Fact Check: Does School Book on Anal Sex, Masturbation Target 5-Year-Olds?

Book bannings in U.S. schools have spread in recent years, with some parents complaining about texts that they believe prematurely introduce children and minors to explanations about sex, sexuality, and gender roles.

Now, in one interaction that created a buzz on social media this week, a video shared on Twitter showed a parent excoriating her local school district for allegedly trying to teach children about anal sex and masturbation, among other topics.

The Claim

A tweet posted by Chuck Castello, on March 31, 2023, which has been viewed 3.6 million times, stated: "Mother leaves school board silent after reading SEX MATERIAL from library and classroom books that target children as young as 5..

"MEDIA DEAD SILENT.."

The tweet includes a video of a woman claiming plans were being made to "make sure that when our students want to know whether or not they have a vagina or a penis, they have pictures from your staff to be able to help them.

"They don't have enough sex. They don't have enough anal sex. They need adults to tell them how to masturbate. And what I call that is... so here's what I'm asking you.

"You have a hard time hearing this from me but this is for 10-year-olds and up and this bill was passed for five-year-olds. And you have a hard time, me sitting here telling you the words anal sex, masturbation, that's hard for you?"

During the video, the woman holds up a book titled "It's Perfectly Normal".

The Facts

The video that Castello shares and refers to here was originally posted nearly two years ago and filmed at a school board meeting for Bloomington Public Schools District 87, Illinois, on June 9, 2021.

During the meeting, members of the public commented on (among other matters) sex education and an Illinois Senate bill, then yet to be approved, on sex education.

The bill, S.B. 0818, was approved in August 2021 by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Part of the bill states that the State Board of Education would lead efforts to "develop and adopt rigorous learning standards in the area of comprehensive personal health and safety education for pupils in kindergarten through the 5th grade."

This, it adds, would be based on "age and developmentally-appropriate education that aligns with the National Sex Education Standards, including information on consent and healthy relationships, anatomy and physiology, puberty and adolescent sexual development, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation and identity, sexual health, and interpersonal violence."

The National Sex Education Standards (NSES) is a guide developed by education professionals at the non-profit Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, Advocates for Youth, and Answer (out of Rutgers University).

The NSES, first published in 2012, is part of an initiative called the Future of Sex Education, which aims to improve sex education across the U.S.

Nonetheless, a statement by Pritzker from August 2021 said that the standards were "voluntary" unless schools were "teaching comprehensive sexual health education" adding that "parents can choose to opt out."

It added that the Illinois State Board of Education would "develop and adopt these new voluntary learning standards in consultation with stakeholders, including parents, sexual health and violence prevention experts, health care providers, and education advocates."

The NSES section on guidance for kindergarten-age pupils does not include any of the topics mentioned by the woman in the video, who is named in a Facebook post of the video as "Becky Swan".

Guidance exists at the lowest end for children aged between kindergarten and the second grade. Among this guidance is that, by the end of second grade, children should be able to "list medically accurate names for body parts, including the genitals."

It also states that they should by the end of second grade be able to "define reproduction and explain that all living things may have the capacity to reproduce" and "define child sexual abuse and identify behaviors that would be considered child sexual abuse".

By grade five, it advises that students should be able to explain "common human sexual development" including masturbation, and by the end of grade eight be able to define "vaginal, oral and anal sex."

This is substantially different from the characterization in the short clip shared on Twitter. A glossary of terms in the guide explains these processes in simple detail.

The guidelines also do not mention the use of the book "It's Perfectly Normal".

The book has been banned in some U.S. schools, driven by its use of illustrations that occasionally depict nudity and sexual interactions. While there are diagrams of penises and vaginas, among other sexual images, the drawings are simple and cartoonish.

Newsweek obtained a copy of the book and found no references that children or any other group "don't have enough sex... don't have enough anal sex". Moreover, the book neither encourages nor discourages sexual activity, and also mentions abstinence and asexuality.

Part of the clip's misleadingness is that Swan appears to be attacking the book alone, while a longer version of her speech shows that she refers to the NSES as well.

As mentioned, the NSES does not refer to the book, nor does S.B. 0818. The book states on its front cover that it is for ages 10 and up.

The reference to "MEDIA SILENCE" suggests the clip was recently published, which it wasn't; additionally the meeting received reporting coverage and commentary pickup from conservative media.

While the approach to teaching sex education in schools may remain a matter of subjectivity, the way in which "It's Perfectly Normal" and the NSES have been described on Twitter and in the viral clip is inaccurate.

Newsweek reached out to Chuck Castello via his website on Wednesday but has not yet had a response. Newsweek also contacted a representative for Bloomington Public Schools District 87 via email for comment on Wednesday, and to ask if the NSES was adopted in its district, but did not receive a response before publication.

The Ruling

False.

The book referred to in the clip is a sex education text called "It's Perfectly Normal" and is intended for ages 10 and up, not targeted at five-year-olds.

The contents of the book, viewed by Newsweek, do not suggest that children "do not have enough sex... don't have enough anal sex".

The tweeted clip was taken from an Illinois school board meeting in 2021 discussing a state senate bill that introduced new sex education standards and guidelines for schools.

A longer version of the clip includes the speaker mentioning this sex education guidance.

"It's Perfectly Normal" is not a mandated text in schools and it is not mentioned in the guidance introduced, which is voluntary and has an opt-out for parents.

FACT CHECK BY Newswee's Fact Check team