Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/15/this-childrens-book-on-the.html
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Heh. We had this as kids in the early 70s. Also, a pop-up book that was even more anatomically correct. Think 3d Gray’s Anatomy in full colour.
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Ah, thank you. I had been wondering.
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The only thing baffling here is the linked headline calling this book “ridiculous” and all the awkward "uhhhh"s in this write-up. The book seems clear, straight-forward, and age appropriate.
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Yeah, the article expressing surprise that they used the -gasp- correct terms for genitals is woefully out-of-date. Child development and health education folks have been railing against cutesy hoo-ha and pee-pee names for a long time. and though the illustration style is kinda funky, the insemination image is pretty tame and diagrammatic. Are we upset that they were smiling and the woman had nipples? Was expecting much edgier.
TBF, the Daily Dot byline is a tech blogger, so their main contibution was probably "this thing is going viral for being “weird” so let’s ride the wave!
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Just maybe? Can you show me a single tiny benefit that lying to your kids and treating sex like some shameful secret has brought us.
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Agreed, but the problem is that most people are not age appropriate.
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I hear you, same baby squeal sample from “Are You That Somebody” by Aaliyah.
(Skip to 3:15)
The British equivalent – in one of the replies to the Twitter posting – contains the unfortunately memorable phrase “baby-making hole”.
“Come hither, Gwendolyn – my penis is standing to attention, and I should like to place it in your baby-making hole!”
It’s kind of a miracle that the British have survived, all things considered.
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(Off-topic note: I never suspected that this would likely be the most wrong part of Children of Men.)
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The guy is the cartoon version of the “Joy of Sex” sketch guy. They loved their bearded hippies in the 1970s.
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This is a classic but you have the titles mixed up. Da solen stod op om natten (When the sun rose at night) is another book by the same author, this book is called Sådan får man et barn (How to have a baby or How a baby is made). My aunt gave it to me for christmas in 1971 hoping, I think, to embarrass my mother.
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Read that book when I got to college and realized that I had learned nothing new! It was tame even back then (late 70s).
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Just looked through the link. The book isn’t as accurate as it appears. For example, it shows the egg already in the uterus when the sperm get there. Nope. Fertilization occurs in the Fallopian Tubes.
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“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” If you are trying to communicate the details of a complex process to little kids, striving for complete accuracy risks losing them completely.
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When I was pretty young I had the Usborne book How Your Body Works, which contained this not-entirely-accurate description of ‘how is babby made’:
Still, it gave me a general overview
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Phuzz, I had that book too and was recently delighted to find my mum still has it, and now my kids want to look at it every time we go over there. It is just as good as I remembered it.
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Wait, I just noticed the watermark on that image - did Chris Foss really illustrate The Joy of Sex?! Could it be the same Chris Foss famous for his 1970s and 80s spaceships? I want to believe so bad!
EDIT for those wondering, I checked and YES it is the same Chris Foss. This is my new favourite fact.
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