# Could this sex-ed video work in the US classroom? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791 "2015-05-25T13:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/1 "2015-05-25T13:46:55Z")
Norwegian State Channel sex-education video (spoilered for NSFW content) [Norwegian State Channel sex-education video (with English subtitles)](https://www.youtube.com/v/HyWRalwqq24&list=PLJX8EALqb4PzmhYdnK6AxcAhm45FyCCK-) Watch the damn thing. It’ll only take five minutes of your time and you may actually learn something. 🙂 I vaguely remember sex education. 8th grade health class. By that time, I’d already had my period for awhile, and I suspect I wasn’t the only one. We were shown no photographs or videos (though I did watch “Miracle of Life” in sixth grade science), though there were plenty of drawings of uteruses and fallopian tubes and vans deferens. I also remember a banana and a condom. I think our heads would have exploded if we’d seen that video. Especially at the part where the lady touches the kid’s junk! I don’t think our parents would have approved (gotta love the disclaimer about parental embarrassment!) But as funny as it was, it managed to be quite educational. I liked how it totally demystified puberty, nudity, and genitalia. And it was paid for by tax dollars! Can you imagine what would happen if PBS broadcast something like this? What are your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/2 "2015-05-25T13:53:01Z")
My thoughts? That the US allows prudery that is decades if not a century out of step to determine how we handle sex as a public topic. But - close to TS here, but that’s not how I mean it - I am always sourly amused when someone points to something one of the small, homogenous, wealthy, socialist-by-choice, insular nations does, and says, totally without irony, “Why can’t WE do that?” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/3 "2015-05-25T14:14:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > My thoughts? That the US allows prudery that is decades if not a century out of step to determine how we handle sex as a public topic. > > But - close to TS here, but that’s not how I mean it - I am always sourly amused when someone points to something one of the small, homogenous, wealthy, socialist-by-choice, insular nations does, and says, totally without irony, “Why can’t WE do that?” I’m always amused when a country’s wealth or economic system or homogeniety is brought up to explain, ipso facto, why Americans can’t do something. What does Norway’s superior wealth have to do with anything? Or their socialism? Or their insularity? Seems to me the only meaningful comparison would be Norwegian religiosity versus American religiosity. According to Google, 83% of Americans identity themselves as Christian–13% as “no religion”. 82% of Norwegians identify as Christians. The overwhelming majority belong to the [Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Norway). ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/4 "2015-05-25T14:29:48Z")
I thought it was well-made, helpful (if you were a 10-12 year old boy or girl), and amusing.\* But it’d never play in the US. For one thing, they show naked underage boys and girls. The producers would be arrested for child pornography. Second, the narrator touches a boy’s penis. She’d be arrested for child molestation. \*Actually, I learned something: girls start at _ **10?!?** _ That means my baby-girl is 4 years away?!? I thought I had another 6 years. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/5 "2015-05-25T14:41:30Z")
Let’s start by finding out what sort of educational videos or other materials are currently used in US classrooms. I suspect this will vary based on which state you look at, and I also suspect that such videos will used animations or cartoons showing genitalia rather than live subjects. But I don’t know, as I’m decades out of school. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/6 "2015-05-25T15:01:38Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > But it’d never play in the US. For one thing, they show naked underage boys and girls. The producers would be arrested for child pornography. > > Second, the narrator touches a boy’s penis. She’d be arrested for child molestation. Nope. The people shown naked, and the guy whose penis the narrator touches, are very clearly adults. Look at the musculature and the body hair. I don’t think it would fly in Ireland. I might show it to my kid in a few years, though. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/7 "2015-05-25T15:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > [@LinusK](#): > > I thought it was well-made, helpful (if you were a 10-12 year old boy or girl), and amusing.\* > > But it’d never play in the US. For one thing, they show naked underage boys and girls. The producers would be arrested for child pornography. Wait. I just watched that video. Are you saying I’m gonna be charged with child porn now?! > [@](#): > > Second, the narrator touches a boy’s penis. She’d be arrested for child molestation. For all we know, that young man could have been over the age of consent, along with the girl with the exposed chest. And the narrator didn’t touch him in a sexual way. (Though the squirting into the camera and the menstrual blood trail made me think of a sexual version of that Nickelodeon show “You Can’t Do That on Television”) I think it would have blown my mind as a kid to see an uncircumsized penis. Seems to me all the text books showed circumsized penii. I can picture me raising my hand after watching the video and asking for an explanation from the teacher. > [@](#): > > \*Actually, I learned something: girls start at _ **10?!?** _ > > That means my baby-girl is 4 years away?!? I thought I had another 6 years. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! By the time a girl starts her period, puberty is practically over. The average age of menarche is 12.5. Puberty generally begins 2-3 years prior. So on average, girls will start developing around 9 years old. It is not unusual for girls to start getting pubic hair starting as early as the second or third grade. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/8 "2015-05-25T15:29:40Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > 82% of Norwegians identify as Christians. Trust me, those statistics aside, in practice the overwhelming majority of us are godless heathens, who hardly ever set foot in a church or so much as look at a Bible. Christianity got here late, and I don’t think it ever made a very deep impact. 😉 (That said, I think I may be more prudish than some Norwegians, because the OP’s video made me slightly uncomfortable for reasons that I can’t really articulate. But then again, it does start off with an embarrassment warning, so I think the idea is to infringe slightly on some people’s comfort zones.) ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/9 "2015-05-25T16:15:38Z")
Scandinavians are nominally Christian. Very much nominally. Also, to those who may have missed it (I almost did), it’s part of a playlist, there’s seven more videos. As for the reason why this wouldn’t happen, perhaps at the state level in Vermont or Mass or the local level in some of the bluer counties. Not all of the US is held back by Comstockian morons. At the federal level, not for a while. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/10 "2015-05-25T16:21:54Z")
Aw, hell no. Topless little girl, growed-up penis and bush, “blood” dripping down woman’s leg, narrator squirting the screen while talking about ejaculation. NFW. All the nudity would have to be diagrams, and skip the blood and ‘semen.’ Just like American sex-ed, though, I notice it doesn’t at all talk about the act that gets the sperm to the egg. Maybe the other videos in the series do? There are American kids dumb enough to not figure that part out, and are surprised when they get pregnant (or their girlfriend gets pregnant). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/11 "2015-05-25T16:47:06Z")
The United States is not a monolithic bloc with identical beliefs in all areas. Some parts of the country are very conservative, while other parts are more liberal that much of Europe. The video would work fine in a progressive school in NYC or San Fransisco. It would fail miserably in much of the country, however. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/12 "2015-05-25T17:54:24Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Also, to those who may have missed it (I almost did), it’s part of a playlist, there’s seven more videos. Thanks for the heads up. > [@bup](#): > > Just like American sex-ed, though, I notice it doesn’t at all talk about the act that gets the sperm to the egg. Maybe the other videos in the series do? Yes, watch the whole playlist for the full experience. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/13 "2015-05-25T18:09:49Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Yes, watch the whole playlist for the full experience. There are a couple that show quite detailed close ups of actual genitals. I think they would be quite good for U.S. teens, but I can’t imagine it happening. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/14 "2015-05-25T18:16:01Z")
I was somewhat WTFked by the more-than-educational\* way the presenter handles breasts and male genitalia as well as the fact that she twice gives the audience a facial. Right in the eye too which is quite rude. - Educational but also goofy/jokey. That’s a good tone for the video in general but perhaps not when handling someone’s tits & bits. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/15 "2015-05-25T21:16:11Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Nope. The people shown naked, and the guy whose penis the narrator touches, are very clearly adults. Look at the musculature and the body hair. > > I don’t think it would fly in Ireland. I might show it to my kid in a few years, though. There’s a number of years between puberty and adult. They looked like teenagers to me. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/16 "2015-05-25T22:24:41Z")
It doesn’t seem informative–the cutesiness seems to presuppose that the audience already knows the things they’re stating. (Like who is going to understand the squirting at the end unless they already basically knows what a penis does during sex?) Maybe the point is more in the tone than in the information content. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/17 "2015-05-25T23:38:04Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > It doesn’t seem informative–the cutesiness seems to presuppose that the audience already knows the things they’re stating. (Like who is going to understand the squirting at the end unless they already basically knows what a penis does during sex?) > > Maybe the point is more in the tone than in the information content. I would have learned a bit at age 12 (pre-internet). ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/18 "2015-05-26T00:15:23Z")
I’m 51, and that is the first uncircumcised penis I have ever seen. I wasn’t particularly impressed. 😃 It was funny that the woman used the words tits and balls. And my, that sure was a hairy woman. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/19 "2015-05-26T02:38:42Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > It was funny that the woman used the words tits and balls. And my, that sure was a hairy woman. :eek: Yeah, maybe _ **Lady Schick** _ would sponsor it\*!\* In America, it’d be a tough sell. And its benefits would not really be worth the controversy it would cause. Although personally I think showing it to ‘girls only’ might slip under the radar, boys are too visual and immature at that age. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791/20 "2015-05-26T02:42:21Z")
I don’t see subtitles [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-this-sex-ed-video-work-in-the-us-classroom/720791.md?page=2)