Amsterdam - The sexual morals of Dutch youth has gone astray, the country's youth and family affairs minister was on Monday quoted as saying in a report by the daily Algemeen Dagblad.

"A girl is seen as an object and sex as a currency. The meaning of love does not play any role anymore in the lives of youngsters," Minister Andre Rouvoet said.

Rouvoet said he wants to raise debate about the subject and emphasized he was not proposing specific legal measures.

The minister was responding to a television documentary Sex Sells, aired on Dutch television last week.

The film showed 12- to 16-year-old boys and girls speaking candidly about sex. They told of their first sexual experience, which for some had occurred at the age of nine years old. The average age they lost their virginity was 13.

The teenagers said they often use sex as a currency, with girls providing sex services to boys in exchange for chocolate, cigarettes, cloths, and free nights out.

The interviewees came from an ethnically diverse Amsterdam neighbourhood and a small town with a predominantly Dutch population.

"If the mentality among Dutch youths is to enter a garage to get a girl the very moment you want sex, then we have lost the principle of a normal relationship," Rouvoet said.

"Many children have distorted ideas about sex, friendships and relationships. This cannot have a healthy influence on society," he added. (dpa)