Sydney man Eli Engwicht charged for alleged online threats against Welcome to Sex author Yumi Stynes

Police have also applied for two apprehended violence orders to protect Ms Stynes, a co-author of the Welcome to Sex education book that has caused an uproar this week.

Yumi Stynes criticised those customers who ‘think it’s OK to abuse retail staff and business owners for stocking a book’. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Police have arrested and charged a man who allegedly threatened Yumi Stynes, the author and podcaster who is behind a sex education book which has caused an uproar this week.

Ms Stynes, who co-authored the book aimed at children – Welcome to Sex: Your No-silly-questions Guide to Sexuality, Pleasure and Figuring it Out – said earlier in the week that she has received death threats from critics of her book.

Police have also applied for two apprehended violence orders to protect Ms Stynes.

On Friday, 23-year-old Eli Engwicht was arrested at Balmain police station and charged with one count of use carriage service to menace/harass/offend.

It comes as Ms Stynes posted more than a dozen screenshots overnight of horrific graphic and violent abuse directed to her and her co-author on Instagram.

The abuse was racist and sexually graphic in nature.

The book cover of Welcome to Sex.

In a statement, a spokesperson for NSW Police said on Friday that Mr Engwicht was taken from Balmain Police Station to Newtown Police Station where he was charged.

“Officers from Leichhardt Police Area Command commenced an investigation over alleged online threats to a 48-year-old woman,” the spokesperson said.

“Following inquiries, a 23-year-old man was arrested at Balmain Police Station.

“He was then taken to Newtown Police Station, where he was charged with one count of use carriage service to menace/harass/offend.”

Stynes’s sex education book, which she wrote with former “Dolly Doctor” Melissa Kang, was pulled from the shelves of Big W and Target following backlash online and in-store, where store attendants were allegedly abused by critics who claim the book is too graphic for young children.

Earlier in the week the book reached No. 1 on the Amazon online sales charts after it was removed from sale.

Big W said in a statement: “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.”

In a statement on Instagram, Ms Stynes said she was “really proud” of the book.

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,” Ms 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.”

Mr Engwicht has been granted strict conditional bail, and will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on July 26 for the apprehended violence order and August 11 for the charge.