US Commentator Lauren Chen has hit out at the "war on sex education" in the UK, following the latest plans to ban lessons for children under nine.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced backlash from parents after implementing plans to completely ban sex education for children up to year five of school, with limited education up to the age of 13 and over.
Appearing on GBN America, Lauren Chen slammed the decision to teach sex education in schools and claimed that in many cases, schools and teachers have "crossed a line".
Chen admitted she is "thankful" that there is "now a movement and pushback" from parents on the teaching of sex education, but also called on parents to "do better" as well.
Reacting to the news of the UK's planned ban, Chen told GBNA: "It's hard to say when exactly it became controversial to say I'm not sure if I want some stranger, a teacher, talking to my young child, perhaps as young as five or six years old, about things like masturbation and same-sex attraction. But here we are.
"I think as a society, we've gotten used to the sexualisation of everything from movies to books, and it should only really follow that."
Hailing the parents pushing back against the teachings in schools, Chen added: "Thankfully there are enough parents who are sick of it that we're starting to see a movement, a pushback saying kids should learn about biology when it comes to an age-appropriate time.
"But when we're talking about these young children who are coming home, telling their parents that they're being taught about things like masturbation, about sex, and unfortunately, even in some extreme cases, sex toys, it really has crossed a line."
Chen also called on the parents of school children to "do a better job" of pushing back against schools if they are unhappy with what is being taught.
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Chen fumed: "I think parents need to do a better job making school officials understand that ultimately it is they who are in control of their children's education. And really the school is just there to administer that.
"There are a lot of issues that I think probably would be best to leave to the parents entirely. If the school is going to involve itself though, absolutely it should be done at a later age, and it should be done with parental approval and guidance every step of the way."
When asked by host Mark if Chen believes parents are being "frozen out of the equation" when it comes to sex education and gender identity in schools, she agreed "absolutely, 100 per cent".
Chen explained: "In the US there is an ongoing battle between educators and parents, over who exactly has the right to make huge decisions in a child's life up to and including whether that child is identifying as another gender and maybe even being given hormones.
"Below a certain age, it's just not appropriate to talk about things like sex and sexuality with a kid. And also that if a child does decide, hey, I'm a different gender, I want to go by whatever pronouns that parents must be notified about it.
"This is a huge decision that a child might be making, which really indicates that they're going through even more under the surface, likely if they're even talking about things like gender identity."
In defence of the teachers facing backlash from parents, Chen also argued: "For the progressive activist side, many teachers have been fighting tooth and nail to say, no, we need to actually protect kids from their parents. And schools should be the safe place, not the parents.
"There's a real war happening there, and we need to ensure that ultimately, end of the day, parents are the ones who are trusted with these huge decisions when it comes to their children's lives. Not the state, not the government, and certainly not random teachers who are trying to busybody themselves and act as if they are the child's primary caregivers, which they're not."
