A lot of fuss about ‘Normal People’ doing normal stuff

I’M driving when a conversation on the radio catches my attention. Three women are discussing that ubiquitous topic, the one you can’t get away from — Sally Rooney’s Normal People. The TV adaptation is attracting attention, not just because it’s a brilliantly knotted tale, but because people are having sex in it — and not just any people, but young Irish people!

Lady One tells the presenter she was struck by the tenderness captured in the sex scenes prompting Lady Two to interrupt with some good old ‘I don’t believe what I’m hearing’ outrage. Her argument is if other young people watch it, they’ll think it’s okay to have sex too.

She says: “You can’t be hopping into bed with this one, then that one.” I say: “Says who?” Who put this idea in our head that sex is shameful, bad or definitely not to be discussed — we all know who. The stranglehold of the Catholic Church has long kept a nation of talkers very quiet when it comes to discussing sex. We still don’t talk straight to young people about it (the most sex education I had was being handed a book on periods and eavesdropping on my older brother’s factually incorrect but spirited discussions with friends), preferring instead to get hysterical about something we all do and is as natural as drawing breath. Old Ireland’s attitude to sex reminds me a bit of Reagan’s declaration of war on drugs (which drugs well and truly won).

You’d think everyone would have worked out that you can’t stop people having sex and that if we want to help young adults navigate the world of sex, we need to have frank conversations. There are more storylines in Normal People (sexual assault, bullying) but it turns out two consenting adults of legal age sleeping together is somehow still the most shocking.