By Richard Burdge

TACTICS EMPLOYED to tackle sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies were attacked yesterday as a “condom slinging mentality”.

Father Steven Mulholland told fellow members of Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee that on-going initiatives disappointed him.

Current thinking seemed to accept that sexual activity among teenagers was inevitable, said Father Mulholland, leaving young people to fulfil these expectations.

He asked if anyone had heard of abstinence but conceded that “heroic self-denial” might not always be a realistic expectation.

Father Mulholland likened current views to sexual activity to those that used to be held about smoking.

Smoking used to be seen as glamorous but the public perception had changed over the years and he said education could bring about a change in sexual attitudes.

Councillor Alan Jack said he was sympathetic with the views of Father Mulholland, but added that simply telling people not to do things didn’t work.

“This is a very serious subject and the consequences we have to deal with,” he said.

The committee was considering a draft strategy on sexual health and relationships for Tayside.

Currently out for consultation, the strategy was developed by a multi-agency group, including representatives from NHS Tayside and other community planning partners.

It makes several recommendations intended to improve sexual health locally, focused mainly on primary prevention and improved access to services.

Tayside has already met the Executive’s target to reduce teenage pregnancy rates by 20%.

A council response to the draft strategy, which councillors approved yesterday, welcomed the informative nature of the document and recognition within it that sexual well-being is not simply “the absence of disease or unintended pregnancy”.

They decided further work was needed on the roles that community planning partners, including the council, will play in meeting the needs of hard-to-reach and at-risk groups and the overall emphasis was felt to be narrowly focused on health care services, targets and actions.