The story, according to some parents, is simple.
Some babies arrive on earth via the stork, who drops them down the chimney, or the cat, who drags them in through the pet door. Others are discovered floating in Daddy`s beer, or lounging inside Mommy`s hamburger. Still others are picked up ”on special” at the supermarket or pop out of the TV set during station breaks.
”The truth is much more interesting,” promises ”Where Did I Come From?” the new 30-minute video based on Peter Mayle`s 1972 best-selling book of the same name that is aimed at 6- to 10-year-olds. Indeed, although charmingly animated and reassuringly breezy, make no mistake, this video tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
”I wanted to be as honest as possible, because I think kids are quite susceptible to honesty,” says Mayle, 46, the English advertising executive-turned-author who thrilled some and outraged others with his book`s bouncy, anatomically correct and humorously direct approach to sex education. A father of five, Mayle wrote the book to solve his own dilemma when his kids started asking those embarrassing questions that children inevitably ask.
Answers to conception
”Where Did I Come From?” answers them all–from why men and women look different to how babies are conceived and, finally, born. It is factual, but hardly clinical. Mayle, who viewed dozens of sex education films before starting work on his video, found the medical approach, well, rather sterile. ”It was just describing it (reproduction) as a mechanical process that had nothing to do with affection or love or people wanting a baby,” he explains, sitting over coffee during a recent visit to the U.S. Mayle`s approach is warmer, coupling emotional motivation to the biological imperative.
As the video begins, male and female body parts and their functions are calmly identified, setting the stage for an explanation of their purpose in reproduction. Lively music, such as ”The Fertilization Tango” for the meeting of egg and sperm, and clever conceptual references, such as ”womb service” for explaining what goes on during pregnancy, give the video the feel of a 30-minute commercial for reproduction–but decidedly soft-sell.
Love-making is portrayed as a non-scary, upbeat event between mothers and fathers. ”They want to be as close as they can be,” says the narrator, gently explaining, in a dozen words, exactly how this intimacy is achieved.
”This part,” the narrator says, ”often happens in bed because a bed is so cozy and comfortable.” At this point, undoubtedly in some children`s minds, the often-overheard, mysterious reference to people ”going to bed together” will finally make sense. Mayle believes that children exposed to more traditional birds-and-bees sort of sex education materials have a problem making ”the connection between diagrams and bunny rabbits and seeing their parents going into the bedroom.”
Left to the imagination
Although deftly explained, actual intercourse isn`t shown. Instead, the parents are seen happily bouncing up and down under the covers in bed, a scene that may bring a blush to some parental cheeks, but probably won`t faze the kids at all. ”Kids just find it funny or interesting,” says Mayle, who has screened the video for children`s audiences in Australia, where the videos are produced.
The unique physical feelings surrounding love-making are described in terms children can understand. Sexual arousal is ”sort of a tickle.” The
”wriggling” parents do in bed is ”like scratching an itch, only a lot nicer.” Eventually, ”all the rubbing up and down that`s been going on ends up in a lovely explosion–like a tremendous big shiver.” Just why people don`t constantly engage in this enchanting occupation is also explained: It`s just plain tiring. ”Good as it is, you just can`t do it all day long.” Thus, kids get an inkling of just what an orgasm really is.
”It`s jolly difficult to work that out,” admits Mayle, smiling.
”You`ve got to give them something they can relate it to from their own experience.”
Fertilization is depicted as a wild swim meet, in which frantically back- stroking and breast-stroking sperm compete to reach the seductive egg first. The winner, sporting a top hat, engages in a passionate tango with the egg, which is wearing a tutu. The growth of the fetus and its relationship with its mother are part of the pregnancy explanation, which also neatly covers the reason we all have belly buttons.
The video concludes with labor (”a series of stomachaches”) and the birth of a baby, which, for the mother, is ”hard work that is very, very tiring.”
Although Mayle`s work has been banned in some of the more conservative parts of the world, including South Africa, there is nothing in this video that isn`t in an encyclopedia and nothing that is close to shocking–unless one is completely against the idea of sex education coming from any source outside the home.
”There`s nothing new in the information. It`s a story that`s been around for several thousand years,” says Mayle, an easy-going man with steel-rimmed glasses and a shaggy head of silvered hair. ”The only expertise I have is in presenting information.”
And now the questions
Charming as it is, however, presentation alone is not enough. ”The way we`re hoping it`s going to be used is in the home, with families watching it together. It`s not all going to sink in in one viewing. There`s a lot of information in 30 minutes,” says Mayle, who hopes parents will use the video as if it were a book that can be referred back to.
Parents should also be prepared for questions, both general and personal, he adds. Although Mayle designed the video to be shown to children around 6 to 10 years old, he believes it can be shown whenever kids start asking about this kind of information.
However, the video is not, he stresses, a replacement for parental guidance. ”It`s designed to provide a starting point to a conversation between parents and children, which happens to be difficult to start,” he says.
”Where Did I Come From?” available by August at video stores for $24.95, is the first video volume in Mayle`s upcoming ”First Aid For Parents” series, produced by Consolidated Productions. Subsequent volumes will cover puberty, birth control, dealing with infants, dealing with grown-ups, handling divorce, conquering nightmares and guidance for the expectant father. —
