Sex Matters Research Articles

How Life is Handed on

OFFICIAL recognition by the Ministry of Education that instruction in sex matters should be included as a normal part of the school programme has led to a growing demand by teachers and parents for books which could be used as readers by children. For children aged about eleven years this book would be eminently suitable, both for its simplicity of style and absence of moralizing. The living kingdom is dealt with as a whole and all references to human reproduction and sex behaviour are carefully arranged to make them fit naturally into the text. There are many illustrations which are apt and well drawn, while three useful appendixes are concerned with the answers to questions which children frequently ask, further reading matter and a simple glossary. Exception might be taken to some of Bibby's dogmatic answers to questions on the grounds of unsubstantiated evidence, but even here he has erred on the human side to reassure children about certain fears which often do much to interfere with healthy development.