A regional council in New South Wales has pushed back on a bid to remove a book about sex education from its council library.

Yass Valley Deputy Mayor Jasmin Jones moved a motion at the council’s meeting on Thursday night to take Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes’s Welcome To Sex off the shelves.

The book — which includes discussion about subjects such as consent, sex positions and other experimentation — rose to prominence after large-scale retailer Big W took it off the shelves, because some staff had been verbally abused by customers.

Cr Jones told the meeting the book’s marketing disguised its content.

“It has cute little pictures, cartoon pictures with eyes drawn on them,” she said.

“My five-year-old would be attracted to that book.”

She also described it as “an arrow to the heart” of families who hold conservative values.

“Our children have the right to cherish their celibacy, to value their virginity, to look forward to committing to a monogamous relationship within the intended partnership of marriage, if they want to,” she said.

The motion was defeated 7-2.

In the days prior, the council’s chief executive, Chris Berry, said that if it passed, the council might need to seek legal advice about whether it could be removed under state and Commonwealth law.

Cr Jones argued the book’s discussion of sexting and sending explicit images meant it fell within provisions to remove books that contain inaccurate or misleading information, given the book is aimed at people under the age of 18.

Yass Valley Council Mayor Allan McGrath said some residents had raised concerns about censorship with him, prior to the meeting.

“Generally, people have the view that a choice of reading matter for children should be a matter for parents, and that’s probably a view that I share also,” he said.

“If we get into the role of guarding what people are reading, I think it’s a bridge too far for local government.”

Cr McGrath said he felt the book contained some valuable information for young people.

“In fact, I’ve been enlightened myself by some of it,” he said.

English and creative writing lecturer Dan Dixon from the University of Sydney said discussions about book banning were not unusual in Australia.

“It is something that continues to come up in our national discourse,” he said.

Mr Dixon said if the motion had passed, it would have set “a dangerous precedent”.

“There’s no clear line that then prevents you from doing that with the next book that comes along that doesn’t suit your sensibilities,” he said