Welcome to Sex guide for kids rockets to No. 1 after Big W removes it from the shelves

Welcome to Sex, a sex education guide for children, has shot to No. 1 on the Amazon charts and other online retailers after it was pulled from the shelves at Big W.

Yumi Stynes and Dr Melissa Kang, authors of Welcome To Sex.

A sex education guide for children has shot to No. 1 on the Amazon online sales charts after being pulled from the shelves at Big W and Target.

Welcome to Sex by the former “Dolly Doctor” Melissa Kang and ABC presenter Yumi Stynes contains frank descriptions of sex, alongside cartoon drawings.

It has been the subject of a boycott movement by some parents who say the sex tips it offers are far too graphic for children.

Welcome to Sex has been pulled from the shelves at Big W.

The book explains how to experience oral sex and anal sex. The “hand job” page shows a drawing of a hand on an erect penis. The “scissoring” page shows two naked women engaged with each other (in the spirit of inclusivity, one of them has only one arm.)

It refers to men as “penis-­owners” and females as “vagina-owners” and people are engaged in all manner of sex positions.

“A 69 is when two people are giving oral sex to each other at the same time,” it says. “Your sense of taste and smell can get more switched on.”

The page on anal sex has one drawing of a bar of soap, and another of a bottle of lubricant.

Welcome To Sex is being sold in the children’s book section at Dymocks.

Big W had been selling it in the “parenting” section before it was pulled.

The book was released in May but controversy erupted this week, when the chief executive of Women’s Forum, Rachael Wang, saw a copy in her local Big W.

Appalled by the content, she made a short video, which she posted to Instagram.

“Why is Big W selling this GRAPHIC SEX GUIDE FOR KIDS in Aus which includes how-tos for anal/oral sex, masturbation & heavily pushes gender ideology?” she wrote.

A campaign to have the book removed from Big W and other department stores was soon underway. On the face of it, the campaign would seem to have been successful, with Big W on Wednesday announcing its decision to pull the book from shelves.

However, that decision was made not because of the content but because staff were being ­abused by angry customers.

In a statement, Big W said: “We know there has been a wide range of views about the book, but it’s disappointing there have been multiple incidents of abuse directed at our store team members in the past 24 hours … To keep our team and customers safe, the book will be available to customers online-only from later today.”

The campaign has fuelled sales, however, with the book shooting to No. 1 on Amazon, and No.1 in the children’s section at online retailer Booktopia.

Amazon at time of writing was describing it as “No. 1” and “out of stock”, which suggests a massive rush of sales.

Despite that, it has a lowly two-star rating, which suggests those opposed to it are flooding the page with bad reviews.

In a statement on Instagram, Stynes said she was proud of the book, and hoped it would be read by children who might otherwise go to Google and end up who-knows-where on the internet.

The publisher, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, is also standing by the book, describing it as “a little book packed with honest advice … It aims to keep sex fun, real, and shame-free.”

Literary agent Benython Oldfield said on Instagram: “Very proud to be associated with ­‘Welcome to Sex’. To the lovely people who have abused floor staff at Big W, you have managed to give this book an immense amount of coverage and created a bestseller.”

In a post on Instagram, Stynes said children needed to learn about sex and consent at a young age to combat the “putrid effects of porn on real-world sex”.

She criticised those customers who “think it’s OK to abuse retail staff and business owners for stocking a book. They also think it‘s OK to abuse me and others for posting about the book”.

“I’m really proud of Welcome to Sex,” Stynes wrote.

“It’s a book, people. If you don’t want to read it, by all means, don’t read it. If you don’t want your kids to read it, you REALLY don’t have to buy it for them.”

She said the book was aimed at “keeping us all safe in moments of intimacy – and starting that teaching young.”