World Health Organization faces backlash over guidelines for schools saying children aged four and under should ‘ask questions about sexuality’ and ‘examine gender identities’
- A controversial document on child sexuality by the WHO has sparked a backlash
- It suggested that children aged four and under should be taught about sexuality
The World Health Organization is facing backlash over its controversial guidelines on the sexuality and gender of children.
The WHO guidelines suggest that children from the age of four should receive sex education and “explore gender identities”.
In a document published as a guideline for policy makers in Europe, the organization states that ‘sex education starts from birth’.
Officials describe the guide as a ‘framework for policy makers, education and health authorities and specialists’.
The guideline suggests that children between the ages of four and six should be encouraged to ‘talk about sexual matters’.
(Stock Photo) A controversial WHO report on how to teach young children about sexuality and gender has sparked backlash
The guidance includes a recommendation that children ages four and under be taught about masturbation
The WHO document has sparked backlash in the UK, including from MPs and campaigners. The Telegraph reported.
It even suggests that children four and under should be taught about masturbation and “pleasure and pleasure in touching one’s own body.”
These fall under what the WHO calls the ‘minimum standards for sex education’.
It was cited in a report by the Welsh Government, which introduced a compulsory sex education syllabus last year.
However, the British government has rejected the guidance being introduced for children in Britain.
A government spokesman said: ‘The UK government does not recognize this WHO guideline and we do not agree with its recommendations. We have not distributed it or promoted it in schools.
“We offer our own guidance to help schools teach children and young people about relationships and health.”
In Wales, Conservative MS and shadow education minister Laura Anne Jones called on the WHO to ‘withdraw the advice immediately’.
She added that the Welsh government should “stand back” from the “downright disturbing” guidelines.
The Safe Schools Alliance campaign for child safety also condemned the document.
Spokeswoman Tanya Carter said, “There is an urgent need to investigate how this ideology … has come to influence so much public thought.”
The WHO said it was sticking to its guidelines on childhood sexuality despite the backlash.
A spokesperson for the organization said: “Our guidelines reflect established psychological facts about children’s understanding of their bodies and psychosocial development based on decades of research.”