Lucy Kennedy says people being open about going to sex parties would lessen stigma

Lucy Investigates will see the popular presenter land in the inner circle of some of the country’s most fascinating subcultures, as she immerses herself into lifestyles that are way off her beaten track.

It is a bold move for a broadcaster who has rarely taken on such meaty topics, but she told Sunday World’s Magazine+that she was fascinated by what she found.

“A few years ago, people indulging in fetish parties would have been seen as freaks and perverts, but we lead more open and honest sex lives in Ireland now,” she told us.

“We are notoriously shy in Ireland when talking about private things. It’s in our nature as a nation that we don’t generally discuss anything rude.

“Yet maybe that is where we are going wrong? It makes things seem bigger than they are and at the end of the day, the people going to these parties are not doing any harm to anyone, so each to their own.

“As a 46-year-old mother of three, I probably didn’t expect to find myself talking to people about fetish parties for a TV show.

“But this documentary is not shocking. It’s not like a Channel 4 show in the UK where they are showing naked people and nothing is covered up.

“Nobody is going to look at this and think ‘oh my God... that’s disgusting!’

“There is nothing full on, but we are aware that some people like to go to fetish parties and dress in leather.

“This documentary shows that people who are living very normal lives have these fetishes, but they are doing nothing wrong.”

Another topic covered by Lucy in her new series is social media and its grip on so many of us, including our children.

“My 10-year-old daughter is stood in front of the mirror all day doing TikTok moves and she loves watching YouTube,” added Lucy.

“As parents, we all want to keep our kids young and innocent for as long as possible, but that is getting harder and harder to do.

“The access to strangers online is frightening and I’m hoping the rules and regulations will come in over the next few months to protect our kids more because we need that. You might be a parent who thinks the best solution is to tell your kid they can’t have TikTok, but then they might be the only kid in their class that hasn’t got it and that creates another problem.

“Parenting is difficult these days and hopefully the documentary I have done offers a few thought-provoking ideas,” says Lucy

- Lucy Investigates is a four-part series and will be aired on Virgin Media One next month