Alex Liu’s documentary has the easy relatability of a YouTube video; the difference is, instead of unboxing some latest haul, Liu attempts to demystify the shame that surrounds sex in America. The journey has a personal starting point: growing up in a Catholic Asian-American household, Liu found it difficult to talk to his parents about sex, or to confide that he is gay, both tumultuous struggles that nearly drove him to kill himself.
Still, the film’s tone is not guided by resentment; it sparkles with an engaging curiosity. A conversation with his parents reveals that, when they were teenagers, their access to sex education was even more inadequate than Liu’s. His grandmother did not learn about birth control until college, and his mother was always taught to be a modest Asian girl. Maintaining a balance between scientific reporting and personal anecdotes, A Sexplanation pairs Liu’s interviews with sexperts – including his participation in a study that makes MRI scans of orgasms – with playful stunts. At one point, illustrations of sex organs are erected at a park where passersby are asked to identify different parts of the genitalia. Unsurprisingly, most get their answers wrong.
Covering a host of misconceptions on matters including masturbation, porn and homosexuality, the film is perhaps over-ambitious, scratching certain topics merely at their surface level. For instance, a list of top searches procured from a Pornhub data scientist is presented merely as an indication of pornography consumption, without a closer analysis of why so many of them are racially oriented. However, in fashioning a call for better sex education in the American school system, Liu is an enjoyably charismatic guide, as his doubts and questions about the birds and the bees mirror many of our own.
• A Sexplanation is released on 6 June on digital platforms.
