Actress Shailene Woodley believes she knows how to get teenage pregnancy rates to come down — namely, by teaching young women how to masturbate as part of their school curriculum.
The 24-year-old Snowden star and outspoken political activist floated the proposal in an interview for this week’s issue of Net-a-Porter digital magazine The Edit.
“As a young woman, you don’t learn how to pleasure yourself, you don’t learn what an orgasm should be, you don’t learn that you should have feelings of satisfaction,” Woodley told the magazine. “If masturbation were taught in school, I wonder how [many] fewer people would get herpes aged 16, or pregnant at 14?”
The actress added that she hopes to write a book about the subject and title it: “There’s No Right Way to Masturbate.”
In her interview, Woodley also weighed in on what it’s like to be so politically outspoken in Hollywood. The actress was one of Bernie Sanders’ most vocal celebrity supporters, and undertook a road trip with fellow actress Rosario Dawson this summer to marshal voters to his (ultimately unsuccessful) campaign.
“I have a hard time having political conversations in Hollywood,” Woodley told The Edit. “Most people there are so privileged, they don’t see the 99% of America, because they don’t have to. It’s hard for people like that to see another perspective.”
Woodley also touched on her role in Oliver Stone’s upcoming biopic Snowden, in which she plays Lindsay Mills, the longtime girlfriend of the notorious former NSA contractor.
“I think about Lindsay every day, and we wrapped this movie over a year ago. She’s a real person, living through this story now,” Woodley said. “Her life has changed dramatically because of a decision he made for the country. Her boyfriend is a wanted man, and now newscasters are knocking on her door every day.”
Read Woodley’s full interview with The Edit here.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum