Pro-lesbian "guide for girls" withdrawn in Spain

A Spanish guide for young women that includes frank talk about sexuality was withdrawn by the Women's Institute of the central northern region of Castilla–La Mancha after a storm of controversy erupted over some of its more suggestive content, which included encouraging girls to try out mutual full-body massage, Agence France-Presse reports. For its proponents, it was supposed to be a woman's pocket guide to relaxation and discovering one's inner self. But Paloma de Castro, chairwoman of the regional Federation of the Family, called the guide a "perversion without precedent" that "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.

According to the Women's Institute, the rationale behind the guide, which is 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 woman 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."

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