Sex education strategy should discuss pleasure

By Neil Puffett Thursday, 24 September 2009

Influential government advisers are calling for frank discussions on sexual pleasure to form a central part of a new teenage pregnancy strategy.

Pupils in sex education class. Credit: Martin Bird.

The current strategy, launched in 1999, expires next year but ministers are yet to announce what will replace it.

Gill Frances, chair of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (TPIAG), told CYP Now discussions on sexual pleasure help children realise sex should be enjoyed, allowing them to take responsibility for decisions and recognise issues around coercive sex.

She is also calling for closer monitoring of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities to ensure money handed to them for contraception services is spent as intended.

Simon Blake, chief executive at sex advice charity Brook and also a member of TPIAG, said sexual pleasure is one of three areas the government must focus on.

"We need a grown-up conversation with young people," he said. "We need to make sure they are having sex when they are ready and for the right reasons, are able to enjoy it and take responsibility for it."

Blake added that sex education must start to be delivered based on gender as boys and girls have different perceptions and pressures in relation to sex as they develop.

In July, an NHS Sheffield guidance booklet that encouraged professionals to talk about sexual pleasure to young people provoked a debate between health and faith groups.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it had no update on the teenage pregnancy strategy.