pupils are being taught the knowledge they need to thrive in the modern world”. The ca

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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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Porn Generation conference featuring Outspoken co-founder Yoan Reed and panellist Meg Veit

Nov 26, 2017
8 min

Porn Generation conference featuring Outspoken co-founder Yoan Reed and panellist Meg Veit

With at its heart the motivation to set up a local equivalent of the ground-breaking Bristol Ideal – a whole school approach for ending sexual and domestic violence – the Women’s Rights Action Group (WRAG) in Cambridge hosts a half-day conference on 19 March 2017. Porn Generation: Why Sex and Relationships Education is More Important Than Ever, held at Anglia Ruskin University and attended by 65 people, is spearheaded by Shally Shefer. Egalitarian in construct, the conference

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