Serious Sex Education in a Comedy?

I've been watching a lot of comedies recently, but a common theme that I've noticed is that they take a serious tone at times. This is probably to give the show some contrast because no one wants to watch a show that has no depth. One thing that almost never gets a serious look at however is sex education. According to the article by Hust, S. J. T.,Brown, J.D., &L'Engle,K.L. (2008), safe sex measures are rarely discussed in television and they often focus on prevention methods such as condoms or other forms for contraception and not on diseases. I was watching an episode of Parks and Rec. (2009) where Leslie (Amy Poehler) tries to teach the elderly about safe sex practices after an outbreak of chlamydia.

Now I'm not saying that this episode is entirely serious but it did take the serious topic of sexual health and make it both entertaining and informative. 

As Hust, et al. stated in the end of their study, entertaining media has educational benefits if it presents accurate and relevant sexual health advice. That's exactly what this episode did. Leslie battles against the extremely Christian couple who believe that abstinence until marriage is the only real way to stay safe. However, an obvious flaw is that not everyone is going to be abstinent and you need to teach those people the right way to stay safe. This episode would promote safe sex practices because of the way they frame each option. Obviously the audience is probably going to side with Leslie because she's the main character, but also because of how ridiculous they make the abstinent only group sound. Another area that Hust, et al correctly identify is that condoms are the main method discussed on television in terms of sexual health. This episode is very relevant to the current battle in the education system about how to teach sex education, but they present it in a hilarious way by replacing elementary or middle school students with senior citizens.

Works Cited 

              Hust, S., Brown, J., & L'Engle, K. (2008). Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An Analysis ofthe Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescent's Media. Mass Communication & Society, 11, 3-23.