Swap sex. Sex in exchange for a new handbag; sex for a pack of cigarettes. Young people in the Netherlands have different attitudes regarding sex. At least, some young people.

A recent television documentary showed what many have feared - that boys and girls are having sex at a younger age, and that some kids have a very casual attitude toward sex.

Even the Minister of Youth and Family has expressed his concern. So how bad is it?

Have Dutch youth lost all sense of morals when it comes to sex? It sounds like the kids in the documentary by Dutch journalist Mildred Roethof, called Sex Sells, have. Here's a sample of what young people had to say:

"At the moment it's so easy. For example, if you are 13 are and I say to you that I will buy you a drink if you have sex with me, then some people will do that. In a discotheque there are 13-year-old children walking around plastered, and they don't know what they're doing. Would the girl also have said yes if she was sober?"

National debate
The documentary, broadcast on national television, has rekindled a debate about young people's sexuality. The debate itself isn't new, since every era struggles with how far young people will push the limits. But for the first time this country has a cabinet minister responsible for how children are brought up - Minister for Youth and Family, André Rouvoet.

Minister Rouvoet is from the small Christian Union party. His concern about the apparent lack of sexual morals among some young people is shared by another party in the governing coalition, the Christian Democrats. Christian Democrat MP Mirjam Sterk says:

"I certainly see a problem when it looks as if a group of young people in the Netherlands think it's normal to use a webcam subscription to have sex with someone they don't even know. Or that it's normal, if you're a kid to do it in a storage room in the cellar. That's what concerns us, and we want something done about it."

Parents
The Christian parties in the governing coalition support Minister Rouvoet in trying to influence the way parents bring up their children. Many, however, feel that the only difference between the current debate, and previous social discussions about young people's sexuality, is how far young people are willing to go.

Ineke van der Vlugt is a researcher at the Rutgers Nisso Group, an independent think tank which calls itself the Dutch Expert Centre on Sexuality. Speaking on the Dutch evening news, Ms van der Vlugt put the documentary in context.

"These are shocking images. But at the same time I know from surveys that only a small percentage of young people behave like that, and we should certainly be concerned, but it's not the general impression we have of young people."Ms van der Vlugt also offered her own definition of proper sexual morals.

"So long as young people have sex and experience pleasure, taking into account the wishes and limits of the other person, and do it safely, I see no reason for anxiety."

So it sounds like Dutch people's sexual morality may not be so bad after all. But politicians and journalists are suckers for a good story. And in that respect, the documentary did get one thing right: sex sells.