Labour MP Samantha Niblett, who earlier this year said she wanted to bring sex toys into the House of Commons, is now calling for sex education to be available on the NHS and to feature "real people having real sex". She hopes this can spark a national conversation and lead to better understanding of healthy sex and relationships, rather than people turning to adult websites.
"Lots of people are turning to pornography for their sex education and they are seeing awful things like strangulation. I just believe it should be ethical and it should show real sex and real people," she said.
Campaign highlights serious issues
Studies show more than one in four women will be victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in their lifetimes, and an estimated 85% of attempted rapes are not reported to the police. Ms Niblett told Sky News that sex education is not good enough and should be more comprehensive, not just in schools but on the NHS too.
She added: "If we feel embarrassed just to talk about what is deemed as consensual, pleasurable sex, how on earth are we going to talk about horrible, awful, non-consensual rape? How can we do that?"
Political row and support
Ms Niblett sparked a political row with her "Yes Sex Please, We're British!" campaign. Eliza Hatch, from the campaign group Cheer Up Luv, said: "Sometimes [young people] know more about these things than the teachers in the room. Young people are incredibly literate in the online world. We need to be able to keep pace with that and this ever evolving climate of violence against women and girls. It's positive to start these conversations, at home as well. And not just in the summer, all-term round and not just in school time but at home as well."
Fellow Labour MP Alistair Strathern also wants to bring a bill to parliament to make relationships and sex education mandatory for 16 to 18-year-olds, in a bid to prevent violence against women and girls. He told Sky News: "For too many young people, they've had the worst corners the internet trying to push them to quite extreme about what good relationships should look like for them. That can't be right."
