Mexico Adds Sex to School Syllabus

In Mexico, where one in every five births is to a teenage mother, the federal government is distributing seventh-grade biology textbooks with a mandatory comprehensive sex education chapter. Among other topics, students will learn about masturbation and homosexuality, and they will be told neither is wrong.

"These days," one of 19 commissioned editions reads, "masturbation is considered a common and inoffensive sexual practice." The book includes famous works of erotic art and refutes masturbation myths, e.g., that it causes blindness or hair to grow on the palms.

Roman Catholic Church officials are lobbying for the removal of passages deemed offensive; they contend these encourage promiscuity and "abnormal" sexual practices. Several governors, including Gov. Eduardo Bours of Sonora, have announced plans to replace the texts with edited versions. The Catholic hierarchy has asked other governors to do the same.

The nation's largest parents' association, boasting 19 million members, is threatening to sue the Education Secretariat if it allows editing of the texts. The agency's spokesperson, David Torres, insists that all 1.5 million volumes would reach students intact. Hoping to placate conservative groups, the office has solicited them to supplement school materials. Of Bours' threat to omit certain teachings, Torres said, "He's not going to do it. He's going to abide by the law."

"We are always very respectful of the position of all groups in our society," said Health Minister Julio Frenk, the La Jornada newspaper reported recently. "But at the end of the day, the government's public policies should be based on scientific evidence," said Frenk, adding the texts are an important AIDS prevention tool.

About 85 percent of Mexicans profess to be Catholic, but the nation's 150-year-old constitution prohibits religious interference in governance.

Back to other news for August 28, 2006