Midwest Teen Sex Show

I became a big fan of the Midwest Teen Sex show after a link to their website was posted on Feministing. Personally I find them witty and fun to watch, a far cry from the scare tactic sex ed videos used in my sex education class. I guess not everyone likes their humor however.

Today on the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet (a day time talk show I was only watching because it was on our TV after the Today show) they had the creator and stars of the show, a sex expert and a psychologist to debate about the web casts. I was pleased that in general the show was positive about the show and about teens learning about sex. Their sex expert even talked about how parents should start talking to their kids about sex as early as possible. Awesome info. The only negitive comments seemed to be from a parent of adults who was worried about younger teens watching the episodes and the phycologist who worried about "isolated" teens who would get the wrong message from the show and take it literally. I'm not sure what she meant by that, because it's not like they are encouraging kids to have sex, just safe sex for the right reasons, if they choose to. I also like how the Midwest Teen gets that their audience is mainly either adults or teens thinking about having sex or are having sex. I know it's a pretty big assumption that most teens will want to have sex, but how else would they find an online sex education show online if they weren't looking to have sex?

Anyways, I hope the show will really get parents thinking about talking with their children about sex. Even if it is the same "wait until marriage" speech, at least it will open up the channels of communication.

Another thing that got me thinking, is there last question to Nikol, one of the women in the Midwest Teen Sex Show webcasts. They asked her is the show had been around when she was a teen, if she would have waited to have sex and children. Basically she said yes, because she became sexually active at 11. There was a collective gasp from the audience. It made me question myself also, if I at some point during my teen years had seen the Midwest Teen Sex Show, would I have waited to have sex or been more careful? Would I have picked different partners who weren't like 10+ years older then me? Would I have been more comfortable with my sexuality and explored that more?

Honestly, while I am ok with my past choices, I think the answer would have been yes. Episode # 3 "The Older Boyfriend" rings so true to me even though I didn't start dating my older boyfriend who once lived with his parents, until I was actually an "adult". Episode # 7 "Homosexuality" would also have been really mind blowing to me at 15, like being gay is ok, was not something that anyone around me subscribed to when I was a teenager. Maybe I would have realized I had other options out there, other choices then the ones I picked. I don't regret my choices at the end of the day I can be comfortable with them, but I can be honest and say with the right information I could have made better decisions and made my life better. Something I never would have thought of in high school, without anyone encouraging me to take charge of my own sex life (or not having sex life) like the Midwest Teen Sex Show does.

Midwest Teen Sex Show
Today's episode of the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet