Protection groups call for urgent action to help pupils understand risks of making images that legally constitute child sexual abuse Children in British schools are using artificial intelligence (AI) to make indecent images of other children, a group of experts on child abuse and technology has warned. They said that a number of schools were reporting for the first time that pupils were using AI-generating technology to create images of children that legally constituted child sexual abuse material ..read more

The publisher’s $10,000 Freedom of Expression prize invites teens to write about a banned book that changed their life, against a backdrop of rising censorship Publisher Penguin Random House has launched a new writing award in the US celebrating freedom of expression in response to a rise in book bans across the country. The Freedom of Expression award invites applicants to write about one banned book that changed their life and why. The $10,000 (£8,168) prize will be awarded to a high-school student planning to attend university in 2024 ..read more

Education secretary’s letter emphasises copyright cannot be used as ‘excuse’ to withhold RSHE teaching resources Gillian Keegan has written to schools in England ordering them to make the materials used in children’s sex education available to be seen by parents, warning headteachers there can be “no ifs, no buts, no more excuses”. It is the second letter the education secretary has sent to schools on the issue, which has been seized upon by some backbench Conservative MPs amid claims that children are being exposed to inappropriate material during relationships, sex and health education (RSHE ..read more

The mental health campaigner’s new book tackles sex and relationships through the eyes of a 16-year-old. In the face of a backlash against inclusive sex ed in schools she explains why we have to keep the conversation open Sex education has always been a hot topic. But at a time when children are seeing pornography by the age of 13 on average, it feels especially urgent. With her young adult novel Babushka, the sequel to the coming-of-age Toxic, mental health campaigner Natasha Devon MBE tackles themes like victim blaming, safe sex and healthy relationships through the eyes of Cerys, age 16, wh ..read more

In his four years as a sex worker, Dan Moon saw women whose needs were more than physical. He brought a listening ear – and an open heart – which led to him ‘falling in care’ with his clients It’s not that men never noticed Ellie*. “I was just not one bit interested,” she says. While her friends were out collecting “horror stories” and boyfriends, then later, husbands and children, her focus was “finish school, go to uni, get a job, do all that stuff”. That focus paid off with a career in science, but by the time she turned 37 she was still a virgin, “and I felt like a part of me was missing ..read more

There’s clearly a lot of pain for both of you – and your stories need to be heard if you are to break the see-saw pattern My sister is 12 years older than me, in her early 70s. We have always had a “seesaw”“ relationship. When it’s good, we go on holiday together and share laughs.. However, she is also prone to making snide remarks and, when challenged, claims they are in jest or have been misinterpreted. She is also controlling, rather snobbish and won’t accept other people’s opinions if they conflict with her own ideas of “how things should be done”. I suspect she might be jealous of me beca ..read more

In 2018, cartoonist Fiona Katauskas's book, The Amazing True Story of How Babies are Made, had been on Kmart and Big W shelves for three years when someone took issue with what they deemed an inappropriate illustration. What started as a debate over the offending picture on Facebook would explode over several days into multiple headlines. Here is her take on what happened I know what it’s like to be at the centre of a sex education shitstorm. But kids deserve open and honest information ..read more

Opponents believe that a comprehensive sex education makes children and young people vulnerable, but the opposite is true Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Full disclosure: I have not (yet) read Yumi Stynes’ and Dr Melissa Kang’s book, Welcome To Sex. Nor, I strongly suspect, have pretty much any of the offenderati currently calling for its cancellation. Unlike them, however, I’m all for books like this and while unfamiliar with this particular volume, I know what it’s like to be an author at the centre of a sex ed shitstorm. My book, The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made ..read more

Internal battle between ministers leaving schools in England isolated, says headteachers’ representative Schools are being left in limbo by the government’s “political squabbles” delaying its transgender guidance for students and staff, according to school leaders. Rishi Sunak had promised that guidance for schools in England dealing with trans issues would be published by the end of the summer term. But the guidance has been held up by legal questions, with No 10 saying on Wednesday that “more evidence is required” before publication ..read more

Inspectors praise ‘sensitive and impartial’ teaching of relationship and sex education at Rye College after secret video raised concerns Ofsted has given the school at the centre of the “cat pupil” allegations a clean bill of health, with inspectors praising its “culture of kindness” as well as its handling of relationship and sex education. Ofsted inspected Rye College in East Sussex after a complaint by Kemi Badenoch, the minister for women and equalities. There had been media coverage of a video of pupils arguing with a teacher over gender and identity, with one pupil appearing to claim tha ..read more