Should parents watch sex scenes with their children to educate them about what real love and relationships look like? 

Many families would recoil in horror at the very idea of watching a sex scene together. 

However, journalist Fleur Britton believes strongly that children can benefit from parental guidance in this area. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, she recalled how she “grew up on excruciating sex scenes”. 

“It wasn’t comfortable,” she said. 

“Honestly, I would rather not do this with my children as early as I felt I had to. 

“But I think with the external environment of very accessible porn being spread amongst children via smartphones and tablets, I feel it’s a necessary counter programming to show them what real sex looks like. 

“That it’s done in loving, kind and gentle ways, that are sometimes awkward, silly, sometimes funny but not what they’re seeing.” 

Jerry Hall and Josh Cohen in The Grduate. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ms Britton added that age appropriate sex education is more important than ever given their access to the internet. 

“When children see porn very early, too early, it has long lasting, extremely damaging consequences,” she said. 

“There’s some data from the children’s commission to say that early exposure can end up in later years with higher porn use and appetite for violent content - which is not surprising. 

“Algorithms take them to that violent content. I just think it’s a necessary evil.” 

Ms Britton said all parents will have to make their own decisions about what is best for their children, adding that her own do not have smartphones. 

“None of us really know what we’re doing,” she said. 

“It’s not in the parenting manual. We’re sort of - forgive the pun - fumbling in the dark.”

Main image: Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. Picture by: AMAZON STUDIOS / Album.