Teaching kids about porn in schools is ‘explosive issue’, Irish Catholic group says

Minister for Education Norma Foley confirmed this week that parents will have the right to withdraw children from the sex education curriculum if they don't agree with the content.

This has eased the minds of some parents who took issue with the new SPHE curriculum including discussions on pornography.

But the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association said that the notion that porn can be taught ethically in schools is "nonsense".

Alan Whelan, President of the CSSPA, says that parents have always been allowed to withdraw their children from subjects and the right should not be taken away.

"Parents, by in large, are happy with the vast majority of what is proposed, but there are major areas that lead to great difficulty for parents", he told Newstalk radio.

Mr Whelan says that the new curriculum will put an "explosive issue into the minds of young people".

"Drugs are there and we don't just turn a blind eye to it, we try to discourage drug-taking", he said.

According to him, the notion that porn can be taught ethically in schools is "nonsense".

"Parents need to be assured that when their young people go to school, they are not going to encounter issues that are totally foreign", he said.

Mr Whelan also believes that not enough parents were consulted in the process of creating the new curriculum.

"Let's have a proper debate, let's involve parents", he said.

"There's a wide variety of perspectives among parents but those parents who want reassurance should be able to get that reassurance."

He predicts that the burden of addressing parents' concerns about the curriculum will fall on schools come September.

"We need to address the issues now and come up with practical solutions."

According to the Executive Director of Cork’s Sexual Health Centre, pornography should be part of the sex education curriculum because “it is a reality of modern living”.

Dr Martin Daveron said teenagers’ access and use of porn is an “epidemic” and warned that sexual health and wellbeing education often neglects this.

Experts have warned that porn is fuelling young men’s interest in violent sex and he said people “misconstrue [porn acting] for reality” and this distorts their view of sex and relationships so it would be a disservice to them if it wasn't talked about in schools.

“When we think about ability to access good healthy relationships; it’s a strong sexual education curriculum that’s going to give us that and is going to enable young people to access good healthy relationships into the future.

“There is no point in avoiding [porn]. It is a reality of modern living and we need to enable young people to navigate it safely.”