"POLITICAL correctness had gained an unlikely martyr, one with Coke bottle glasses, a crooked smile and a fondness for noisily chasing a soccer ball around his front yard." This is how the New York Times described Jonathan Prevette, the six-year-old boy who has made world headlines for his forbidden kiss.
As the news of Jonathan's suspension from class for "sexual harassment" spread, the TV satellite trucks began arriving at the modest home of his parents in Lexington, North Carolina, a small furniture and textile town of 16,000. Talk shows devoted hours of earnest discussion to the rights and wrongs of the Southwest School principal, Ms Lisa Horne, in punishing Jonathan when he was seen by another teacher kissing a girl from first grade on the check.
The punishment was temporary banishment to an empty classroom and missing out on a colouring session and an ice-cream treat. When his mother later telephoned to ask what Jonathan did, she says she was told he had "violated the sexual harassment policy". She alerted a local radio station but did not give her name.
A school spokeswoman was later quoted as saying that the policy is clear: "A six-year-old kissing another six-year-old is inappropriate behaviour. Unwelcome is unwelcome at any age." Incidentally, Jonathan told his mother that the girl had asked him to kiss her but this is disputed by the school.
The school, which has retreated into silence in the face of a media blitz, also disputes that it said Jonathan was guilty of sexual harassment but Mrs Prevette is sticking to her version. She has a copy of the school's policy on "student-to-student sexual" harassment which she says was given to her by the principal.
It lists what constitutes harassment such as pressure for sex, flirting propositions, and "patting, pinching or constant brushing against another's body". The New York Times notes that this appears to follow closely federal law definitions and that schools at all levels are legally obliged to have policies for dealing with sexual harassment.
While the overwhelming reaction to the "peck on cheek sex crime" has been stupefaction that political correctness has now gone to this extreme, there are dissenting voices. The president of the National Organisation of Women, Ms Patricia Ireland, says that boys who are not taught to respect girls "grow up to be workers at the Mitsubishi plant". This is a reference to the workers at the Japanese car plant in Illinois who are being sued for widespread sexual harassment.
Some education experts support the Lexington school - for having formal guidelines to deal with troublesome behaviour. A 1993 study by the American Association of University Women concluded that 81 per cent of students of both sexes have been sexually harassed in school. A small number said they had been harassed before third grade in elementary school.
According to USA Today, "educators nationwide say the incident `with Jonathan' illustrates the dilemmas schools face over sexual harassment". In Minnesota for example, state law requires each school district to post its sexual harassment policy in buildings housing kindergarten up to 12th grade classes.
"Children come from a variety of background. Often they have been abused. They can come to school and be practising that kind of behaviour," says a Minnesota education official.
But applying sexual harassment rules to six-year-olds like Jonathan seems over the top to most people. Dr T Berry Brazelton a paediatrician and a nationally syndicated columnist is quoted as saying: "I think it's crazy going so far. I would want to look at adults in that situation because I think they need help."
While most schools seem to have written rules about sexual harassment, it is left to teachers to make their own judgements as strictly speaking the rules apply to all age groups. "The rules don't treat overly touchy kindergartners any different from hormone-inflamed high-schoolers," the Washington Times reports in a survey of schools in the capital area.
But if you are going to apply the rules to six-year-olds you have to explain to them in their language: and how do you do that? As Mr Prevette, Jonathan's father, said: in between interviews bouncing by satellite across the world: "We might read him that sexual harassment thing all night, and he might be bright enough to remember it. But would he understand it?"
While the star of one of the country's most popular TV chat shows, Kathie Lee Gifford, fretted that Jonathan could be "traumatised forever", he appeared relaxed, kicking his football while his mother and father handled the world's media.
Some callers wanted to make up for the ice cream treat Jonathan had missed out on. "One guy from Florida said he's sending us $100 to buy ice cream," reported Mr Prevette.