China’s new inclusive sex education describes sexuality in the cutest way
A new Chinese sex education policy is surprisingly inclusive, including sections about same-sex relationships, sexuality and gender equality.
The move to update the country’s curriculum for primary school students has left some parents unhappy.
The new curriculum, students of various ages learn about gender equality. Examples include expressing that men can make great nurses and kindergarten teachers.
It goes further, however; to teach the children that some people are in same-sex relationships. It reads: “Love is a beautiful thing.”
“A minority of people experience attraction to members of the same sex,” reads one section.
But the textbook does not only define sexual orientations as gay or straight, it points out that people are bisexual too.
“Did you guys hear about the celebrity that came out as bisexual?” one girl says in the book.
Her friend responds: “Didn’t Teacher tell us? Some people like both spicy and sweet. There’s nothing to be shocked about.”
Older students, in grade 5, are taught about sexually transmitted infections, as well as HIV, and how to protect themselves using condoms.
The advice applies for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
One strip shows a man coming home to a meal cooked by his husband each night, to help kids understand that those in same-sex relationships might want to get married.
As well as equality, the new curriculum also includes standard issues like how babies are conceived and born.
The pictures include the captions “Daddy and mommy love each other”, “Daddy’s penis enters mommy’s vagina”, “Daddy’s sperm enters mommy’s uterus”, and so on.
Another section includes inappropriate touching, stating that sexual predators can be male or female.
Some parents have taken to social media to complain about the content and the illustrations of the textbooks.
“Is it reasonable for a textbook to be compiled like this? I myself blush just looking at,” one mother wrote. while others complained about the content on sexual intercourse.
But LGBT groups, other parents, medical professionals and the Chinese media have all applauded the move, saying it is “long overdue”.
“Giving our children more knowledge about sex will help them better protect themselves in the future,” one user of the site Weibo argues, according to Shanghaiist “Finally, sex education in China has caught up with the rest of the world!” adds another.
