This training film is meant for professionals who work with the mentally impaired, and is meant to teach them how to help their patients deal with sexual issues.This training film is meant for professionals who work with the mentally impaired, and is meant to teach them how to help their patients deal with sexual issues.This training film is meant for professionals who work with the mentally impaired, and is meant to teach them how to help their patients deal with sexual issues.
Storyline
Did you know
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Educational Archives: Sex & Drugs (2001)
Featured review
8.5/10. Scroll Down to the Second Paragraph for Review.
Just be thankful that you were not an mildly autistic teenager in 1976. On a seemingly average Tuesday in October, your mother watched "The ABC of Sex Education for Trainables" at the misguided bleeding heart school counselor's request. She was summoned that autumn afternoon because he was concerned that you seemingly had trouble making friends. You were just a quiet guy but your life was never the same going foward. She started talking to you about how natural it is to touch yourself "down there", she asked you if it feels good, and assured you that it's normal and you should not be embarrased. You were envious of the other boys who were threatened with blindness, hairy palms and damnation. She was desperate to put her new found knowledge into action as often as possible. As the film stated, repetition is the only way trainables learn (that's why they are trainables not teachables after all). She started randomly barging into your room early in the morning like the understanding mother featured in the film. There were no boundaries, there was no escape. If both hands were not clearly visible, you had this discussion. The shower was no different, she had a stockpile of toiletries that needed to be put away at a momments notice. You had poor communication skills, its why you were deemed a "trainable" in the first place, this same communication issue made you unable to even begin to know how to ask your mother to stop these talks. This was your life now. Hallmark films and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania had shattered your world. 20 minutes of 16mm film likely created a sardonic hellscape for you and dozens of other adolecent boys. They remain in my prayers, and I suggest they be included in yours.
In fairness it's more honest than the typical Sexual Education film of the 1970s, and definitely has some helpful advice for a very difficult subject. The information showing how to prepare the developmentally disabled for potential predators is (sadly) necessary and worthwhile, it was also accidently hilarious. This Hallmark Films is better than the current ones (sorry Lacey Chabert). The whole 16mm film was definitely well within the "so bad it's good" camp. The use of actually disabled people gives it a unsettling Tod Browning vibe. The beginning feels like a sleazy made for TV horror movie and than quickly switches to our narrator, complete with extreme Jesus Franco close-ups. The following scene with the chalkboard is of legend (im not going to spoil it here) and it gets progressivly more awkward from there, peaking with the scene I "discussed" initially above at around the thirteen minute mark. Obviously terms like "trainable" and "retardates" raises eyebrows, but language changes with time, and likely our momentary proper terminology will also become dated, offensive or ridiculous. Though I have the ability to watch film on 16mm this is unfortunately not how I watched this one. The film was included as part of Fantoma's "Educational Archives", it's a four DVD set, all within a nifty metal lunchbox (with the thermos!) It's still readily available new online for around $25. Hours of educational films including classics like "Shake Hands With Danger", "Lunchroom Manners" (with that dastardly Mr. Bungle") and my personal favorite "LSD - A Case Study". I highly recommend it along with the second Fantoma four DVD school locker set. You can also watch it on YouTube if physical media is not your thing.
In fairness it's more honest than the typical Sexual Education film of the 1970s, and definitely has some helpful advice for a very difficult subject. The information showing how to prepare the developmentally disabled for potential predators is (sadly) necessary and worthwhile, it was also accidently hilarious. This Hallmark Films is better than the current ones (sorry Lacey Chabert). The whole 16mm film was definitely well within the "so bad it's good" camp. The use of actually disabled people gives it a unsettling Tod Browning vibe. The beginning feels like a sleazy made for TV horror movie and than quickly switches to our narrator, complete with extreme Jesus Franco close-ups. The following scene with the chalkboard is of legend (im not going to spoil it here) and it gets progressivly more awkward from there, peaking with the scene I "discussed" initially above at around the thirteen minute mark. Obviously terms like "trainable" and "retardates" raises eyebrows, but language changes with time, and likely our momentary proper terminology will also become dated, offensive or ridiculous. Though I have the ability to watch film on 16mm this is unfortunately not how I watched this one. The film was included as part of Fantoma's "Educational Archives", it's a four DVD set, all within a nifty metal lunchbox (with the thermos!) It's still readily available new online for around $25. Hours of educational films including classics like "Shake Hands With Danger", "Lunchroom Manners" (with that dastardly Mr. Bungle") and my personal favorite "LSD - A Case Study". I highly recommend it along with the second Fantoma four DVD school locker set. You can also watch it on YouTube if physical media is not your thing.
helpful•10
- hudsonvalleyvhs
- Jan 10, 2023
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