Beyond the Birds and the Bees

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“Mom, What’s fifty-six?”
“Ah, I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I think it might be a… a…”
“Mmm-hmm?”
(Whispered) “…a sex thing…”
Long, long [...]

When I was young, sex was never talked about. I don’t remember ever asking any questions of my parents, I wasn’t a big talker and I’m still not.
About the age of 12 I came home one day to find a book on my bed called “Growing Up.” No one said a word, or asked about [...]

My parents never told me anything.  Learning about sex in the late 70s-early 80s was like taking an independent study course with a couple of professors who couldn’t be bothered to keep office hours.
I was a first-born, serious girl.  I had spent my preschool years playing outdoors with my older male cousins.  Sometimes our games were sexually charged: as [...]

I endeavor to avoid writing about politics on this blog, except when politics intersect with sex. I avoid politics because I don’t want how I feel about deficit spending, or gun control, or NAFTA or other rancorous issues to become entangled in how people understand my films. So much at I might be tempted to [...]

When I was about four, my parents explained the basic mechanics of where babies come from. Excited that I knew something the other kids didn’t know, but ever the informational egalitarian, I told the other kids at my preschool. This didn’t go over well in the conservative community where I was raised.
A few years later, [...]