Ah, nothing eases the transition back into the workweek like a good old sex show. Or, in this case, a video podcast called the "Midwest Teen Sex Show." It's a series of brief three-to-five-minute segments, hosted by Nikol Hasler and Britney Barber, each of which focuses on some aspect of sexuality relevant to teenagers -- like masturbation (both male and female), abstinence, birth control and losing one's virginity.
The shows are too brief to be all that educational (and sometimes the jokes get in the way of actual information), but they've got a conversational, sarcastic, cool-older-sister tone that I think is great. (If Jane Pratt and Christina Kelly hosted a sex-ed podcast, it would be like this.) And besides, sex information is the point, not extensive education -- as the About page puts it, "The Midwest Teen Sex Show is here to provide information in a clear and entertaining way. We won't pretend to be experts, but hopefully a few of our own embarrassing experiences and insights will keep you out of trouble." The site also includes links to other sex-related sites that Hasler and Barber like, which means that the site isn't just entertaining -- it's actually useful.
It's also funny and refreshingly impolite. In an episode about dating older guys, for example, Hasler points out that "you may think you're pretty cool for having an older boyfriend, but what you have to remember is that he's not cool for dating you. He's a loser. And you can find plenty of losers to date at school." I just saw "Superbad," and I've got to say that it's nice to watch a show about teen sex that focuses on the girls' side of things. (Which is not to say that guys wouldn't enjoy the show, too -- just that the "Midwest Teen Sex Show," at least to date, features fewer hand-drawn dicks.)
As for the cast, Hasler is a mother of three (she occasionally features her children in a way that's reminiscent of that condom commercial in which a kid throws a tantrum in the supermarket about "sweeties"). On the site, she describes herself as a "former expert practitioner of teen promiscuity," and says she hopes her own life experiences will better inform viewers on the realities of teen sexuality." Because after all, as the site puts it, "Teen sex. It happens." And now it has a video podcast.
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