Enlarging commitment for sex education in Dutch parliament failed
May 22, 2016 - Right wing parties refused to attend a sex education lesson" which was held in the Dutch parliament. The "lesson" was proposed by the Labor Party and the Socialist Party in order to get more commitment for improved sex education. But the lesson was organized in an insensitive and unacceptable way for right wing parties. It was a missed opportunity to expand sex education to include sexual assertiveness.
(Image: Roelof Bisschop (Christian re-reformed party): "This "sex lesson" is presented as a banal show. Don't count me in.")
Dr. Corrie and Goedele Liekens
The most important parts of the program were the showing of a movie "Dr. Corrie" and a "lesson" by the popular TV sex expert Goedele Liekens. Ms. Liekens is very good and direct with young people. But such open and "crude" talk about sex was never accepted by more conservative parts of the population. "Dr. Corrie" is a TV show for primary schools. "Dr. Corrie" is an actress pretending to be a very comic sex doctor. She discusses sexual questions in a very simple way. She makes a lot of jokes, so children can laugh about the show and hide their insecurity. But her comical style of dealing with sex is deeply unpopular with conservative schools. The show is very controversial..
Missed opportunity
The announcement of the "lesson" made the right wing parties angry. "When I read that she (Goedele Liekens) was involved, I lost my appetite'' said MP Roelof Bisschop, a member of the very conservative Christian re-reformed party. "That vulgar program is too embarrassing for words.'' The larger Christian Democrat Party also decided not to attend.
The left wing politicians wanted the "lesson" to be a tool to improve the quality of sex education. They think sex education is too technical and mainly about reproduction and STDs. They want to expand sex education to incorporate respect, self-esteem and sexual communication. Now the "lesson" was only given to the progressive parties. This way a major opportunity to create political commitment for broader sexuality education was lost.
Sources: AD News, EduDivers news