Nowadays porn has never been easier to access. Because of our collective inability to address sex education in shame-free, more inclusive ways, many people end up ‘learning’ about sex – often in misguided ways – from pornography.
Usually porn intends to titillate, not educate, its audiences. It shouldn’t bear the responsibility of doing so when sex education is inadequate or because there are little resources that deal shamelessly and openly with sex. At the same time, it’s undeniable that porn has great educational potential.
This programme picks up on this potential. These films weren’t explicitly conceived as educational, yet they offer thoughtful, applicable ways of dealing with aspects of consent, communication, gender, sexual health and body image, among other things. Additionally, they validate many issues that are largely ignored within traditional sex education curricula, such as consent, emotions, unconventional relationship structures. All the films are unapologetically pornographic, committed to their values, thus showing us what can we actually learn from porn.