The position of Ponton Group on an anti-educational publication

Our aim is to keep children and teenagers safe and to provide them with an environment free of sexual violence. Thanks to us, young people can acquire knowledge concerning their bodies, relationships and safe behaviours. And yet in their recent publication, members of the PRO – Prawo do życia [the right to life] foundation are comparing us to perverts. By manipulating and lying, they are trying to intimidate parents, teachers and us. They are using the phrase “Put a stop to paedophilia” as a slogan, yet by refusing teenagers the right to knowledge, they expose young people to paedophilia. It is scandalous that an organisation which has the phrase “the right to life” in its name dooms young people to live in fear, shame, harm and violence. We say no to this!

The so-called “self-help book” prepared by the PRO foundation is based on hate speech and threatens people with homosexuals and sex education. We do not usually start any disputes over such embarrassing accusations, but this publication is so deceitful, full of manipulations and aggression that we are standing up not only for ourselves, but also for all sex educators and non-heteronormative people who have been discredited.

In the introduction already, one can read that “[educators] want to force children to accept and practice all sexual deviations that exist, such as homosexuality, bisexuality, masturbation or sadomasochism.” First of all, homosexuality and bisexuality are not deviations, and it is commonly known. Homosexuality means sexual attraction and building relationships between adults of the same sex. Saying that homosexuality is a “deviation” or a “pathology” is an extreme example of hate speech.

Second, we always stress that the way we share knowledge is based on respect for the boundaries other people. We do not force anyone to any sexual practices. Moreover, contrary to what the authors of this “self-help book” claim, it is us, sex educators, who teach young people assertiveness and how to draw boundaries; it is us who teach them to say no if they do not want to interact with somebody; it is us who teach them that they do not have to accept such contact. You are accusing us of forcing people to have sex, which is scandalous and shows a complete misunderstanding of our activities or a great amount of ill will.

The authors of this publication are comparing sex educators and homosexuals to paedophiles all the time, which means that they are consciously using the rhetorics of fear and hate speech. The authors are making reference to Paul Cameron’s research, who has been discredited and who spreads harmful, fake information. It should be obvious, but let us remind you: paedophilia, or more specifically paedophilic behaviour, is an act of causing harm to children by engaging them in sexual activities. It is unbelievable that people who supposedly want to put a stop to paedophilia cannot even define this term properly. Fortunately, there is us, sex educators, who are willing to make people aware of what paedophilia is and how to protect yourself from it. We can also mention sources proving that 99% of people who abuse children are heterosexual (e.g. Jenny et al., 1994) and not homosexual.

Sex education teaches how to be assertive, make responsible decisions, react to sexual violence and protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections. By depriving young people of knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS, STIs and violence, the authors of the publication expose teenagers to unwanted pregnancies, diseases and assaults against which they will not be able to defend. This is what those who abuse children want: they want children, their victims, to be ashamed, unaware and silent. This “textbook” should not be entitled “Put a stop to paedophilia”, but “Let’s start paedophilia”.

Ponton Group acts in a clear, transparent way. Our main goal is to make young people safe. We strongly object to manipulating, offending and denigrating us, sex educators, as well as any sexual minority.