Sexclamations

KELSEY CLARK

When did talking about sex become so popular?
While sex itself has been around for forever, I can’t imagine Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble gabbing about the hot new positions they tried out the night before, or how awkward it was when Dino started watching them through the window. Granted, Wilma and Betty did plenty of talking about their marital problems (and wouldn’t you if you were married to Fred or Barney?), but never any explicit “Sex and the City”-style dish sessions.
Perhaps I need to clarify: I understand that there are a wide number of reasons that “The Flintstones“ television program didn’t include graphic sexual dialogue. It was a children’s show, broadcast on national television, and, oh yeah, they were fictional cartoon characters and didn’t really have sex.
Let’s ignore all of that and use our imaginations a little. I’m suggesting that if Wilma and Betty were real people existing in prehistoric times, they would have kept their sexual exploits to themselves.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that sex didn’t become such a hot topic until fairly recently. Even with the popularity of free love in the 1960’s and 70’s, I doubt all of those sexually active hippies got together with their girlfriends every week to drink cosmos and gab about their latest conquests. Or if they did, it wasn’t a popular enough activity to merit a hit TV show. And as we all know, TV is the only reliable record of what women talk about. Duh.
Thanks to “Sex and the City,” it became very trendy to talk about what happens in the bedroom in a very direct, open way. If it didn’t start a national trend, it at least started something in our demographic.
Maybe because the show debuted around the time most of our generation was hitting puberty, it served as an example of what sexual behavior was normal during a time that we were all so desperately seeking normalcy.
I’m not saying that it convinced all of our impressionable, maturing selves that we should run out and start having sex so we could fit in. Just that it left and impression and got us talking.
Granted, there are still plenty of people that don’t think sex is an appropriate topic for public forum. I choose to ignore them.
For those comfortable enough with their sexuality to openly discuss it, there are a lot of advantages. Beyond the benefits of venting (or bragging) about your latest hookup and being able to get advice from your friends, talking about sex can change your general attitude towards it.
If you’re able to be frank with your friends and talk about sex in a casual way, hopefully that will allow you to talk about sex in an open way with your partner(s). If you’re not shy about being vocal, you’re more likely to get what you want from your sexual experiences.
So while I’m sure Wilma Flintstone had a bangin’ sex life, I’d bet it would have been vastly improved if she and Betty opened up, traded some tips, and got comfortable with the topic.