Spain's autonomous region of Extremadura has sparked a bit of a rumpus by issuing an educational leaflet entitled Pleasure is in your hands, detailing the best way to achieve solo satisfaction.

The offending literature is part of a €14,000 campaign aimed at raising sexual awareness among the region's 14 to 17-year-olds, and although the initiative covers a range of issues, the right wing has chosen to focus its predictable criticism on the masturbation guide.

He insisted that if teens "don't how to masturbate or whether they should masturbate or not, that's a personal matter for the young person, which should be dealt with at home".

He demanded those responsible for the outrage be held to account for making Extremadura "the laughing stock of Spain".

The public appear to agree. Down at La Vanguardia newspaper, one commenter notes: "Are youngsters today so thick that they have to use a leaflet to learn how to crack one off? We used to teach ourselves, and it didn't cost the government a penny." ®

Bootnote

*The PP's leader, Mariano Rajoy, has yet to blame president José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for the Extremadura outrage. This is a bit surprising, since he blames the poor bloke for everything else - from the global economic crisis to some Madrid pensioner's pet cat getting stuck up a tree.

Related stories

• Channel 4 pulls 'wank week' (2 February 2007)
• Scientists: masturbation not as good as sex (23 February 2006)
• SF hosts 'Masturbate-a-thon' (1 June 2005)