Rating the Birds and the Bees in the Bonnet…Andrea Leadsom meets the BBFC to discuss ratings for sex education material

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See article from thehunsburyherald.com

MP Andrea Leadsom has long been campaigning that kids are shown sex education material that is too mature for them. She is suggesting that BBFC should rate such material prior to its use in schools etc. She is probably onto a loser though, as the BBFC would surely give a well considered rating, with no room whatsoever for any moral/religious/decency angle  that Leadsom may be hoping for. It is hard to imagine that the BBFC would be far out of line with the education experts that are currently approving the material for school use anyway. Nevertheless Leadsom has had a meeting with the BBFC to discuss the possibility of the body rating school sex education material. The BBFC were reported to have expressed surprise that the BBC do not have their sex education material rated when they voluntarily have programmes such as The Blue Planet rated, despite there being no sensitive or controversial content and no requirement to have it rated as it is a documentary. Leadsom said: It seems bizarre that when some parents are so deeply concerned at what they consider to be sensitive material being shown to their children, the BBC and Channel 4 have chosen not to have their SRE material rated by an independent agency.

Banging On…Nutter MP presents a petition backing her call to appoint the BBFC as book censors for sex education material

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See article from thehunsburyherald.com

Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom has presented a 45,000 signature petition to Schools Minister Nick Gibb. Leadsom is campaigning against explicit sex education in primary schools and feels that the BBFC are ideally placed to provide their censorship expertise to sex education materials. She said: The Department for Education is currently drafting new guidelines for schools on sex and relationship education (SRE) and I would like to see a form of independent classification of the material used. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has been rating films for 99 years and seems to be well placed to assess material, and I am sure that this would give worried parents some peace of mind in knowing what their children were seeing. To see some of the images being shown to very young children in our primary schools was genuinely shocking. After presenting the petition, Leadsom had a meeting with Gibb and a number of Northamptonshire parents. I know the Minister takes this matter very seriously and I hope he will take on board my idea of allowing the BBFC to age rate material, she said.

Educationally Challenged…Nutter MP repeats her call to appoint the BBFC as book censors for sex education material

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See article from bbc.co.uk

Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom has repeated her call for sex education books to be classified by the BBFC. Leadsom claims some of the material being taught to children as young as five is extraordinarily inappropriate. She wants books and videos used for sex education to be given a rating by the British Board of Film Classification before they are used in schools. During a Westminster Hall debate, Leadsom said many adults were horrified when they found out what children were being taught about sex. She said:  I’ve seen cartoons of two people engaged in sexual activities with the caption ‘Here are some ways mummies and daddies fit together’, others depicting two cartoon characters locked in an intimate embrace, accompanied by a vivid explanation, using sexual terminology of the act of intercourse. As well as cartoons I’ve been shown a video of two people engaged in intercourse, with a child’s voice over the top, saying, ‘it looks like they’re having fun’. She also wants the law changed so that parents actively have to opt in to sex lessons, rather than opt out, as is currently the case if they have objections. Schools minister, Nick Gibb, said all sex education material used in state schools was scrutinised to ensure it set the right tone. The education secretary had set out statutory guidelines for schools and councils to follow, he added, which would ensure that inappropriate content would not be used. Comment: Parental Guidance Perhaps a Sex Ed Parental Guidance certificate would read: Suitable for children of all ages. Children are advised to consider whether the material may upset sensitive parents before showing it to them.

Old School Thinking…MP calls for sex education films to be rated by the BBFC before being shown in schools

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See article from northamptonchron.co.uk

Sex education films shown in schools should be subject to the same age ratings as Hollywood movies, a Northampton MP has claimed. In April this year, a group of about 40 parents met at the Guildhall in Northampton to express concern that sex education films shown to children in schools were sometimes too graphic. They raised particular objections to cartoons showing graphic depictions of people having sex and other sexual acts. The Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire, Andrea Leadsom, raised the issue in the House of Commons at the time and has now called for educational films shown in schools to be classified by the BBFC. She said: We can get back to the aim of sex and relationship education, to teach our children to look after themselves and form healthy relationships in a safe environment in the future when they are emotionally ready to do so. I have an enormous sympathy with the desire to protect the young from inappropriate material and believe that most teachers and governors have the interests of their pupils at heart. The question is where to draw the line. What is the right age to begin sex and relationship education and what is the right material to be showing our young people? After the parents’ meeting in Northampton, the group pledged to bombard the county’s MPs and councillors with letters expressing their concerns about sex education videos.