You've been looking in the wrong direction, the dangers are coming from the right.

Careful now.

95% of primary schools, and about half[*] of secondary schools, in Ireland are "religious patronage" and are specifically exempt from most employment equality law. They can quite legally :

• refuse to hire you if you're not the 'right' religion
• fire you if you stop going to mass, church events etc.
• fire you for cohabiting with a person you are not married to in the eyes of their church regardless of your civil married status
• fire you if you come out as an atheist or convert to another religion

The only legal brake on their "rights" is that since a few years ago they are legally prohibited from sacking teachers who come out as gay.

Oh and yes, all of these teachers are fully paid out of our taxes. We pay the money but the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Ireland call the shots.

Our education system is still run under a model which was deemed inadequate in the early 19th century but the churches insisted on retaining control and still do.

[*] Many of the remaining secondary schools, such as ETB, are not officially under religious patronage but are, in effect.

Get ta fuk.

Kids under 17 have sex. Always have.

Not always with the opposite sex either.

The 1850s called...

So, just to clarify, the book talks about dating and online dating?

Are you oppose to 16-17 year old kids who are NOT gay being taught about dating and online dating?

Or are you under the impression the book is actually teaching them how to set up an online dating profile and line up one-night-stands? Because even if that were the case, you can't actually use Grindr (or any other dating website, gay or straight) if you're under 18. So what would the point of this be...?

Personally, I'd be totally in favour of teenagers being taught about dating and the safety and danger protocols involved - would you not be?

Funny how some people can never debate an issue without lying and exaggerating about it (unless you actually believe that the book is genuinely encouraging underage kids to illegally sign up to dating platforms, but I'm seriously guessing that's not the case) - but then if you didn't, your argument would die a very quick death, wouldn't it?

As I put it to another poster on the left-wing thread: do you ever stop to think that these lies and exaggerations (which they are, let's be honest) might actually BE the threat itself?

Someone can correct me if I am wrong here and I will remove the content of this post. However, I believe that the precise section from the book is as follows:

"How sex apps work:

1. Upload a tiny pic of yourself to the app.

2. The app works out your location.

3. The app tells you who the nearest homosexuals are.

4. You then chat to them.

5. Because they are near, it is easy to meet up with them.

...if you’re looking for the ubiquitous “fun” (the words “sex,” “shag,” and the F-word, ironically, are banned on most sex apps), be upfront about it and then no one’s feelings are going to get hurt."

Can someone explain to me precisely why a grown adult would actually want to give this "how to" guide to young people? I understand that the book is targeted towards the teen demographic?

What doesn't particularly sit well with me is the fact that a grown adult sat down and thought "ok I need to tell the kids exactly how to use sex apps" and then decided this was something that absolutely had to go in their book.

"But the apps don't allow people under 18 to sign up!"

It’s Too Easy for Minors to Join Dating Apps - The Atlantic

Does the book actually follow up it's handy guide to using sex apps with warnings about the possible dangers?

Like I said, I do wonder what's going on in the mind of an adult who thinks it's a good idea to target this content to people under the age of 18.

"But they can see anything on their phones these days."

Sure, that's a good argument to have a section in the book warning them about the dangers of these apps and other internet forums or communities that the kids might stumble into. Not a good argument for giving them a how to guide.

Worth nothing that our "how sex apps work guide" makes no mention of needing to be 18. Funny how that works.

I think if people took the political battles out of the equation then anyone with a bit of common sense would see the problem here. Or at least would see the potential problems.

Flaneur O'Brien dumped it for context so I discussed it.

So I didn't dump it? Flaneur did. I gave my opinion and you don't like my opinion.

Great, we're all up to speed now.

Expanding on the logic used for your opinion would also mean educating kids about sex would lead to them having more of it which every study has proven to be absolutely untrue, all that happens is those that are having sex are doing it safer. Therefore your opinion is uninformed bigoted right wing alarmist nonsense.

Here's an article linking to a comprehensive study, i'll quote some of the key findings listed in the article just to make things easier for you.

Education decreases pregnancies through increased contraception use.

But shows no increase in sexual activity

And heres the study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4852976/

To be fair, the "library thugs" tend to go after the trans community than the gay community, but the reasons for doing so are equally ignorant.

Demonise the people you don't want, tell lies about them - BIG lies - and then get people to believe the lies and create an atmosphere of fear based on nothing but deliberately promoted ignorance. It's been the way from Goebbels to McCarthy to Nixon to Trump to Putin. And THAT is where your dangers lie, people.

At what age do you think children should learn about sex?

We have had this discussion before in Ireland, post Ann Lovett, the x case.

I remember the LLS and those awful nutjobs who didn't want anybody to have sex outside of marriage, never mind learn about it or use contraception.

Move on 35 years... now its gay sex, same crowd, (not literally) same moronic carry on, about teenagers learning about something that many will be looking up online from the age of 12 anyhow.

Have none of ye children or been teenagers yourselves? 🙄

For those parents who are throwing hissy fits over a teen how to book, look at your children's social media and talk to them about what they see and read most weeks from their friends and others not so friendly, about sex.

I would rather they read a book like the one described or whatever the direction they might be leaning, and I gave them the chance to discuss anything. Most teens would cringe at the thought of talking to their parents abput sex, but at least they know their parents are at least ' willing to' discuss or are supportive.

The burn the books /shut the discussion down people have had their day.

What?

What's vile is turning someone's murder into a political agenda.

Speculating that it was a person of colour, speculating that it was a theft, specualating that diversity and acceptance are agendas, speculating that it's the LGBTQ movement's fault that she was shot...

Not sure where that comes from, I was just answering your question. Unless you're talking about the raindbow flags turning kids trans comment