State funded threesome advice for teens

March 26, 2013

State-funded Irish charity promoted sexual “threesomes” for teens as “a bit of fun”

by Kirsten Andersen
Lifesitenews

DUBLIN, March 25, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – An Irish sex-education group’s state funding is being called into question after lawmakers became aware of an article on the website SpunOut.ie offering advice about sexual threesomes to their teenage audience.

Image from spinout page with offending article

The Sunday Independent called attention to the article over the weekend, reprinting quotes from the piece that suggested threesomes were a way for teens to “inject serious passion into their bedroom shenanigans.”

According to the Independent, the group warned readers not to pick anyone for whom they have real feelings. “If you are in a relationship, but secretly have a thing for someone else, bringing them into a threesome could lead to serious hurt, so it’s best to save threesomes for a bit of fun,” the article advised.

The group revised the article over the weekend in response to public outcry and removed some of the controversial language. But the site still offers the group’s “Top Tips” for a “Safe and Enjoyable” threesome to teens.

At the top of the list? Always use contraception, especially condoms. “Do be aware that you’ll need to change condoms if you are switching partners during the threesome,” the group warns its young readers. “Otherwise you could end up with some pretty nasty infections.”

Deputy Michelle Mulherin told the Independent she found the group’s advice “incredibly regressive” and “very worrying.” She said she planned to address the matter with Health Minister James Reilly.

But SpunOut.ie spokesman Ian Power said that his group’s brand of graphic, thorough sex education is a necessity, and the earlier, the better.

“Young people are having sex whether the Sunday Independent or Deputy Michelle Mulherin like it or not,” he wrote in a statement on the group’s website. “Some of them are having sex with more than one person, and sometimes with more than one person at the one time.”

Added Power, “Research shows the average age at which teens start to engage in sexual activity is getting younger, particularly in urban areas. HSE data from 2006 (which is now seven years old) shows the average age at which a young person has sex for the first time is 17 (both male and female).”

“Education needs to begin earlier than the age of first sex,” said Power. “We do not promote threesomes, we arm young people with the facts about them.”

Health Minister Reilly told the Irish Examiner on Monday that his ministry would be reviewing the article and the SpunOut.ie website in the days to come. “From my personal point of view as a doctor, and also as a politician, I just think this is not the appropriate sort of information that the State should be putting out there,” Reilly said.