At least one nine-year-old was “taught in detail about rape” during sex education class, a British MP has told the country’s Education Committee.
A representative within the British parliament has told the UK’s Children’s Commissioner about an alleged case of a nine-year-old child being taught “in detail” about rape in school, something which the MP claims negatively affected the child.
Miriam Cates, a representative from the UK’s Conservative Party, made the claim during a sitting of the country’s education committee on Tuesday after she brought up the issue of inappropriate sexual education in parliament the previous week.
Speaking in front of the committee, Cates said that her initial raising of the issue of sex education in parliament had struck a chord with the general public, with the representative saying that she had since been “overwhelmed” by the number of individuals writing to her on the topic.
In particular, the MP described the case of one member of the public writing to her about an instance of a nine-year-old child coming home from school “shaking — white as a sheet — because they have been taught in detail about rape”.
While Cates emphasised that “at some point, children need to know the reality of the world we live in, and to be taught about how to keep themselves safe,” she expressed severe concern as to the “age appropriateness” of what was being taught in schools to the children’s commissioner.
In response, the commissioner, Rachel de Souza, fully accepted the MP’s concerns, saying that the age-appropriateness of sex education in schools was “absolutely critical”, and that the “horrendous examples” previously raised by Cates needed to be looked into.
Furthermore, de Souza hinted at the possibility of third-party organisations having a possible negative effect on children, with many schools “outsourcing” their sexual education to external groups for fear of not providing a sufficiently comprehensive education for students.
“We need to look at that,” the commissioner emphasised.
De Souza’s promise to investigate the issue of sex education sometimes not being age-appropriate in certain schools comes after Cates expressed concern last week as to the nature of some RSE lessons being taught in classrooms across Britain, which she feared could be “graphic”, “extreme”, and potentially even legitimising underage sex.
The MP even raised one activity for schoolchildren dreamt up by a third-party organisation which would ask students to dream up potential sex acts between two partners.
“The Proud Trust has produced a dice game encouraging children to discuss explicit sexual acts, based on the roll of a dice,” Cates alleged. “The six sides of the dice name different body parts—such as anus, vulva, penis and mouth—and objects.”
“Two dice are thrown and children must name a pleasurable sexual act that can take place between the two body parts,” she continued. “The game is aimed at children of 13 and over.”