SEX ED & DISNEY
Watch scary babies, Donald Duck, and sad princesses teach about reproduction.
Hi Everyone,
Happy hump day and thanks so much for reading the ADULT SEX ED newsletter! We’ve just passed 7,000 subscribers! I’m so grateful. If you’re enjoying it, please share with friends so we continue to grow.
This is a weekly newsletter from me, Dani Faith Leonard. 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 & DISNEY
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is in an ongoing feud with Disney, which started when company leadership criticized Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Signed into law last year, the bill limits discussion of gender and sexuality in classrooms. What many people don’t know is that this isn’t the first time that Disney was involved in sex ed.
Growing up in the 90s, I didn’t learn any of my sex ed from Disney movies, although I remember rewinding The Lion King a bunch of times to see if the animators really wrote the word SEX in a cloud of dust. I also giggled when the minister officiating at Ursula's wedding ceremony in The Little Mermaid got a boner, but the real lesson seemed to be that women should give up their voice to get a man (the female characters have come a long way since then). Released by Pixar last year, Turning Red tackles periods and puberty in a really unique way, but that wasn’t the first time that Disney released a film about periods.
In the late 1940s, Disney produced a series of educational films that were shown in American classrooms. In 1946, the company released The Story of Menstruation, in partnership with Kotex. The roughly 10 minute short is poetic at times, mostly scientifically sound, and filled with hilarious tips and tropes. WATCH IT HERE.
In the first minute, we’re introduced to a terrifying baby wearing lipstick. As the film goes on, that baby grows up and becomes a girl. We’re hilariously told that hormones create four types of women–short, tall, heavy, and slight. Then, the film explains menstruation in easy-to-understand language. But my favorite part begins when the film explains some of the issues women might experience on their periods:
“Some girls have a little less pep, a feeling of pressure in the lower part of the body. Perhaps an occasional twinge or a touch of nerves. But don’t let it get you down. After all, no matter how you feel, you have to live with people. You have to live with yourself, too!”
That truly is the most frustrating part about a period—living with other people!
Other fun tips include not catching cold, avoiding constipation, bathing (but don’t get pelted with ice cubes), and keeping up with exercise (but nothing too extreme, like bouncing on a horse). Although the vintage tips and imagery are hilarious today, this film was groundbreaking at the time.
In the 1960s, the birth control pill became widely available and Disney got back into the sex ed game with another video about family planning hosted by Donald Duck. If you think that learning about overpopulation and birth control from an animated duck with notable anger issues is strange…that’s because it is.
There have been over 100,000 sex ed films produced in the United States and I’m looking forward to exploring more of them in the future. That’s all for now and remember, no matter how you feel, you have to live with people!
RELATED NEWSLETTER
If you enjoyed this newsletter, here’s a similar one:
Wednesday March 22nd - THE LONG HISTORY OF BIRTH CONTROL & OTHER NEWS
I’m bringing some Adult Sex Ed to Houston, TX next week. Want an Adult Sex Ed live show in your city? Let me know by responding to this email or leave a comment.
As always, please share the newsletter with friends!