DUTY OF PARENTS IN SEX INSTRUCTION

Southland Times, Issue 24837, 1 September 1942, Page 4

DUTY OF PARENTS IN SEX INSTRUCTION

Comment Macle By Judge (Special) AUCKLAND, August 31. “It seems to me that parents have a duty to inform their children, and particularly the sons, when reaching the adolescent age about sexual matters, which are bound to come before their notice in another way and in a very undesirable way,” said Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court. He had before him for sentence a youth ,of 17 who had admitted indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl. His Honour said that this was another of these cases that came before the Court where a young man had committed an offence of this kind, having been prevented from resisting the inclination to commit it largely by ignorance of sexual matters. It really was the function of some authority other than the Supreme Court to express an opinion guiding community action on this matter, but he felt it his duty to say this because it had been pointedly brought before him. “Unfortunately, the history of this subject in this country and in England,” continued his Honour, “has been a history of silence and recoil from this duty. It has been perfectly clear that if parents had recognized their obligations and approached the matter after due consideration, and explained the very natural and simple facts connected with sexual difficulties, a great deal of this sort of temptation and a great deal of idle and foolish and harmful talk would have been avoided. This youth might well have suffered from that tradition of reticence of parents toward their children on sexual matters. That attitude is difficult to understand or justify.” His Honour released the youth on probation and ordered the suppression of his name.