Youtube is a place where you will find your funny cat videos, make-up tutorials, and now, sex education. Not what you normally expect from a website made large by some random viral videos, but recently Youtube has been starting to be taken more seriously. A lot of the prime time talk shows have their own channels; Ellen has a channel, and now Grace Helbig, a Youtube star, has received her own television show on the E! network. So it shouldn’t be surprising that some of the creators wanted to expand their platform in a way to help their audiences understand sex.
Recently, the Youtuber Tomska, also know as Tom Ridgewell, released a video on the basics of what happens during puberty. Normally, he produces funny animated or live action videos, but here he has done a quick overview of what happens when a person goes through puberty. He also does blogs where he talks really fast, and that is seen in the puberty video along with animations to show what happens to the body when puberty hits. By talking about it and not thinking it’s awkward, he is able to successfully get information across. This is usually something that a parent or adolescent may feel uncomfortable talking about, so the way he goes about delivering the information makes it a lot less awkward.
In a previous video of his he also discusses sex. This is pretty much the internet-version of the sex talk, in which he informs his his viewers what they would need to know if they wanted to start having sex or if they just want to learn more about it. He does this video in the same style as his puberty video and it goes over the genitals, sexuality, contraceptives, what consent is and even mentions a little bit about the legal age to have sex. These two videos are fun and funny, but most importantly informative.
There is on specific Youtube creator whose entire channel is devoted to sex education, sexuality, gender identity and even discuses what consent and rape is. Her name is Laci Green and her channel is called Sex plus. In her videos she goes more into detail about different aspects of sex, gender issues, gender equality, body image, and consent. Green’s videos are helpful especially if someone wanted to lean more about what is going on in their body, what squirting is, how to orgasm, or maybe learn something a different sexuality. Green’s purpose is to educate her viewers on the many things that may not be covered in the sex ed classroom in a high school.
She does have a video about how abstinence based sex education is something that needs to be stopped in schools, and how classes need to have something more detailed about contraceptives, information about STI’s, what is consent, and essentially preparing the student with the knowledge in case they decide that they want to have sex. They are given the tools in order to practice safe sex and not shame them for wanting to have sex.
People are starting to be more open when it comes to sex, and some people have questions about sex. There are so many places where one could learn about sex, such as their doctor and planned parenthood, and they will be more than happy to inform you. Even Mtv’s website has information, but it seems that a lot of information is coming from the Youtube community.
