YOUNG GUNS

Teach 5-year-olds about masturbation, says UN

Washington: The United Nations is recommending that children as young as five receive mandatory sexual education that would teach even pre-kindergarteners about masturbation and topics like gender violence.

The UN’s Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a 98-page report in June offering a universal lesson plan for kids ranging in age from 5-18, an “informed approach to effective sex, relationships” and HIV education that they say is essential for “all young people”.

The UN insists the program is “age appropriate”, but critics say it’s exposing kids to sex far too early, and offers up abstract ideas—like “transphobia”—they might not even understand. “At that age they should be learning about…the proper name of certain parts of their bodies,” said Michelle Turner, president of US-based Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, “certainly not about masturbation.”

The UNESCO report, called ‘International Guidelines for Sexuality Education’, separates children into four age groups: 5-to-8-year-olds, 9-to-12-year-olds, 12-to-15-year-olds and 15-to-18-year-olds. Under the sex-ed regime, kids just 5-8 years old will be told that “touching and rubbing one’s genitals is called masturbation” and that private parts “can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself.”

By the time they’re 9, they’ll learn about “positive and negative effects of aphrodisiacs,” and wrestle with the ideas of “homophobia, transphobia and abuse of power.” At 12, they’ll learn the “reasons for” abortions. When they’re 15, they’ll be exposed to direct “advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortion.”

Child health experts say they are wary of teaching about the topic of abortion, but stress that as long as messages stay age-appropriate, educating kids at a young age helps better steer them into adulthood. AGENCIES