A controversial Australian sex writer believes masturbation should be taught in schools to students as young as 11 years old.

Nadia Bokody thinks that the current school sexual education system is ‘frighteningly inadequate’ for children living in today’s highly sexualised culture.

‘Kids need to be learning about masturbation as soon as they hit puberty, as young as 11,’ Ms Bokody told FEMAIL.

‘Teenagers are more comfortable having intercourse with another person than they are with exploring their own bodies alone, and this is deeply problematic.’

The editor of She Said explained that if children are scared and ashamed of their own sexual organs, they’re not ready to be having sex with someone else.

Ms Bokody said that kids are living in a world where they are bombarded with sexualised images as all they need to do is open up Instagram or look at a billboard.

‘Whether we like it or not, research shows kids ARE having sex, and much of it is unprotected and had well before there is a clear understanding around how consent works,’ she said.

‘Masturbation is one of the safest, healthiest activities a young person can do in the privacy of their own bedroom and yet we continue to shame it and avoid discussion of it when it has the power to potentially prevent cases of sexual trauma and STDs.’

Ms Bokody said that research she has looked at indicates less than one half of girls aged 14 to 17 have masturbated.

‘They’re going out and having partnered experiences without any understanding of what their bodies are even supposed to feel during arousal and orgasm,’ she explained.

‘Masturbation is the safest way to learn what you do and don’t like without risking your health in the process.’

Ms Bokody explained that the reason she thinks it should be schools to teach kids about masturbation is because they have a responsibility to ‘keep children safe’ and prepare them for adulthood.

‘The current way we approach sexual education is deeply flawed; it essentially medicalises sex and subsequently fails to prepare young people for the more intimate human elements of it, leading to unhealthy attitudes to sex,’ she said.

‘The fact is, kids as young as ten are accessing porn now and taking much of their sexual cues from it.’

Although she is not anti-porn, Ms Bokody doesn’t think it should be a child’s first sexual reference point.

‘If schools don’t take on the responsibility to educate kids about their sexuality, they are going to continue to take it from the media, which, as we all know, presents very mixed, and troubling, messages about sex,’ she said.

Read her full opinion here.

Do you think she makes a good point? Or are we sexualising children too early?

Share your comments below.

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.