We need more sex education on our screens
What to add to your watchlist to break the awkward ice
Forget cliff jumping or walking on hot coals as monitor lizards are flung at your face. The real Khatron ke Khiladi test should be walking into a crowded room and convincing everyone about the importance of sex education in schools. Reactions will vary from pearl-clutching and tongue-clicking to raised brows, side eyes, and commiserations for your poor parents’ naak being cut. Forget giving sex education to younglings. It seems sex education films and shows are a controversial topic among adults too considering that OMG 2, a movie about the inclusion of sex education in schools as the narrative’s core, received an ‘A’ certificate from the censors. This, despite the team behind the film reportedly saying “the film is meant for the age group of 12 – 17 years.”
Despite parents trying their best to broach subjects of intimacy, sexual health and consent with their teens – an age where they’re most likely to become sexually active – our strict upbringing makes us choke up. Many have also called for the A (adult-only) rating to be dropped to a UA instead, which would allow viewers under 12 to watch with parental guidance.
Sex educator and founder of UnTaboo, Anju Kish, says, “Imagine a child wants to know about sex, but the parents are not addressing it. Obviously, he or she will check the internet, and the attitudes they will form by gathering information online may be all wrong. From a very early age, parents must establish themselves as the source of information by keeping the doors of communication open.”
Sex education films and shows help teens and parents who’d rather spend three hours attending a dramatic reading of Tolstoy’s War and Peace than discuss anything sex-related with each other.
OMG 2 may have dropped out of your weekend family plans. Still, currently streaming online, there are sex education films and shows that, while not precisely marketed to be so, have themes, subjects and character arcs that can help you address the many subjects under the umbrella of sex education.
Sex education films and shows that’ll help you address everything awkward in a not-so-awkward way
Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa is a mini-series that you can watch with your teen on Youtube, created by Y-Films, a subsidiary of Yash Raj Films.
The episodes revolve around conversations between a father and his young son about topics related to sex, relationships, and sexuality. A light-hearted show that the entire family can watch (there might be some awkwardness, but hey, adults need sex ed too), it uses humour and relatable language to answers questions and address curiosities that young people (and the young at heart) might have.
Papa and Pappu’s interactions cover everything from puberty and consent to pregnancy, relationships and more. The show aims to break societal taboos surrounding these subjects and promote healthy communication and understanding between parents and their kids. Each episode has gained millions of views online with equal amounts of criticism and applause coming their way.
Netflix’s hit series has dealt with sexual orientations, anxieties, queer love, assault and kinks from every angle across three (and an upcoming final fourth) seasons.
Otis Milburn, played by Asa Butterfield, is the son of Dr Jean Milburn, portrayed by Gillian Anderson, a loud and proud sex therapist. Tapping into the learnings he’s recieved from his mother’s, well, oversharing, he becomes the unofficial sex therapist to students in his school who are navigating their raging hormones.
There are some sex and masturbation scenes that may cause discomfort to watch together with your teen, so perhaps this is a show you watch separately and then discuss later on.
Everyone says that Sanya Dhingra, played by Rakul Preet Singh, is a genius when it comes to chemistry. But struggling to find a job, she ends up working at a condom factory. Initially embarrassed, she hides this part of her life from pretty much everyone she cares about. But the more time she spends there, the more comfortable she gets with talking about condoms and then taking it a step further by trying to educate others about safe sex practices.
In the beginning, Chhatriwali is all about getting guys to grasp the whole safe sex thing, but as it rolls on, it changes gears to tackle why sex ed matters.
Netflix’s animated series dives into the wild and often embarrassing world of puberty. It follows a group of adolescents as they navigate the challenges, changes, and emotions that come with growing up, with hormone ‘monsters’ providing comic relief.
Parents will want to exercise some caution with this one because the show is known for its candid and sometimes explicit portrayal of these issues while aiming to provide both entertainment and insight into the complexities of teenage life.
Mudit, played by Ayushmann Khurrana, and Sugandha, played by Bhumi Pednekar, are a young couple who are engaged to be married. Their love story hits a major snag when Mudit starts experiencing erectile dysfunction. The longer he goes without acknowledging it with his partner, the greater source of stress it becomes for him, further exacerbating the matter.
The film then follows how this impacts their relationship while dealing with societal expectations, family questioning and personal insecurities. You might be wondering why erectile dysfunction is something that needs to be discussed with your children, it happens when you’re older, right? But the truth is that erectile dysfunction can happen to young men and boys, though, perhaps, not for the same reasons. Alcohol use, smoking, high stress, anxiety and more can impact male mental health which can cause erectile dysfunction, among other physiological causes. It’s important to reassure your sons that it’s something that can happen, is natural and can be dealt with too.
Each episode of this show focuses on one topic, such as birth control, fertility, child birth, attraction and sexual fantasies. The show does a fantastic job of enlightening the audience about various aspects of sex, the kind of stuff that usually gets skipped or overlooked in the sex ed that too few of us got in school.
What makes this series a great watch is how it manages to be informative without becoming a total snoozefest. Each episode dives deep into the history, research, and modern insights related to the subject at hand. Instead of just pulling out statistics and pie charts, you really get to understand the full scope of the topic, often with some funny stories thrown in.
This coming-of-age film focuses on the life of a seemingly happy high school senior named Alex Truelove. He has what everyone his age wants – good grades, friends, a girlfriend and a bright future to look forward to. But everything changes when he meets an openly gay teen named Elliot who makes Alex question his own sexuality.
Alex’s story can be used to discuss not only exploring gender and sexual identity but the confusion of it all as well. As Alex tries to figure out what he’s feeling about his own sexuality, the movie digs into themes of finding yourself, being okay with who you are, and how complicated teenage relationships can be.
Based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel, I Am Not Okay With This is more than an account of how Sydney, played by Sophia Lillis, has anger issues, hates high school and develops violent superpowers.
Without any explicit telling, the show touches upon drug use, losing your virginity, internal and external homophobia, queer love and intimacy, heterosexual intimacy with added funny commentary about all the weird places on our body that we get acne (like our bums).
Even though the show was sadly cancelled after only one season, it’s definitely worth a watch for how naturally and seamlessly they bring in otherwise embarrassing topics while staying true to the source material.
We recommend you exercise parental discretion when watching the shows based on your child’s age and emotional development.