Jane Fonda Wants To Teach Your Teen About Sex

Jane FondaGuys, Jane Fonda has a really amazing sex life. It’s way better than your’s or mine. At 74-years-old, she has a sex life that us mere mortals can only dream of. And she’s decided that she’s going to help all you awkward parents talk to your teens about sex. We should probably send Jane a fruit basket to say “Thank you.”

The fitness impresario, actress, and activist has decided that her next career undertaking will be a book about sex education. What made Fonda decide to write such a book? Her own difficult talking to her kids about sex when she was younger.

“I did very badly as a parent. I was not good. I think I was a few years too late. But I didn’t know enough at the time – that it’s not about waiting and then having the quote-unquote big talk. You have to start young, when they’re young, and in an age-appropriate way to begin to talk about things sexual so it’s no big deal.”

I think Fonda makes a really intelligent point here. As a mom, I’m well aware that I need to start talking to my daughter now about respecting her body. From early on, parents are calling “private parts” by their real names, removing some of the taboo-feeling from sex. We’re discussing good touches, and how you’re in control of your body. Discussing sex with our teens is about more than one sit-down lecture. It needs to be an ongoing conversation.

Fonda’s approach reminds me a lot of my own mother’s sex talk, one her very best pieces of parenting. Fonda explained her opinions like this.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with kids and with parents and it’s just stunning how little they know and how nervous parents are about talking. There’s a lot of books about plumbing and how everything works, but … I talk about sexuality in the context of identity. That it isn’t just about intercourse, that to be human is to be sexual. There’s nothing dirty or weird about it, and it’s important to understand it very deeply.”

My mom once taught me not to be ashamed of my sexuality. She didn’t act like it was dirty. She didn’t make me feel guilty. And it sounds like Fonda is advocating the same approach. It’s about helping teens own their sexuality and feel in charge of it, instead of just suppressing it.

Here at Mommyish, we often warn that celebrities aren’t always the best role models. I have to say, this might be one instance when a celebrity has some really great parenting advice. And after all, it’s coming from a woman who really seems to understand how important a great sex life is.

(Photo: Lia Toby/WENN.com)

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