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November 2006:
SPIN PROTEST LETTER
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- Re Family Education Trust "Safer Sex" propaganda
I live in the Highlands of Scotland, which has more teenage pregnancies
and the fastest rise in STIs in Europe. On a recent visit to my
local doctor's surgery, I picked up some leaflets in the toilet
and was delighted that at last they have some safer sex information
available, something that has been sadly lacking here. However,
when I read the leaflet "Sexual SPIN - sorting fact from
fiction about sexually transmitted infections", published
by the Family Education Trust, I discovered that this leaflet
is no more than christian family values propaganda, stating that
the way to keep safe is to have only one sexual partner throughout
your life.
The leaflet gives other misleading advice on safer sex. For example,
it lists STIs that can be transmitted through skin contact but
the only infection on their list which can be caught by skin to
skin contact is scabies, and scabies is not an STI.
Good safer sex education promotes sexual awareness and pleasure
of safer sex rather than the dangers of having sex, it includes
"on me not in me" techniques and the use of male and
female condoms. It also encourages regular STI testing.
Scaremongering is counter-productive - as sexually active people
will just ignore all warnings. Moralising over sexual activity
alienates confident people, and makes others feel guilty and depressed.
Providing religious dogma will deter people from seeking advice.
It is not the job of the NHS to tell people how many sexual partners
to have. The distribution of the leaflet cannot be policy of the
Highland Sexual Health Strategy. In fact, it is against civil
service guidelines for government funded services to have religious/political
propaganda on display.
I have written to my surgery to complain but I feel that christian
family values propaganda is becoming dangerously widespread, hence
the distribution of this letter to the Family Planning Association,
the British Medical Association and the National Secular Society.
It is also going up on our website.
The Family Education Trust is at
19-21 High Street
Whitton
Twickenham
TW2 7LB
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- 020 8894 2525
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- email fyc@ukfamily.org.uk, www.famyouth.org.uk
Dr Tuppy Owens
Chair, Sexual Freedom Coalition
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