I would abolish sex education. Not for any prudish, religious or moral reasons, but because I want children to have a deeper understanding of the role sex and gender play in their lives – and, given that knowledge brings power, the confidence to say yes or no without ever being coerced.

My sex education at school was limited to a deeply embarrassed, female religious education teacher having to explain the meaning of “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. Her drawing of an erect penis on the blackboard, and likening of it to an ice-cream cone, had a profound effect on a class of giddy 11-year-old schoolgirls.

Here’s my plan: remove the word sex from the curriculum and instead call it gender education. Teach the practicalities of reproduction in biology lessons – that way it’s science, and no parent would have any reason to object.

Gender education could start with the very young, exposing them to questions such as: why are boys expected to play football and girls are confined to the netball court? A little feminist history would come in here – such as the belief, as recently as the early 20th century, that a woman’s fertility would be harmed by enthusiastic exercise.

At primary school, pupils would be introduced to the history of the education of boys and girls, along with how difficult things can be for girls in other parts of the world. And then there’s the pink issue. Why is there an assumption that children only like toys designed for their gender?

Then there are the personal questions that affect even the youngest children. Why is it wrong for a boy to peer up a girl’s skirt in the playground, and what do we do if Auntie wants to give us a big sloppy kiss but we don’t like it? It is OK to say no to anything that makes us uncomfortable.

As children approach puberty there would be discussion, in biology, of wet dreams and periods. It might be the moment to introduce such theorists as Germaine Greer – I’ll never forget her advice to be unembarrassed about openly carrying a tampon to the loo. Both boys and girls need to know it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

From 11 onwards would be the time for both boys and girls to be exposed to feminist discourse. I was furious when my younger son, preparing for A-level history, brought home the standard textbook on 20th-century British history and there was less than half a page on the most significant political movement of the age, the suffragettes and the women’s movement.

So let’s teach them about gender politics, domestic violence, rape, naked selfies, employment, housework and childcare. Then we’ll have cracked it

墨尔本文波雅思