A disturbing series of Twitter threads have been circulating lately, highlighting the efforts so-called sex educators will go through to groom children. We're not merely talking about teenagers here, either, but preteens and younger. Ashley Robertson is looking to charge parents $250 to teach their children in third-fifth grade about sex with an emphasis on "Affirming, non-binary, body-positive, social emotional learning through play!" Though the event page for Eventbrite has since been removed, archived versions and screenshots remain, and as of Wednesday evening, it is still available on All Events Indiana's web page.
The event runs from June 6-10, from 8am-5pm, amounting to 36 hours of activity and discussions at a "sex-ed summer camp."
In addition to being charged $250, parents will also be out of that fee should they not attend the orientation on May 28. With original emphasis, the All Events Indiana's page notes the following about the orientation:
All families participating must attend an orientation May 28th at 10am where we'll sign behavior agreements, enrollment paperwork, and waivers. If you do not attend, you will not be refunded and your child will not be able to attend camp. Mark your calendars now for ORIENTATION. It is important that trust and complete understanding be established for us to teach this content.
The events page included an FAQ, with one question responding "No" when answering "Will my child be told values-based rules?" The answer goes on to read, with original emphasis, that "This curriculum is based on the foundational principle that each individual comes to the content with an individual set of values. It is our job to ask questions and help students consider multiple perspectives. We are NOT to TELL students anything unless it is scientific information."
However, the program flies in the face of biology and thus "scientific information" when it comes to sex and gender. Not only does the program advertise itself as "non-binary," but it affirms this in the very first part of the FAQ section:
Q: Will the kids be divided by gender when learning about puberty/bodies/sex?
A: No. Gender is a spectrum and not a binary. Everyone needs to learn about all bodies so they can be supportive friends, partners, and parents if that happens in their futures.
Another answer confirms that children will see condom demonstrations. "At this age, kids are primed for level-headed learning. They are information-gatherers. There is no shame or ickiness associated with using bandaids and that same philosophy is applied to condoms and other barriers in this body-positive curriculum," the explanation reads.
Mia Cathell did a deep dive piece for The Post Millennial on Monday, as did Tony Kinnett for Chalkboard Review, who first broke the news.
As Kinnett wrote, in addition to sharing such information in his Twitter thread:
Ashley Robertson, “Sexuality Educator” and founder of the organization “Let’s Talk About Sex Ed with Ms. Ashley,” opened a June event called “Sex Ed Summer Camp (for grades 3-5)” to the Indianapolis community. From the event website, Ashley offers what she claims is a “positive, affirming take on puberty, human sexuality, and social emotional skills without coercive abstinence-based strategies.” Ashley plans to show students from ages 7 to 12 condom demonstrations, the gender spectrum, and “introspective discussions” on sexuality.
The event utilizes the Our Whole Lives curriculum, something Ashley says kids “NEED to learn that school doesn’t teach.”
Ashley has hosted two other virtual workshops with children recently: “Sensuality, Sex, & Orgasms” and “Potty Training & Early Sex Education.”
The “Let’s Talk About Sex Ed with Ms. Ashley” Facebook group and Instagram pages host a disturbing lineup of content, including Ashley holding up a carrot and making suggestive remarks about “pervertable objects” regarding condoms to a young audience, an animation of a condom sliding onto a banana on “National Condom Day”, and young children’s books where the children are identified as transgender and nonbinary.
On recent appearances on several podcasts and interviews, Robinson has called for parents to “safely and healthily” introduce pornography to their children.
While Ashley refused to provide any comment regarding the curriculum or activities at the sex education summer camp, she did release a statement regarding an Indiana parent group, calling them “a hate group here in Indiana. They target books, social emotional learning, LGBTQ+ folx, etc.” The restaurant hosting the summer camp has also refused comment.
Cathell has also explained how Robertson has a habit of advocating for sexually explicit content for those under 18:
Back in June, she was a special guest on a Facebook Live discussion hosted by Facebook group "Let's Talk Polyamory" where they outlined "How to Talk Relationship Diversity, Sex, Kink, and Awkward Stuff with Kids and Youth."
Robertson's sex education students can be as young as potty-training age.
Later in August, she made a guest appearance on "Multiamory," a member of "Pleasure Podcasts," for an episode on "Kids, Consent, and Sex Education."
During the conversation, Robertson, who identifies as "a feminine, bi-curious, ethically polyamorous, sexual submissive," instructed listeners "how to talk to your kids about non-monogamy." The August 2021 episode's description says, "With over a decade of experience in the BDSM scene, she isn't shy of perverse topics." Robertson holds three teaching degrees and focuses on increasing "sex-positivity within the family culture," the detailed Spotify profile on Robertson explains.
At the time, Robertson had been teaching the Our Whole Lives curriculum for the past five years and had opened an in-home daycare, she said in the episode.
On the hour-long podcast, Robertson discussed greater access to pornography for viewers under the age of 18, citing a workshop in the high school curriculum stating that pornographic images and videos are for adult viewership only.
"It's a little lean for my opinion..." said Robertson, according to the Multiamory episode transcript released Aug. 31, 2021. "I say that that's lean because I think that that is the law, but the reality is that youth have access to a lot of things."
Robertson and the podcast hosts then acknowledged they'd "definitely" and "absolutely" watched pornography before they'd reached the legal age.
"I would prefer that content to talk more about sources for ethical porn and to talk more about collaborative problem solving with your youth or your kid," Robertson said. She advised that instead of clamping down on inappropriate online activity, parents should acknowledge "there's a need that's not met" that children are "trying to fulfill" by clicking on forbidden sites they're not allowed to be on.
Robertson urged for a more relaxed and "collaborative" parenting-style in which parents tell their children: "It's my job as your parent to acknowledge those needs and meet your needs, so how can we do this and figure this out together."
"In those situations, even for elementary school kids, there are resources for age appropriate images that kids can see," Robertson insisted. She said, as an example, in the Our Whole Lives elementary curriculum, each child is supposed to have "a doodle journal" for drawing "penises and boobs vulvas and butts."
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At another point during the discussion, Robertson said that if a child is "curious about kink, be excited, because they're curious about themselves."
"That's the first thing to celebrate with them," Robertson said, adding that it's best to find out what the child already knows first about the explicit subject.
The Our Whole Lives (OWL) web page from the Unitarian Universalist Association encourages sex ed lessons for children as young as kindergarten, or 5-years-old. The page claims that the program offers bullet points such as "Acceptance of diversity" and "A social justice approach to inclusive sexuality education."
Included in the section addressing "values" is the following paragraph:
Our Whole Lives recognizes and respects the diversity of participants with respect to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability status in addition to cultural and racial background. The activities and language used throughout the program have been carefully chosen to be as inclusive as possible of this human diversity.
The event page provides some information about the kinds of people who will be teaching sex ed to such young children, including their pronouns. One such staff member, Jenna Phillips, notes that she is "a board member of IndyPride and a volunteer with Damien Center. I support the LGBTQ youth in Indianapolis through IYG."
It also solicits "High School Assistants," who they are "still hiring!"
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) provided a statement for Townhall, noting "I was shocked to read about this in my home state. It’s truly disturbing and it shouldn’t fall only to conservatives to oppose it." He added that "No one should ever tolerate the sexualization of kids," emphasizing "This shouldn't be a partisan issue" and that "More on the left need to start speaking out against this evil."