Hi Everyone,
Happy hump day and thanks so much for reading the ADULT SEX ED newsletter! If you’re enjoying it, please share with friends, so they can be hilariously informed!
This is a weekly newsletter from me, Dani Faith Leonard, a comedian and film producer. It’s an extension of the live comedy show ADULT SEX ED that I’ve hosted since 2018. The show is about plugging the holes in our education as adults, so I’ll be doing just that (if you want to know more about this newsletter, here’s a description on substack).
Ready to get a little smarter? Okay, let’s go!
Dani
Sex Ed & Video
The history of sex ed in America basically dates back to the founding of the country. The earliest sex ed basically consisted of anti-masturbation tours, which thankfully were not filmed. Since the early 1900s, the most common way to teach sex ed is through video. According to a 2014 documentary that explores the history of sex ed videos, Sex(ed): The Movie, there have been over 100,000 sex ed films produced in the United States alone.
When I was cutting together a new opening video for the ADULT SEX ED live show, I wanted to include some old clips, so I went on a deep dive. WATCH THE VIDEO at the top of this post/newsletter!
Some of the earliest sex ed films in the US were produced by the war department after over 300,000 servicemen got STIs during World War I. When World War II rolled around, they didn’t want a repeat and soldiers were forced to watch educational films. Most of the military videos focused on the dangers of dirty and loose women, like the clip included in the video above from a venereal disease scare film called Pick Up.
Soldier: “She was so young! She looked so clean!”
Doctor: “Of course she looked clean. That’s how you get infected.”
Sex ed in the military inspired the sex ed in public schools. Human Growth was the first film that was widely shown in classrooms in 1947, which received nationwide press attention. Sex ed films were also produced by religious organizations and major brands, like Kotex and Disney. I broke down the sex ed films that were produced by Disney in a previous newsletter that you can read here:
In the 80s and 90s, sex ed films ranged from completely bizarre, like the clip I included from Linda’s Film About Menstruation, to wildly inaccurate. When the United States started funding abstinence-focused sex ed in the 90s, that led to videos riddled with scare tactics — if you have premarital sex, you should be prepared to die and take with you one or more of your children.
Today, sex ed videos are still produced by brands, religious groups, and organizations like Planned Parenthood. Since only 17 states require sex ed to be medically accurate, some shady videos no doubt make it to classrooms. Other videos are scientific, sterile, and awkward. For contrast, watch this Norwegian sex ed video for tweens and try not to giggle.
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