Sex(ed): The Movie looks at the awkwardness of sex education

In this week's issue of the Georgia Straight, a profile of Heather Corrina, founder of the sex-education website Scarleteen, highlighted the pervasive lack of frank information about sex out there aimed at youth.

It's unfortunate to consider how sex-saturated our culture has become on a consumerist level while lacking a proportionate educational dimension.

The documentary Sex(ed): The Movie, which screens as part of DOXA Documentary Film Festival's Motion Picture Film Series, takes a historical look at the often awkward, confused and confusing, fraught, and hilarious territory of sex education.

Director Brenda Goodman intersperses clips from sex ed films and pop culture with interviews to chronicle how sex education has changed over the years, including the sexual revolution of the 1960s and '70s and the rise (snicker!) of abstinence-only programs in the '80s.

It's got everything in there that you already knew about but were too afraid to ask about, from masturbation and disease-prevention to same-sex attractions—and what people did and didn't learn in sex education programs in school and elsewhere.

The bonus is that there'll be a panel discussion after the film with Options for Sexual Health's director of education Kristen Gilbert and Qmunity LGBTQ youth worker Lucas Wilson, who has also worked in transgender health programs.

The screening will be held at the Richmond Cultural Centre Performance Hall (7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond) on Friday (February 6) at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the DOXA website.