All schoolgirls should be taught “how to say no” to sex as part of a new sex education curriculum, according to a prominent UK Conservative MP.

Speaking in the Commons, Nadine Dorries said that society was “saturated in sex”.

She said schoolchildren were being shown how to put condoms on bananas and self-diagnose diseases but not to reject sexual advances altogether.

The move echoes a campaign here sponsored by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, b4udecide, encouraging teenagers to delay sexual activity.

The early sexualisation of girls was being fuelled by television references to sex, newsagents stocking pornographic magazines and high street stores that sell provocative items such as padded bikinis for seven-year-olds, she added.

On Wednesday, she presented a Ten-Minute Rule Bill in the Commons calling for schools to give girls aged 13 to 16 extra sex education, including the benefits of abstinence.

MPs narrowly voted to allow Mrs Dorries to bring her Bill forward, although it is unlikely to become law without Government support.

Her proposal, however, sparked a series of protests on Twitter, with some users attacking her Bill’s focus on girls at the expense of boys.

At one point, Mrs Dorries was among the top 10 most discussed topics worldwide on the social networking website.

Mrs Dorries proposed bringing a Bill to Parliament that requires schools to provide lessons “on the benefits of abstinence from sexual activity”.

MPs voted 67 to 61 in favour of the motion and it will now join a list of private member’s Bills waiting for a second reading in the Commons.

Mrs Dorries, a mother-of-three and well-known pro-life campaigner, insisted her Bill was “about giving empowerment to young girls”.

“Society is saturated in sex,” she said. “We need to let young girls know that to say no to sex when you’re under pressure is a cool thing to do. It’s as cool as learning how to apply a condom.”

Teachers needed to make teenagers more aware of the benefits of choosing not to have sex as part of traditional sex education lessons.

“The answer to ending our constant struggle with the incredibly high rate of teenage sexual activity and underage pregnancies lies in teaching our girls and boys about the option of abstinence, the ability to ‘just say no’ as part of their compulsory sex education,” she said.

Ms Dorries’ concerns echo those of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency here. In 2009, they launched the b4 u decide campaign.

The campaign highlighted the fact that nearly a third of teenage girls and eight per cent of boys have come under pressure to have sex before they are ready.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign Prof Hannah McGee of the Royal College of Surgeons said that young people who had sex at an early age were also more likely to express regret.

Teenage sexual activity was highly culturally influenced, she said, and “myths” of early sexual experience abounded. In fact, the majority of Irish young people wait until they are 17 or over to have sex.

Less than one-third of young adult men (18-24 year olds) and 22 per cent of young women say they had sex before the age of 17.