Sex Education: The series about sex you should consider watching with your teenagers

No teenager has died of embarrassment while watching sex on TV while sitting next to their parents.

But plenty will have wished they could.

Yet WA researchers are not only suggesting that watching a show about sex may be good for teenagers but that parents should consider watching it too.

The show is Netflix’s Sex Education. A popular UK comedy series about a high school student who starts his own sex advice service at school.

Starring Gillian Anderson as the boy’s sex therapist mother, the show has won plaudits for its sex-positive representation of relationships and sex among teenagers.

Edith Cowan University researchers have studied the show’s depiction of sex, pornography and relationships and say it might be a better source of sex education than more formal programs, such as those run in schools.

Chief investigator, associate professor Debra Dudek, said teenagers in the real world and on the show were eager for information about sex but were unable to find it through “traditional channels”.

For example, sex education in schools often focused on how to avoid getting pregnant or acquiring a sexually transmitted infection, rather than what teenagers actually wanted to know.

“We’re interested in how sex education in high schools is or is not working, because teens are saying it’s not always adequate for their questions,” she said.

“But Sex Education, the TV series, seems to be filling that gap of what young people want to see in terms of their questions about sex. So, it both answers questions about sex education, and represents sex education.”

And while parents often do their best to prevent adolescents from accessing pornography online, the show suggests it could have some benefits.

“The research addresses whether accessing sexual content or porn is harmful,” Professor Dudek said.

“In the show the representation of porn and erotica is represented as potentially of benefit.

“It’s actually about challenging this gatekeeper idea that is quite prevalent about adults needing to protect the innocent, vulnerable children from that kind of harm. Because sometimes the young people are saying, ‘actually it doesn’t bother me at all, what bothers me online is being bullied or seeing animals harmed’.”

Co-researchers PhD student Giselle Woodley and Professor Lelia Green said, while Sex Education was not obvious family viewing, it could start a crucial conversation.

“It may not be easy to watch as a family, but maybe you could watch it separately and then ask some questions,” Ms Woodley said.

Professor Green said it was “a great discussion starter for kids and their parents”. “Let the kids lead the way,” she said.

The research, published in the journal Information, Communication and Society, is part of a bigger Australian Research Council Discovery Project.