Warsaw government wants to ban sex education

On Wednesday thousands of people protested in several cities across Poland against a bill that proposes imprisonment for teachers who teach sex education. The proposal was initiated by abortion opponents who are committed to "protecting children and adolescents from sexual corruption." Poland's commentators are as divided as its society.

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Gazeta Polska Codziennie (PL) /

Sex education is useless

Gazeta Polska Codziennie believes that the protesting teachers are not truly concerned about the proposed bill but have their own interests in mind:

“Providing society with sexual education makes no sense because it obviously does not protect people from paedophiles, harassment, rape or chauvinism. It hasn't worked anywhere in the world and hasn't eliminated any problems. If this is the case, why is there such a heated debate now? It's simple. Sex education teachers are simply worried about their jobs.”

Rzeczpospolita (PL) /

Please don't go back to Victorian times

Rzeczpospolita finds this proposal absurd:

“After the law goes into effect, parents can theoretically be prosecuted for not minding that their near 18-year-old daughter or son is having sex with a partner or even simply talking about it openly. What's even more absurd is that encouragement [by parents] is punishable, but not the act of sex itself. By agreeing to such ill-considered solutions, the parliament is supporting a legal absurdity. Let's put aside the ideological quarrel and take a sober look at the proposed changes. Because the discussion about harsher punishment for paedophiles is one thing, but the proposal to return to the Victorian era is quite another.”