I love an astute observation and a good analogy when it comes to sex, and this video is rife with both of them. Also, as someone musically inclined, it’s right up my alley. This lovely and charming video by Canadian sex educator Karen B. K. Chang is an excellent way of understanding sex… as a musical jam.
It’s drawn/mixed media stop motion video created for the SexEd Project. I think it’s really brilliant. It preaches knowing yourself and practicing with yourself and others, collaboration, understanding sex as a process, communication, presence, an end to sexual shame, consent… Every single comparison is perfect and are the types of things I had never thought about concretely before.
Probably the most interesting statement from this is that pleasure is a renewable resource, which is true of both sex and music… And what a nice thought! It’s something we can create together or alone that has no limit. I hope this is an uplifting thought for you, and I’d love to hear if you have any prolongations for this particular analogy… Let’s jam on the motif and see what comes up!
Wonderful. This needs to go viral.
I really think so too! Hopefully more people will be able to open their minds about sexuality with the help of this kind of thought!
I love the “renewable resource” idea. Not just renewable as in “it will be there again tomorrow,” but also as in “it will renew you FOR tomorrow.”
As a longtime musician, I’ve participated in a ton of musical partnerships. Some of them were jazz-based jam sessions, which were exactly what Karen Chang described: sweaty, spontaneous, surprising riffs on familiar themes, new improvisations on old melodies or chord changes. In these instances, hitting a “wrong” note can actually be a good thing, because it makes you listen to the other performers twice as hard. Some of my musical relationships were classical duets: carefully studied, delicate performances filled with nuance and grace. These were based on years of careful study, appreciation, and understanding of my instrument, music, and partner. And some of them were full-blown orchestras or marching bands: performances where I was just a tiny part of a huge event, a little voice on a big blog.
No matter what kind of music you make, it’s always being made for someone else to enjoy (even if that someone else is you). Being a musician means you’re never too old or too good to stop practicing, and there will always be new songs to learn and new ways to play them— da capo al coda!
I knew you’d understand and play along, Cal! Wonderful analogies, and I can see everything you meant.
You have the way with words, Cal; your analogies are right on the mark.
Ad libitum, accarezzévole!
He really has a spectacular way of saying exactly what I’m thinking. Quite an eloquent writer, that one!
Aww, stop it, you two, I’m blushing!
It’s just the truth!
TY. I’ve shared the video on facebook and google+
I’m glad you found it so worthwhile and that you spread the message!
YW. I will continue the best I can. I apologize for not linking to this blog’s posting. Sometimes I repost things; If I do, I will link directly to here.
Aw, it’s no worry. I’m glad you shared it regardless. It’s a message worth disseminating.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing this with us. I’ve sent this to my kids and several other folks; it’ll be interesting to see how they take it.
The musical analogy is particularly apropos, but I wonder how many non-musicians will get it. Then again, the saying about lovers “making beautiful music together” has been around for a long time, and hasn’t been limited to musicians.
One of my greatest frustrations as a musician has been how bad I am at jamming, or any improvisation for that matter. This little video makes me think about how jamming plays on my life in general.
Again: Thanks for sharing!
That is so awesome that you felt comfortable sharing this with your kids. This is some very age-appropriate understanding of sexuality, I find.
I think hopefully music is broad enough as a concept that even non-musicians will be able to apply it to some aspect of their lives.
And who knows? Maybe this’ll make you interested in jamming again so you can practice and develop that side of yourself!
Just to be clear: my kids are grown and married!
But we do enjoy open communication, and that’s what counts, right?
That’s good too, of course. But frankly, since it’s non-explicit and preaches healthy ideas about sexuality, I could see it being totally appropriate to show as part of sex education in schools too.