During a meeting of the parliamentary social affairs committee yesterday, which discussed sexual education, educators expressed their disappointment to what students were exposed to during Xarabank’s programme aired two weeks ago, which discussed sex as well as the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.

The educator explained how the Monday following, teachers heard students discussing the programme, and how students argued that the women deemed to have been sexually abused in the movie gave her consent for the act.

“A two-hour programme such as that can literally destroy everything we have sought to teach these students about sexual education.  Students have been exposed to sexual violence, and the fact that the programme is in Maltese only means they are able to relate more to it.”

Meanwhile, another educator explained how some of the students in church school felt teachers were sinning when educating them about sex. Roselle Cuschieri, representing church schools said that there is the prevailing mentality that sex is tabooed in church school. “To a certain extent, I do admit there is still fear on the subject. But sexual education lessons have been held for years, and the subject has always been taught in its entirety.” 

Mrs Cuschieri went on to explain how one fifth form student told a teacher she was sinning when she was teaching students how to use a condom. She explained that ideally, specialized teachers would carry out such a lesson, however most often, it is the PSD teacher which has to do so.

When asked to comment by The Malta Independent, Xarabank’s producer and presenter Peppi Azzopardi said that if the educator making such allegations truly believes that a two-hour programme can cancel out years of sexual education, then it only goes to show that what is being taught is ineffective. Proving more so, even the educator himself doesn't believe in the current sexual education process.

“Fifty Shades of Grey has sold 100 million copies worldwide, and like other national and international television shows, we took the decision to discuss the book’s content, the same week the film was released. The topic was discussed by experts in this field: a sexual educator, a psychiatrist, a doctor, a lawyer and a priest who is also a clinical psychologist. We did not, in any way, promote sexual violence; rather, the panel agreed that the sexual relationship pictured in the film could very well be abuse even if it was consensual," Mr Azzopardi said.

The presenter said that the programme was restricted to adult viewers, and this was made clear both during promotional spots and throughout the programme.