Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has criticised the “prudishness” which she said emanates from the agreement drawn up by the four parties which plan to form a right-wing government in the Netherlands.

Halsema was responding to a question about a comment made by BBB leader Caroline van der Plas about the agreement, which calls for “neutral and age-appropriate” sex education.

Asked by D66 MP Rob Jetten during Thursday’s formation debate what she considered current practices to be, Van der Plas said “You know. How they can carry out sexual acts on the lower part of the body of another person, that’s not normal. We are not going to explain that to children aged five and six  that, are we?”

Sexual health centre Rutgers has denied that learning about sexual acts is part of the sexual education of five and six-year-olds. The material is “age appropriate” a spokesman said.

The sex education paragraph shows “an ideological wind is blowing which is extremely worrying and is turning sexual education into a caricature,” Halsema said during a debate on sexual violence at Stopera city hall.

Sexual education is essential and necessary, Halsema said. “This cult of prudishness will have a perverse effect, making children more vulnerable to abuse, instead of offering greater protection,” she said. Halsema added that the paragraph would not influence policy in Amsterdam.

Halsema was supported by the chairman of the Amsterdam VVD group Daan Wijnants, even though his party is one of the coalition partners.

The mayor has spoken before about the emergence of “a new kind of prudishness among young people”. In an interview with the Volkskrant she cited the popularity of misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, particularly among boys and which she said is “a threat to tolerant society”.