Note: these are all supercuts of other videos; if you are interested in fuller accounts from each of the participants, search Watchcut Video’s collection to look for their stories.
While these conversations were at times somewhat awkward, they nonetheless went forward. These appear to all be young families, and so I wonder if the standards of the day are different from when I was their age; I’m 47 and my parents are ~80, and I can’t imagine ever having these sorts of discussions with them, now or at any time in my past.
Could you see yourself participating in any of these videos (or at least having such a conversation, even if not on camera)? Do you have this kind of relationship with your children/parents, where you could carry on a conversation about personal sexual matters?
Hell no with my orthodox Mormon mother. She would hide her nursing magazines which contained any “questionable” content, for whatever that meant. No way to talk about this with her.
My kids are still small, eight and six. The older, my daughter doesn’t like talking about things despite my willingness to be open. We talk a lot more than I did with my family, but I think that she’ll discuss more with her mother. We have gotten her a book about her body and let her take it at her pace. We’ll talk more as we go along.
My parents are both dead now, but they were really great parents. At the time, when I was young, no way, but mum’s been gone for a year and a half, and dad about 11 years now. I definitely could have talked to both of them about anything in later years.
My mum listened with amusement when I told her how we used to sleep out in the tent and then roam the neighbourhood all night long as kids.
And, how I took the family car for joy rides when I was like 14 years old.
She seemed to really like the stories in retrospect, so sex is something I would have been cool talking about, but it never (thankfully) came up. I did have to explain to her how my son came out as transgendered though, and she matter-of-factly said “so?”
Not my parents, but my Aunt was very open about sexuality when I was in my teens. We’ve been incredibly close all of my life. She was single then and had a kind of older sister vibe. She presented sex as a healthy, fun thing to do responsibly and just sort of integrated the subject into everyday life so it seemed like NBD. Now when I say we could talk openly, she is the queen of TMI even with non-sex stuff. She told me to keep a warm wet rag handy the first time I had oral sex, and gave me tips on pulling off doggy style. She taught me not to be afraid to be assertive with my partner about what’s working and what’s not.
It was all very… Practical. Very matter of fact. Plus she taught me how to be open to other people’s sexuality even if it wasn’t my thing, from sexual orientation to polygamy to fetishes. Her best friend was gay so we talked about gay sex just as openly. (Interesting experience as a result: when I was thirteen, my very religious self attended Bible Camp, where a preacher raged about how awful homosexuality was. He said, “What they do is so disgusting it’s unspeakable. You can’t even imagine.” My immediate thought was, “What is he talking about? All they do is screw each other up the butt.”)
We probably talk about sex less now because she’s married and I’m grown up. But I really feel she gave me a profound gift because for all my personal sexual struggles, I know that healthy is possible and what it looks like. I have something to strive for and pass onto my kids. I probably won’t be that level of explicit with them but the basic idea, that this is good and fun and maybe doesn’t have to be so mysterious, that’s important.
This. No way, not ever. If my parents were still alive, they’d swear I was still a virgin. They both knew I’m gay, but I think they thought it was something political with no sex involved.
