Parents have ‘grave concerns’ over Warwickshire Council’s sex education website for 13-25 year olds (Pictures: .respectyourself.info/Getty)

A council sex education website has come under fire for telling a 12-year-old girl it was ‘perfectly natural’ to ‘spend half the night’ masturbating and watching porn.

Warwickshire County Council have temporarily suspended their ‘Respect Yourself’ website after campaign groups said it ‘normalised sadomasochistic sex and porn’.

The website was aimed at 13-25s year-olds and described ‘niche’ sex acts such as fisting, felching, c*ck and ball torture and bukkake .

Campaign Groups The Safe Schools Alliance and Click Off said the website was overly sexualised and failed to address the harm or risk involved in ‘porn inspired’ and ‘degrading’ practices.




Spokeswoman for Safe Schools Alliance (SSA) Tracy Shaw told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s totally inappropriate.Teenagers are already under so much pressure because of what they see in porn.

‘This website is normalising porn and the type of sex teenagers are unlikely to get.

Campaigners say the website didn’t properly inform teens about how harmful or coercive some sex acts could be (Picture: Safe Schools Alliance/Click off)

‘If the message they are getting from the council is [dangerous sex] is fine, how will they feel when they are uncomfortable? They will think there is something wrong with them.

‘We are not against sex education, but we need to show how damaging porn is. We are coming at this from a safeguarding point of view.’

Set up in 2012, Respect Yourself contained information about puberty, STIs and sexual desire, along with an anonymous Q&A section where visitors can seek advice.

In one question, a 12-year-old girl says she has a crush on her female music teacher and can’t sleep because she is addicted to masturbating and watching porn at night.

The responder replies: ‘What you are going through is perfectly natural for a girl your age. For some reason, we have the idea that only boys get turned on, masturbate or watch porn. That is nonsense.’

Parents are concerned with the advice being given out Warwickshire Council’s Respect Yourself website (Picture: Safe Schools Alliance/ Click Off)

Children as young as 12 are writing into the website for advice (Picture: Safe Schools Alliance / Click Off)

In another section, the website advises teens not to be embarrassed about porn and masturbation because most people ‘have a fiddle now and then’.

The responder writes: ‘You may have seen there’s been quite a lot in the media recently about the dangers and harms that porn causes to young people. Many people have been quite vocal and do truly believe that porn is dangerous for young people to watch.

‘However, there are no scientific studies that give evidence to suggest that watching porn is any more likely to turn you into a sex addict than watching a violent film is likely to turn you into a serial killer. In fact there is more evidence to suggest the opposite.

‘It is perfectly natural to be curious and get horny and want to watch something that turns you on. That said, be aware – porn is not real life – no more than Grand Theft Auto is real life. Some people make that mistake – it is a fantasy so bear that in mind.’

Campaigners say the website doesn’t make teenagers aware of the harmful effects of porn (Picture: Safe Schools Alliance / Click Off)

Parents have criticised the advise given to a girl who said she couldn’t sleep because she was addicted to masturbating (Picture: Safe Schools Alliance / Click Off)

Respect Yourself was taken down after Metro.co.uk contacted Warwickshire County Council for comment and is currently under ‘review’.



But campaigners who started a petition against the website say they still want answers over how some of the content came to be published.

SSA and Click Off say while the ‘Sextionary’ section described some sex acts as painful, it failed to address the fact young women usually experience it as ‘risky and coercive’.

They said it was inaccurate to suggest watching too much porn is not linked to harmful sexual behaviour, citing studies which show men who watch it are more likely to commit sex offences and women who watch it are more likely to accept rape ‘as a myth.’

Campaigners said descriptions on the website were graphic and unnecessary (Picture: respectyourself.info)

In a joint statement, the groups said: ‘In failing to condemn the use of pornography the Respect Yourself guidance is effectively sacrificing the best interests of women and girls in order to seem ‘sex positive.’

‘The poorly reasoned approach of Respect Yourself will undoubtedly prevent many adolescents in Warwickshire from enjoying healthy, mutually enjoyable sexual relationships in adulthood.’

They are urging parents to continue signing their petition until Warwickshire Council address their concerns.

A spokesperson for the local authority told Metro.co.uk: ‘The Council carefully considers all comments raised about our services.

‘We have decided to review the content of a few of our pages which have raised a small number of concerns.’

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