User Reviews

Little did I realize until having seen this, how casually and explicitly sex was talked about in some adult classes on intercourse, back in the otherwise repressed, if not asexual, forties and fifties.

There was, of course, the Kinsey report, which came out during this period, that suggested at least some men and women knew what to do and were getting it on. The revelations this study contained proved to be quite a bit of a shock to those married couples who must have felt they had a learning disability. Such ones likely thought that they'd better bone up on their studies if they were ever to see to their having families, and so turned to books and educational pictures in their quest for carnal knowledge.

Whereas nowadays one might learn about contraceptives and venereal diseases, the sex-ed schooling of the monochromatic age concerned itself with the basics, introducing husbands and wives to terms and the functions of ovaries, the uterus, Fallopian tubes and menstruation. (Perhaps also to infertility and impotence.) All very sterile and scientific and matter-of-factly presented, absent of any giggle factor. Applying what they'd learned, many of these marital pupils managed to produce biological sons and daughters, the rewards of all of their hard headwork, and must have felt a sense of accomplishment and certainly relief in their not having to resort to adoption in the seeing to their satisfying of their paternal/maternal instincts.

As I sat watching SEX (ED): THE MOVIE, a particular scene from "Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life" came to mind, risible in its lampoonery. Here, in this documentary, there are numerous clips dating back to the early part of the 20th century, a few almost as outrageous as the scene of John Cleese's character instructing his class in the aforementioned comedy.

I suppose it could be said that sex education has existed for centuries. Take the Kama Sutra, as just one example. Still, all this supposed need for this particular form of education got me to thinking: How is it that within the botanical world, with its stamens and pistils, the act of reproduction occurs without any need for tutorial aids? Of the numerous clips from sex-ed films featured in this documentary, it's to be noted there is not one that is shown specifically geared toward the enlightenment of plant life. The reason for this is obvious. Nature has provided within these botanical beings all there needs to know about the birds and the bees and the bonobos.

Consider, also, the animal kingdom. It's something that animals engage quite frequently in mating without any need for guidebooks and manuals. They must think humans intellectually inferior (at least when it comes to such matters as courtship and the missionary position).

SEX (ED): THE MOVIE is instructional, contains no mention of storks, and checks in -- or, to put it another way, is in-and-out -- at an economical 77 minutes.