It's not quite as catchy as its predecessor, but it does have anthropomorphic sperm.
But is it too cute for its own good? Maybe. I recall my only Swedish friend, Åsk Wappling from Adland, hated the first video's made-up names for genitals. And I think she has a point. The sex education curriculum where I live — in Ontario, Canada — is presently being updated to include teaching kids in Grade One the appropriate names for their genitals. You'd think that sexually-progressive Swedes would demand no less than real biology.
This is Katelyn Campbell. She's a Senior at George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia. When conservative speaker Pam Stenzel was invited to her school to speak about abstinence as the only way to avoid pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections, Ms. Campbell refused to attend.
At GW’s assembly, Stenzel allegedly told students that “if you take birth control, your mother probably hates you” and “I could look at any one of you in the eyes right now and tell if you’re going to be promiscuous.” She also asserted that condoms aren’t safe, and every instance of sexual contact will lead to a sexually transmitted infection.
Who can blame Ms. Campbell for thinking that has no place in a public school? Especially since it was funded "by a conservative religious organization called 'Believe in West Virginia' and advertised with fliers that proclaimed 'God’s plan for sexual purity'."
But this student did more than boycott the event. She also filed a complaint with the ACLU, and spoke out against the event in her school and in local media.
In a show of retaliation that should make any educator's or parent's blood run cold, George Washington HS Principal George Aulenbacher allegedly decided to try to destroy the teenage girl's future.
According to a complaint filed by the Campbell family's lawyer, asking for an injunction to prohibit Principal Aulenbacher from retaliating against Ms. Campbell for exercising her right to free speech.:
Aulenbacher called Campbell to the principal's office after she contacted media outlets about the assembly and said, "I am disappointed in you" and "How could you go to the press without telling me?" according to the complaint.
He then allegedly threatened to call Wellesley College, where Campbell has been accepted, and tell them about her actions. "How would you feel if I called your college and told them what bad character you have and what a backstabber you are?" he said, according to the complaint.
"I said, 'Go ahead,'" Campbell said Monday. "He continued to berate me in his office. I'm not an emotional person, but I cried. He threatened me and my future in order to put forth his own personal agenda and made teachers and students feel they cant speak up because of fear of retaliation."
One can only hope that Mr. Aulenbacher ends up getting his just desserts in some kind of John Hughes movie ending.
Katelyn Campbell, on the other hand, no longer has to worry about Wellesley. They are well aware of her character, and sent her this message, via Twitter:
That's what I call a happy ending. And not only for the young woman who stood up for evidence-based sex education. Wellesley College managed to get the kind of publicity that no amount of marketing money can buy:
WOW. The response is off the charts. Thank you. Our alum community says it best- we think Katelyn will fit right in. chn.ge/ZAj97W
— Wellesley College (@Wellesley) April 18, 2013
Remember last week's awful ad (new window) from the "Institute for Canadian Values" about Ontario's proposed sex ed curriculum? With its blatantly anti-GLBTQ message and manipulative imagery, it even got the National Post to apologize for running it in the first place.
Well, there's another one. A pamphlet. And according to Torontoist it was paid for by Ontario's Progressive (ha!) Conservative Party:
The Globe and Mail gives Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak's defence of the publication:
When asked if he supported the message, Mr. Hudak turned the question around on the Liberals and suggested the party was out of touch with mainstream voters.
“My little girl Miller – it’s her birthday today – is just four and she has started JK,” he said. “The notion that Dalton McGuinty thinks a priority in education is sex-education curriculum starting at Grade 1 when they should be learning their ABCs and how to tie their shoes is another example of how Dalton McGuinty has lost touch with mainstream Ontario.”
Interestingly, the quotes in the ad are not from any proposed provincial curriculum, but rather from a Toronto District School Board booklet on "Challenging Homophobia and Heterosexism".
And as CBC points out, the copy is full of misrepresentations and outright fabrications.
The flyer includes one quote from the document —"cross-dressing for six-year olds"— that can't be found anywhere in the TDSB document. The flyer also says the quotes are taken from the K-12 curriculum. But the quotes are not included in the curriculum, only in the anti-homophobia resource guide.
This election campaign was already ugly. Now it's evil, too.
"Under the abandoned curriculum, Grade 1 students would have been taught the correct terms for body parts, including genitalia, which can help prevent sexual abuse.
But what sparked the ire of social conservatives was that Grade 3 students would have learned about homosexuality.
Sixth-graders would be taught about masturbation.
In Grade 7, concepts of anal and oral sex would have been introduced."
The Liberal government, if re-elected, has promised to do more "parent consultation" before proceeding.
The only confused people I see here are the advertisers, who are convinced that sexual orientation is a choice (and that someone would choose a path that would lead to being discriminated against by assholes like them).
Have you ever asked yourself why we don't see more condom ads on TV? Well, apparently the big American television networks are afraid to air ads that encourage safer sex — creating a de facto "ban" on promoting one of the most important health products for sexually active people.
That is changing, apparently, just today as the AIDS Healthcare Foundation "breaks the rubber barrier" on daytime and primetime television with this horribly awkward PSA to be run during Oprah and Family Guy (now THERE's an odd pairing):
As the Make The Logo Bigger blog noted, "This is Real Talk feels anything but. The only connection with her show may be the markets the spot will run in (Los Angeles and Washington, DC), but it sure feels like something she would produce. Campy, awkward and full of the type of acting at home in a PSA from the 1950s."
It's like safer sex filtered through The Cosby Show — except that old Bill consistently railed against premarital sex whenever one of his kids was suspected of it. The writing is stiff, the acting forced, and the timing is obtuse.
And yet even this sappy approach to safer sex, as a bonafide PSA, is too much for some U.S. broadcasters. According to the AHF:
"AHF’s ‘This is Real Talk,’ PSA was also submitted for approval for airing on a number of other primetime and daytime programs in Los Angeles. All stations agreed the spot was suitable to air, although some stations stipulated that the spot could only run in certain dayparts, such as after 9pm or 10pm."
At least they're trying. Just earlier this month, the NY Times Parenting blog, Motherlode, looked at the way American culture views sexuality with fear and disgust when dealing with issues such as condoms.
"Rachel Phelps (who works at Planned Parenthood in the United States) concludes that while American parents, advertisers and public-service announcements aim to scare teens, those in Europe are matter of fact and humorous.
'The idea is that sex is like a big industrial fire — dangerous, scary and bad,' Phelps writes. 'And having sex without a condom is like fighting a big industrial fire naked — very bad. But does that mean that having sex with a condom is like fighting a big industrial fire in a spacesuit? Not very appealing. Why would this image motivate teenagers to use condoms?'"
You think she's joking? Check this out:
This is from a slideshow on Slate that contrasts European condom ads — which playfully celebrate sexual pleasure — with American sexophobia.
Let's hope that the "Real Talk" PSA's awkward first steps into mainstreaming the safer sex conversation in America are the beginning of a slippery slope. I'd love to see the faces of the abstinence-only education parents when they see spots like these crop up during Dancing with the Stars:
