The RSA and Fairness in Religions in School recently commissioned a report, Carson 2015 Review, by professional sexuality educator Deanne Carson on material currently being used by Special Religious Education (SRE) volunteers in NSW public schools.
Among other things, this material:[list type=”bullet”]
- promotes a culture in which girls carry sole responsibility for maintaining ‘purity’ (boys cannot control themselves)
- teaches that gender diverse teens exist due to the ‘sins of the world’
- refers to false information about reparative (conversion) therapies for LGBTI youth
- reinforces messages that lead to victim blaming of sexual assault survivors
- speaks of divorce as being a sin and is dismissive of domestic violence issues.
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The material is called Teen Sex by the Book, and is based on the work of Dr Patricia Weerakoon, a self-confessed evangelical Christian. This material is published by the Sydney Anglican Church, known to be the ‘most conservative diocese in the world’. We sought the views of responsible NSW Ministers on the appropriateness of this material being available in public schools but they declined to comment. But parents need to be vigilant and there are calls for a crackdown on this sort of material.