Australia: When 'Safe Schools' sexualises children, should we be surprised about school porn rings?

Australian parents have been shocked and horrified to learn that pornographic pictures of girls from as many as 70 private and public schools across the country have been shared on an online message forum. Also deeply concerning is the discovery that Australian schoolboys have been involved in the running of this child pornography ring.

But should we be shocked?

Our children swim in an ocean of online pornography thanks to their ubiquitous technological devices and parliamentary advocates for porn such as Victoria's Sex Party MP, Fiona Patten.

But are the increasing revelations of sexualisation in our schools surprising when we consider the introduction to our schools of the highly sexualised and misnamed Safe Schools and Building Respectful Relationships curricula?

The Safe Schools Coalition developed much of its materials in collaboration with Minus18 and schools around the country used their material which promoted so-called adult resources to children. Following an outcry from parents, materials endorsing Minus18 were removed from the Safe Schools Hub in all States except for Victoria which retains it in its entirety, including instructions on how children can cover their tracks online from their parents and teachers.

Are we surprised that our young men are disrespectful to our young women as they spread degrading and humiliating images of fellow students when we have allowed the promotion of games that tell them to "name three people in the order that you would like to "F***, marry and kill.

Why do we wring our hands and wonder what's going wrong when government-funded school curriculum has included instructions such as:

One Grindr hook-up gone wrong, and that's how I got myself some gonorrhoea. But let's backtrack here so I can fill out some holes (pun intended) in my little life drama… So it's not as terrible as you may have expected, in fact it's not terrible at all.

I've had friends who count their first time giving oral as their virginity.

But the government-approved sexualisation of our children begins even earlier than school. Early Childhood Australia is one of our nation's peak early childhood organisations for children from birth to 8 years old. Their resource, 'Children's Sexual Development and Behaviour: Pants Aren't Rude' instructs parents and teachers to think about their children, and even babies, as "sexual beings".

They state that "Children are sexual beings and it's a strong part of their identity". Quotes from this book include - Children have sexual feelings from birth. Children are born as sexual beings without sexual inhibitions; Children need to learn that... sex and the sexual parts of their bodies are good.

The book says that simulated intercourse with clothes on is common sex play for children who are 5 - 8 years old.

And then there's the Turnbull-government funded program entitled Building Respectful Relationships which presents adolescent sexuality as the norm and encourages explicit discussion of sexuality. Students aged 12 and 13 study sexualised personal ads which includes ads such as "lustful, sexually generous'' person seeking "sexy freak out with similarly intentioned woman''. They then write their own advertisements seeking the "perfect partner''.

Teachers are warned - "You will need to explain some abbreviations or get the students to work out what they mean.'' Child sexual activity is assumed: "How do you work out and negotiate having sexual contact within your relationship or in your life?"

The program includes a "role-playing game" for 12 year olds which includes students taking on the character of a bisexual who has had 15 sexual partners and rarely practices safe sex, because she is often drunk when she has sex. Another character is 16 who has been sexually active since she was 13. At the conclusion of this exercise teachers are advised to help "de-role" the students who have been involved in the role play activity in case they have slipped into a state of distress or disassociation.

And we are surprised that our boys are behaving badly when it comes to respecting women when government programs in schools expect and affirm early sexual activity? It's not rocket science.