Natalie Portman's 'pin-up' role will empower women sexually: Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher thinks that his co-star Natalie Portman's role as a pin-up for casual sex in their new romcom No Strings Attached will inspire young women to be "empowered" by their sexuality.

In the film, Portman plays a woman who attempts to have a sexual relationship with a male friend, acted by Kutcher, without developing any emotional attachment to him.

The Dude actor insists the movie sends a "powerful" message to females about having a healthy sex life.

"For women in the sex education process in schools, the one thing they teach about is how to get pregnant or how to not get pregnant, but they don't really talk about sex as a point of pleasure for women,'' the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Kutcher as telling Movieline.com.

"Part of that creates a place where women aren't empowered around their own sexuality and their own sexual selves, and from a purely entertainment point of view, to create a movie with a female lead that's empowered with her own sexuality is a powerful thing.

"And if we can give teenage people something to think about from a sex perspective, I would say it would be to open a conversation where women are empowered with their own sexual experiences from an educational level as well as an entertainment level," the actor said.

The film is due for release in the US on January 21.