「U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds」というタイトルの8月26日付けの記事をFox News.comで見つけました。筆者はJoseph Abramsとなっています。
この報告書はユネスコ発行したInternational Guidelines on Sexual Educationというもので、記事では次のように紹介されています。
The U.N.'s Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a 98-page report in June offering a universal lesson plan for kids ranging in age from 5-18, an"informed approach to effective sex, relationships" and HIV education that they say is essential for "all young people."
どんな内容であろうと教え方しだいだろうと、わたしは思うのですが、「マスターベーション」「中絶」という言葉だけで嫌悪を示す人もいるだろうことは想像に難くありません。次の市民団体のTurnerさんもその一人。
"At that age they should be learning about ... the proper name of certain parts of their bodies," said Michelle Turner, president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, "certainly not about masturbation."
Turner was disturbed by UNESCO's plans to explain to children as young as nine about the safety of legal abortions, and to advocate and "promote the right to and access to safe abortion" for everyone over the age of 15.
"This is absurd," she told FOXNews.com.
だけど、別に突然「中絶の権利がある！」と教え込むわけではなく、この記事によれば、一連の流れのなかで、年齢に即した事柄から徐々に導入していくというのが、ユネスコのプランのようです。
The UNESCO report, called "International Guidelines for Sexuality Education," separates children into four age groups: 5-to-8-year-olds, 9-to-12-year-olds, 12-to-15-year-olds and 15-to-18-year-olds.
Under the U.N.'s voluntary sex-ed regime, kids just 5-8 years old will be told that "touching and rubbing one's genitals is called masturbation" and that private parts "can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself."
……
By the time they're 9 years old, they'll learn about "positive and negative effects of 'aphrodisiacs," and wrestle with the ideas of "homophobia, transphobia and abuse of power."
At 12, they'll learn the "reasons for" abortions ― but they'll already have known about their safety for three years. When they're 15, they'll be exposed to direct "advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortion."
Child health experts say they are wary of teaching about the sticky topic of abortion, but stress that as long as messages stay age-appropriate, educating kids at a younger age helps better steer them into adulthood.
"The adults are more leery of [early sex-ed] than the kids are," said Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a child psychiatrist in New York. "Our own fears sometimes prevent us from being as open and honest with our kids as possible."
この報告書はこちらで読めます。
そもそも、どのような言葉を用いるか（たとえば「マスターベーション」と言うのか、別の言葉を使うのか）などの具体的な方法については大いに改良の余地は残されているのかもしれませんが、一部の文言のみを取り上げて“過激”扱いするのは賢明ではないでしょう。子どもたちの置かれた状況など、トータルな背景や根本的な価値観に照らして判断する必要がありそうです。
