An optional sexuality class in Pennsylvania reportedly featured close-up photographs of penises, vulvas, and a video of female ejaculation, as stated by an English teacher in an interview. The school has confirmed its support for the teacher, according to a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
Al Vernacchio is an English teacher at a private school in Wynnewood called Friends’ Central School. According to his website, he is involved in the school’s sexuality curriculum, which spans from nursery to 12th grade. He has previously mentioned this information on at least one occasion. However, following the publication of an article, the school clarified that there is no sexual education curriculum prior to the fourth grade, the outlet noted further.
As the Sexuality Education Coordinator, Vernacchio teaches courses, coordinates sexuality-related programs and events, and serves as one of the faculty advisors for the Gender and Sexual Orientation Alliance, Fox News Digital added.
According to a 2011 interview that has recently resurfaced, Vernacchio shared his explicit teaching strategies with The New York Times Magazine, acknowledging that these methods had caused concerns among people outside the school. The teacher stated that his aim was to reduce the sensitivity of children to genital imagery.
“The lessons that tend to raise eyebrows outside the school, according to Vernacchio, are a medical research video he shows of a woman ejaculating — students are allowed to excuse themselves if they prefer not to watch — and a couple of dozen up-close photographs of vulvas and penises,” the magazine reported. “The photos, Vernacchio said, are intended to show his charges the broad range of what’s out there.”
“It’s really a process of desensitizing them to what real genitals look like, so they’ll be less freaked out by their own and, one day, their partner’s,” he added.
The graphic lessons were reportedly presented to students in the 11th and 12th grades. Students were given the choice to opt out of viewing the nude images, and parental consent was required for enrollment in the class.
The school has expressed its unwavering support for the teacher.
“Al Vernacchio is a nationally renowned and highly respected educator. It is disappointing that his work and our School are being miscast so thoroughly. Friends’ Central is committed to cultivating the intellectual, ethical and spiritual promise of our students, in a world that needs that more than ever,” they said in a statement.
“What’s interesting is that both the boys and girls receive the photographs of the penises rather placidly but often insist that the vulvas don’t look ‘normal,'” the profile of Vernacchio continued.
“[The students] have no point of reference for what a normal, healthy vulva looks like, even their own,” Vernacchio said.
Additionally, Vernacchio has made remarks about children in the context of “sexual being[s],” Fox News added.
Al Vernacchio is a sex educator for kids ages 3 to 18 at Friends’ Central School in PA.
“…everyone single one of these kids is a sexual being. They have been since birth and at every age and stage, we can offer them age appropriate transformative sex Ed.” pic.twitter.com/oldZFIu0jQ
— Megan Brock (@MegEBrock) February 10, 2023
“I’m responsible for the sexuality education of all of our students from our youngest students who are three years old in nursery school, up through our 12th graders who are turning 18 and getting ready to leave high school. That’s a huge range, but every single one of those kids is a sexual being. They have been since birth,” he said. “And at every age and stage, we can offer them age appropriate, transformative sexuality education.”
