The middle aged American man being brought into Aussie schools to talk to kids about sex.

Weeks ago, the name Jason Evert would have barely been known by many in Australia. Now, there's a legion of parents who are banding together and calling for his scheduled talks at schools to be cancelled.

Jason Evert is a "Catholic husband, proud father, chastity speaker and author". He's in Australia currently, going on a tour of sorts where he speaks to mostly female students about chastity.  

His talks were organised by the wider Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, whose schools span across Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and more. 

Parents at one of these schools amassed over 700 petition signatures, calling for the event to be cancelled. Sarah Greenaway is one of these concerned parents. 

Sarah tells Mamamia that parents at her child's school were informed of Evert's talk only a week before it was scheduled to occur. She says no consent was sought from the parent community of the Year 9 and 10 girls.

"It was a compulsory event, leaving parents and students with no option but to attend, regardless of their personal beliefs or values — a decision that was only changed when media coverage started to emerge. In an educational environment where parental consent is required for even seemingly insignificant matters, such as field trips or minor medical treatments, the decision to bypass consent for such a potentially harmful presentation is baffling," she notes.

Watch: why kids need more than just consent education. Post continues below. 

Parents were assured that his talk would be "presented in a loving, respectful and non-judgemental way".

Evert's previous statements say otherwise. 

Evert positions women and girls as the moral compass of culture, claiming that without their "manners, purity, and dignity," men can't be expected to treat them well.

He has claimed contraception is causing the sewage system to turn fish "trans".

In an original publishing of his book Pure Manhood, Evert reportedly argued that "the homosexual act" is disordered.

He's also previously said: "I didn't even know how to treat a girl until I dated one in college who dressed modestly."

The examples could go on and on. His views are conservative, outdated, and in some ways, quite fundamentalist. There's nothing "loving", "respectful" or "non-judgemental" about many of the statements he has made publicly. 

Some of his talks in NSW schools have now been cancelled or moved to an opt-in model.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sarah Greenaway (@thisissarahxox)

This isn't the first time Evert  was caused controversy— in Ireland in 2020 he had numerous events cancelled following backlash over his views on homosexuality and contraception. 

Plus, Evert certainly isn't alone in his views. In the past week, we've heard from Kansas City Chiefs NFL Kicker, Harrison Butker, who used an educational institution to promote his thoughts on what women should and shouldn't think and aspire to.

In response, the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, a founding institution and sponsor of the college where Butker's speech took place, released a statement condemning his misogynistic position.

"Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division. One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman," they said.

Parents like Sarah who send their children to religious-focused schools are often asked: 

"What do they expect? They send their kids to Catholic school!"

Here's what she often says in response. 

"Just because I want a faith-based education for my kids, does not mean I have to agree with everything that comes out of the mouths and pens of every fundamentalist Catholic man who claims to be an expert in the right expression of the Catholic faith," Sarah tells Mamamia.

"My family live with faith, we want our kids to have faith. I send my kids to Catholic school because that's a way in which for them to get that religious education. Having had children in the Catholic school system for over a decade, I have never encountered a situation where fundamentalist views like Evert's were presented to my kids — let alone without my knowledge or consent."

Following the subsequent media attention, Evert responded with some choice words... he's referred to Sarah and other parents like her who criticised the scheduled compulsory talks as "witches".

"Three of the chastity talks in high schools have been cancelled by parents and the ones who are taking credit for it are, no kidding, not making this up, are actually a group of witches!" he said in a video posted to X. 

In a roundabout way he referred to himself or the Catholic Church (hard to tell which one) as a "Siberian tiger", wondering why the "witches" bothered to try and compete.

Sydney update: witches protesting the chastity talks!? pic.twitter.com/gAOIvLsGoU

— Jason Evert (@jasonevert) May 20, 2024

Sarah says she doesn't have an issue with the teaching of chastity. 

Chastity is a core tenet of the Catholic doctrine, so she acknowledges that it would be naïve to assume a Catholic school would not discuss or teach chastity in some manner to their students.

However, there's an important distinction she and many of the parenting cohort at these schools want to stress: teaching chastity should not come at the expense of blaming women and girls for the moral failings of men and boys. 

It's a notion that is not only misguided but also considerably harmful, especially in light of the escalation in men's violence against women in this country. 

"When influential figures promote doctrines that place the onus of men's behaviours on women's actions, it perpetuates a culture of blame that can manifest in physical violence. We can't have men and boys being absolved of their behaviour towards women and girls, based on what the woman does. This is the premise of what Evert says, and it doesn't align with the teachings of modern Catholicism," says Sarah.

"Nowadays sex and chastity is taught in a way that's progressive and socially relevant. Obviously, just because we send kids to a Catholic school, doesn't mean we expect them to be indoctrinated in values that we don't agree with."

Sarah's issue also isn't with the specific school her daughter attends. It's with the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, who organised for these talks from Evert to occur in the first place.

"The Diocese is getting more and more right-wing and fundamentalist by the day. The reason why myself and many other parents are making a big song and dance about this specific instance is to hopefully prevent the Diocese from making this sort of thing acceptable moving forward," she argues. 

"The responsibility lies with us, as educators and parents, to ensure that our children receive a positive and empowering education. It's imperative that the messages they hear are ones that affirm their dignity and worth, regardless of gender or sexual orientation."

Feature Image: Twitter/Instagram.