Sex Positive

Richard Berkowitz wrote, How to have sex in an epidemic, during the 1980's, when HIV/AIDS started spreading rampantly throughout the gay population. He was initially vilified for his position, which today is praised. Below is the prevue for a documentary about his life.



To me, not having been an adult during the 70's and 80's, I am very intrigued to learn about the social mores of the time, and how he was treated for his dissenting views, especially among the population he was supporting.

Another documentary, about a seemingly opposite subject, The Education of Shelby Knox, chronicles one girl's transition to a fact-based comprehensive sexual education advocate in Lubbock, Texas.

"Lubbock County’s sky-high sexually transmitted disease (STD) and teen pregnancy rates inspired Shelby to question her state’s decision to be one of only three states to enforce a stringent Abstinence Only sex education policy. Not surprisingly, Texas was also ranked as one of the three states with the highest teen birth rates in the nation in 2002. In Shelby’s home town of Lubbock, teen pregnancy and STD rates are alarming: according to the Texas Department of Health’s statistics, 3.64 percent of Lubbock’s teens were pregnant in 2002, and in 2003, Lubbock had 1,725 STD cases. Lubbock tops the charts for teenage gonorrhea rates, which are twice the national average."