In an interview with the Sunday Times, actor Paul Mescal has defended the use of sex scenes in TV shows and film.

Speaking to the paper, Mescal revealed that he believes including sex scenes on screen is “massively important”.

“If we remove it, to make younger people comfortable, we’d be doing everybody a disservice. Sex is a huge part of life, a form of communication,” he said. He added that when reading scripts, he finds it helpful to imagine what a character’s sex life would be like in order to understand the role better.

Research published last year found that younger people are keen for fewer sex scenes on TV and in film, earning them a reputation as “Puriteens”. A study from UCLA found that 47.5 per cent of young people felt as though sex was not needed for the plot in most TV shows and movies, while 51.5 per cent wanted more storylines focused on friendships and platonic relationships.

The findings are reflective of a number of studies that suggest Gen Z are having less sex than previous generations did at their age. For example, a 2021 study by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported that 30 per cent of teens said they’d had sex at least once before, down from over 50 per cent in decades prior. It was the largest ever drop recorded by the survey, which has polled over 17,000 adolescents every two years since 1990.

Mescal told the Sunday Times he believes young people’s disdain for sex scenes is “probably tied to the impact porn is having”. He added that he is “proud” of the way Normal People portrayed sex, with Connell and Marianne shown having frank conversations about consent, virginity, and protection on the programme.