Dame Jenni Murray has called for changes to the education system, including “abolishing” sex education and introducing “gender lessons”.
The Radio 4 presenter, 66, said school children should watch pornography and “analyse it” - just like they would do with a book in an English lesson.
“I would abolish sex education,” she said during the Cheltenham Literature Festival, according to the Daily Mail. “I would put the ‘what goes where and how and how things are made’ and all of that into biology because that is science and no parent is going to say: ‘Oh, I don’t want my child getting involved in biology or science’.
“What we would then have is a compulsory subject called gender education, so it doesn’t have the word sex in it so nobody can complain or be upset.”
Murray said allowing children to watch pornography would get them thinking about what they are actually watching.
She added: “Why not show them pornography and teach them how to analyse it?
“So then at least those girls know and all those boys know that normal women do not shave, normal women do not make all that noise those women make, they are making all that noise because they need a soundtrack on the film.”
The 66-year-old also said pornography is easily accessible - something she believes parents are unaware of.
She said parents should talk to their children about it and not assume they’re not watching it.
When asked to comment on Jenni Murray’s speech, Lisa Hallgarten, co-ordinator of the Sex Education Forum, told The Huffington Post UK: “The Sex Education Forum welcomes the growing chorus of people from across the political and professional spectrum, including Jenni Murray, calling for more and better sex education in schools.
“We want comprehensive sex and relationships education in every school in the country. Young people say they want to learn about healthy relationships, gender issues, safety and emotional well-being alongside the biological aspects of puberty, sex, sexual health and reproduction.”
An NSPCC spokesman said: “Jenni Murray is right that children’s access to internet porn is having a damaging impact on their understanding of sex and relationships. But to suggest we scrap sex education lessons and show them porn in school is highly irresponsible and parents will be rightly appalled at her comments.
“The solution is twofold. Firstly children need to be prevented from viewing adult porn.
“Secondly, we all need to understand how viewing porn can have a damaging impact on young people’s lives, and the NSPCC wants porn to be discussed as part of age-appropriate sex and relationships education – in fact we want this to be a compulsory part of the national curriculum rather than leaving it to the discretion of individual schools.”
Mumsnet CEO, Justine Roberts, told HuffPost UK: “What parents on Mumsnet have consistently and strongly called for is compulsory and comprehensive sex and relationships education to address things like porn, consent and sexting head-on starting in primary school in an age appropriate way.
“Watching porn at school is probably a large step too far for many parents (let alone non-specialist teachers), but the ability to engage critically with the adult material they see all around them is an increasingly important skill for teenagers.”
The National Curriculum in the UK for sex education includes is compulsory from age 11 onwards.
“It involves teaching children about reproduction, sexuality and sexual health. It doesn’t promote early sexual activity or any particular sexual orientation,” the Government website states.