Mums Make Porn Is Hard To Watch But You'll Be Surprised By What You Learn

How old were you when you watched porn for the first time? Did your mum know about it? Did you talk to her about it? Does she feel comfortable watching porn? Are you starting to feel uncomfortable about these awkward questions? Well, you'd better brace yourself. A new three-part programme on Channel 4 is throwing a group of unsuspecting mothers from different backgrounds deep into the world of pornography to investigate how easy it is for young people to access and, by the end of the series, produce their own sex film.

I’ll take a moment to state the obvious – the show gets pretty graphic in places and might not be the one to watch on your commute into work tomorrow morning.

Once we’re introduced to the five participating mothers and they’re shown how quickly and easily their kids and other young people can access porn online (in just two clicks), we take an eye-opening ride with them behind the scenes of some locally produced hardcore porn shoots. For the mothers, who have never really watched porn before, let alone had to face the videos their kids have at their fingertips, it is quite an overwhelming experience.

The show hits our screens in the middle of growing conversations around porn regulations and ahead of age checks that are due to be introduced across websites containing porn this April. But parental controls and under-18 blocks only go so far. How might a group of concerned parents go about making a change within one of the world's biggest industries? Infiltrate it, apparently.

Emma, Sarah, Jane, Anita and Sarah-Louise have 15 children between them and share concerns about the type of material their kids (ranging in age from 8 to their early 20s) have access to. With all but one of them having no idea what hardcore porn is, not to mention the sort of things we’re exposed to from a young age, the learning process proves to be a bit of a struggle.

Their first task is to familiarise themselves with the current landscape of adult entertainment. A quick exploration of the top 10 search terms proves uncomfortable for the group as many of their initial concerns are realised. It’s no secret that so much of the porn industry is geared towards men. Despite the vast amount of material available, it’s still relatively difficult to find porn that doesn’t subliminally tell women to be submissive, to consider violent behaviour as a sexual norm or to feel self-conscious about their bodies. So, with growing concern about the messages porn is sending to young people, what would these mothers rather a porno looked like?

When it comes down to planning their own, the responses vary wildly between the women. Romance, Gary Lineker, "a quick bang in the back of a car", a housewife at home greeted by the DHL man in brown shorts, a TV chef tending to some berries in the supermarket fruit and veg aisle, anal – it’s all thrown up for discussion. But visits to porn sets in the name of research, as they take steps towards realising their ideal sex film, don't go quite as well as the mums hope. There's shock, tears and someone throwing up in the bushes outside after witnessing a rather surprising cum shot.

Their ultimate aim is to create a film that promotes healthy attitudes towards sex and relationships. On the way to doing so, the mums meet industry experts, filmmakers, fetish models, a sex addict and even celebrated director and filmmaker Erika Lust who helps them put together the final product: a mum-approved sex film. Their morals are challenged and though there's way more to be done than make one female-friendly porno, some of the team's perceptions are changed along the way. You'll spend as much of the programme cringing at the thought of your own mum directing a sex film as you will reevaluating your own experiences watching the millions of free, easy-access movies available online. Just be aware of what you're getting into as you settle down to watch – Mums Make Porn is as purposely awkward and surprisingly interesting as the title suggests.