Oz leader Tony Abbot under fire for virginity stance

Melbourne, Jan 27 (ANI): Oz Opposition leader Tony Abbot has been criticised for his advice to young women about not giving away their virginity lightly.

During an interview with Australian Women's Weekly, Abbot was asked what advice he would give his three daughters on sex before marriage.

To which he replied, "I would say to my daughters, if they were to ask me this question ... it is the greatest gift you can give someone, the ultimate gift of giving and don't give it to someone lightly."

However, his comments have left Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard fuming.

"Australian women don't want to be told what to do by Tony Abbott," The Age quoted her as saying.

"Australian women want to make their own choices, and they don't want to be lectured to by Mr Abbott," she added.

When asked by 3AW what advice he would give to a male, Abbott said: "Much the same - treat people with respect and don't act in ways which demean other people."

Abbott, who thought (wrongly) that he had fathered a child with a girlfriend, said he had a chequered past and "I don't claim to be any kind of exemplar of virtue".

On the rare occasions he got into discussions with his daughters, aged from 20 to 16, about appropriate behaviour, "I start to get on my high horse ... they say: 'Dad, you did all of those things' and, of course, they're right. I did."

Comedian Fiona Scott-Norman claims Abbot is a hypocrite

"Yet another self-acknowledged one-time drug-taking, 'Vatican roulette' playing, shagabout, white, middle-aged male telling young women not to do what he did when he was their age," said Scott Norman.

"The irony is that the one thing guaranteed to make "young people" do something is for a pompous tosspot like Tony to tell them not to.

"He's just guaranteed that the current crop of Australian virgins will be plucked like a Christmas turkey by next weekend," Scott Norman added.

Latrobe University sex education expert Associate Professor Anne Mitchell said Mr Abbott's pronouncement was nonsense.

She said he was 40 years out of date because at least 50 per cent of Australian students had experienced sexual intercourse before leaving school and 30 per cent before 16.

"People are waiting much longer before they marry and have children, does this mean they have to abstain from sex for 15 or 20 years after puberty? I don't think the public subscribe to such rules any more. On this issue, the gate is well and truly shut," Mitchell added. (ANI)