Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell's Approach to Discussing Sex With Their Daughters Is Super Progressive

Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell seem like incredibly thoughtful parents, as Shepard proved once again on his Armchair Expert (opens in new tab) podcast. With two young daughters, Shepard and Bell (opens in new tab) have had to think about how they want them to understand sex (opens in new tab), and their approach to the discussion sounds positive and empowering.

"I'll tell you one thing that my wife does which I think is ingenious—she didn't make it up, she got it from somebody—is when she describes sex to our children, she says, 'and the woman takes the man's penis and puts it in her vagina,' so right away it's like, 'you're in charge of this, you will decide to put this in your vagina, not the man puts his penis in your vagina,'" Shepard told his guest Gwyneth Paltrow (opens in new tab).

The dad of two also shared his attitude to the archaic notion that he's responsible for "protecting" his daughters from having sex at all in the future. "Of course, the most generic thing every guy says to me is, 'Oh, you better have a gun, there’s gonna be guys coming around,'" Shepard said. "This notion I have to protect my daughters’ virginity with great prejudice if necessary."

He turned this notion on its head, explaining that it would be hypocritical of him to paint sex as a bad thing. "My response is, I do not want my daughters to have sex so they can get approval from somebody, but if my daughters are horny and want to have sex, that was my favorite activity, remains my favorite activity, I’d be lying if I said I was in any way anti-that activity," he said. "I’m anti-getting esteemed from that activity, but that’s it." Mic drop.