A popular podcast that debuted this past summer and aims to teach teenagers about sex is generating both praise and criticism.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “The Midwest Teen Sex Show” aims to teach teens about sex using risqué sketches, explicit language and anecdotes that draw on the teenage experiences of its two 28-year-old creators.

 

The two felt that existing sexual-education efforts were far too prim — and boring — to be useful to teens. Their podcast focuses less on birds-and-bees basics and more on real-life scenarios teens are likely to face.

According to the article, more than 50,000 people subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. The show is listed under the iTunes’ “Health” category, where it regularly is in the top 10.

Along with growth has come controversy, particularly among sex-education teachers and therapists. While some praise it for tapping a hard-to-reach audience, others worry it’s too racy for younger teens, and still others say the podcast focuses too much on humor and not enough on the facts kids need.

Deborah Roffman, a sex-education teacher who works in Baltimore schools, says, “I can see why it would be very popular with kids. It’s daring, it’s very open, and it’s funny, and it has information that they would find very useful. “At the same time, it is satirical in nature,” she says, adding that unless teens are intellectually sophisticated, it’s not “the right vehicle.” She says further: “The entertainment value of this material is not the same thing as its educational value.”

What do you think of the podcast if you were able to watch it through the embedded file below? Do you think you this an effective new vehicle to reach hard-to-reach teenagers on a difficult topic to discuss? If you feel that the podcast does more harm than good, do you object more to its content or to its general tone, both of which were points that critics raised? Is this a podcast that you’d consider subscribing to our telling others about?

WATCH an episode:

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