Guide for girls sparks Spanish sex storm

For its proponents, it was supposed to be a woman's pocket guide to relaxation and discovering one's inner self, but for its critics, a Spanish "guide for girls" looks more like the main road to sexual hell and damnation.

Rightwing daily La Razon on Wednesday hailed the temporary withdrawal of the guide by the Women's Institute of the central northern region of Castilla La Mancha after a storm blew up over some of its rather fruitier content, which included encouraging girls to try out mutual full body massage.

Paloma de Castro, chairwoman of the regional federation of the family, called the guide a "perversion without precedent" which "incites the practice of homosexuality among girls not sufficiently mature to have any kind of sexual relations."

A statement by the regional government said it would stop distributing the guide to schools in the region "on a provisional basis ... to ensure the adaptation of the text to the pedagogical requirements of the school community of Castilla La Mancha."

The statement added that the document had come in for scathing criticism from some political parties as well as the influential Catholic Church.

"They have shown their disapproval of these documents, saying that they are an invitation 'to lesbianism and masturbation,'" the regional government noted.
Archbishop Antonio Canizares of Toledo had been among those to offer the most biting criticism, saying that the guide "disfigures and belittles women" and "invades parents' territory" regarding sex education.

According to the Institute, the reason behind the guide, aimed at 11 to 18-year-olds was to "modify thinking and discriminatory conduct to arrive at a new model of woman."
Alongside depictions of a young women massaging the upper body of another the guide suggested finding a "confidante to give you massages, relax you, let yourself go... you'll surely feel as if you are on another planet."

The guide dubbed its advice a means of encouraging young women to understand "how to love themselves" and to understand how to give "sexual expression to others, be they of a different sex or of the same sex."

Canizares, seeing in the latter comment the promotion of lesbian behaviour, had Tuesday demanded the "immediate withdrawal" of the guide, while the regional branch of the main conservative opposition Popular Party also decried its content.

Regional vice-president Fernando Lamata promised the regional government would listen to its critics over the issue.