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EDUCATION

Gay rights group riled by tampon makers’ sex ed books

The youth arm of Sweden's largest gay rights group has expressed fury at educational material distributed by two major tampon manufacturers.

Published: 15 December 2008 15:25 CET
Gay rights group riled by tampon makers' sex ed books

The two companies, Libresse and OB, are accused by RFSL Ungdom of providing teachers with sex education material that “reinforces offensive norms and opinions”.

One of the books indicates that, for young people, the idea of being homosexual “is enough to send a shiver down their spine.” There is also a passage that states: “If you are a Muslim, you may not be allowed to have a girlfriend or boyfriend”.

In another section, Muslim girls concerned that they might not bleed on their wedding night are advised to contact a gynecologist who can sew stitches in their vaginal opening.

“Libresse and OB ought to be ashamed of themselves for giving out material that is so heteronormative and in many ways racist,” said Felix König, chairman of the youth faction of RFSL, the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, in a statement.

The two makers of women’s hygiene items have pooled their resources to compile sex education material for pupils aged 13-14 and 15-16.

RFSL Ungdom said it believed the two educational packages produced by the companies ran counter to laws protecting Swedish schoolchildren from exposure to offensive material.

“We hope all schools that have distributed this material gather it back in and throw it away. Pupils shouldn’t have to read offensive opinions. We are also going to contact Schools Minister Jan Björklund,” said Felix König.

EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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