VH-1 Junkie

I have to admit that I'm a VH-1 junkie. It doesn't seem like all that many years ago, if given a choice between MTV and VH-1, I'd be watching MTV. VH-1 seemed to cater to the "old people" in my estimation back in my 20s.

Last night, I was lucky enough to be flipping through the channels and caught the first episode of "Sex: The Revolution." It's a four-part documentary. Even a nicer treat was that part II followed.

I did fall asleep before it was over. I had a sneaking suspicion I'd matured when I started cleaning out the lint trap of the dryer and actually throwing the lint away instead of letting it pile up on the dryer's top. I'm fairly confident I've matured when I actually turn off the TV because I can't keep my eyes open any longer. (That doesn't happen too often, however. If I can make it past 10 pm, I'm usually wired for sound. Even when I have to get up early the next day, I can adjust to getting little sleep. But I suppose that's another blog topic.)

Part I started out with the sexually repressed days of the 50s. Alfred Kinsey and his "Kinsey Report" about the sexual habits of people, Hugh Hefner and Playboy, back alley abortions, and THE PILL.

I'd heard the stories about the early days of "the pill." My grandma told me the story about how the neighbor lady started taking "the pill" (grandma would almost whisper it like she'd said a bad word), and later died due to complications. I was young enough that I didn't question it, but I did realize they had to work out a few bugs with the high dosages of hormones that seemed to wreck havoc on one's system.

There's a slight sadness I feel that I didn't get the opportunity to discuss things of that nature with my grandma. But it's understandable. She was raised during a time where sex was for men, and women most certainly weren't supposed to enjoy it. As the old Virginia Slim ads stated, "We've come a long way, baby."

Remember there was a time when a couple couldn't be shown in the same bed on TV? Think Lucy and Ricky on "I Love Lucy." Then wham bam, the sexual revolution hits, and there are commercials for hair dye that question, "Does she do it? Or doesn't she?" Of course, they were talking about whether the chick colored her hair, but boy howdy, sex starting selling, and it hasn't stopped yet.

Part II started introducing the sexual revolution that I was more familiar with - the hippies, flower children, free love, naked party time in general. It was fascinating, despite the fact I started dozing during the commercials. It's okay, though, being the VH-1 junkie that I am, I'll undoubtedly watch each of the four parts no less than 3 times each.

It's definitely worth a watch, although they seem to jam pack as much information as possible into the hour-long show. It's only slight bizarre that Cybil Shepherd spoke of getting her first prescription to the pill, and how she and her boyfriend marvelled over the notion that they could be doing it like rabbits.