A taxpayer-funded iPhone app designed to cut teenage pregnancies has been branded “grossly irresponsible” by family charities – after it featured explicit sex tips for children as young as 13.
The Respect Yourself website also features naked pictures of a man and a woman with their erogenous zones highlighted along with a ‘sextionary’ featuring slang terms for genitalia.
Shockingly, one section of the website – which is free to download and has been targeted at children as young as 13 – gives tips on anal and oral sex as well as losing your virginity.
A no-holds barred FAQ on the website includes answers to questions such as “How do you get horny?,” “What is the most common age to lose your virginity?” and “Where can I buy the Karma Sutra?”
Other bizarre questions include: “Does anyone elses penis let out tomato sauce during sex?”
Astonishingly, when one young person asks about whether anal sex “hurts”, the reply from a health profession was simply: “Use plenty of lube…you can’t just stick it in.”
Intimate areas such as the penis, vagina and breasts also display a series of real-life pictures when clicked on.
Teens can also take an “Are you ready quiz” and answer a series of multiple-choice questions to assess whether they are prepared to lose their virginity.
The website and app, which was part funded by the EU and Warwickshire County Council and designed by the NHS, is the first of its kind in the UK.
Last week it was rolled out across secondary schools in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Family welfare groups reacted angrily to the website and called for it to be banned branding it “grossly irresponsible” with worryingly “inaccurate” information.
Norman Wells, spokesman for the Family Education Trust, said: “Parents throughout the region will be appalled that health professionals have supported the development of a resource that condones sexual experimentation by young people and uses crude and sometimes even foul language.
“This is a grossly irresponsible website and a complete misuse of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.
“Many of the topics covered are totally unnecessary and positively unhelpful.
“Young people – and older people for that matter – simply don’t need a ‘sextionary’ containing an A-Z of all manner of sexual practices and perversions.
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“It merely encourages an unhealthy obsession with physical acts and will do nothing to help young people build healthy relationships or prepare them for a stable and fulfilling marriage in the future.
“Not only does the site include a considerable volume of unhealthy and unhelpful content, but much of the information provided is not even accurate.
“It makes no mention of the fact that every form of contraception has a method failure rate and neither does it mention that condoms have only limited effectiveness in protecting against sexually transmitted infections.
“Although it pays lip service to the law on the age of consent, it pretty much tells young people they can engage in sexual activity whenever they feel ready, regardless of what the law says.”
The app also lets children identify their nearest sexual health clinics and provides a print out slip detailing their problems and suspected STIs they may have contracted.
Health experts yesterday defended the app – claiming it was designed after researchers travelled to the Netherlands to view their sex education classes in schools.
Respect Yourself campaign manager Amy Danahay (corr) said: “We have completed the young people’s wish list.
“They asked for the sextionary, pleasure zones and the opportunity to ask questions and have them answered honestly.
“There is also a section for parents as we believe it is important to keep them involved.
“The site is primarily for young people aged 13 upwards but some of the information may be useful for young people experiencing puberty.
“It is important that young people get something they need and want, and that onlookers understand the reality of what young people are talking about.
“The website deals with this curiosity in a fun, yet carefully thought through and educational way.”
A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council added: “Whilst this site does contain explicit images of genitalia and language commonly used by young people it has all been put together for educational purposes with young people’s health and well-being at the heart of it.
“We can understand that parents may be concerned by some of the content on this website, however, please be reassured that this site has been put together with a lot of thought, care and attention.”
The app is online at respectyourself.info
