Guide to Getting It On! by Paul Joannides

In its breadth, depth and frank embrace of sexuality as, what Vernacchio calls, a “force for good” - even for teenagers - this sex-ed class may well be the only one of its kind in the United States. “Well, we’ve talked about how a huge percentage of women aren’t orgasming through vaginal intercourse,” Vernacchio responded, “so if that’s what you call a home run, there’s a lot of women saying” - his voice dropped to a dull monotone - ‘O.K., but this is not doing it for me.’ ” “If you’re playing baseball,” he elaborated, “you can’t just say, ‘I’m really happy at second base.’ ”Ī boy who was the leader of the Young Conservatives Club asked, “But what if it’s just more pleasure getting to home base?” Although this student is a fan of Vernacchio’s, he likes to challenge him about his tendency to empathize with the female perspective. Vernacchio explained that sex as baseball implies that it’s a game that one party is the aggressor (almost always the boy), while the other is defending herself that there is a strict order of play, and you can’t stop until you finish. While these kids will sit poker-faced as Vernacchio expounds on quite graphic matters, class discussions are a spirited call and response, punctuated with guffaws, jokey patter and whispered asides, which Vernacchio tolerates, to a point. “You know there’s grass, and then it got mowed, a landing strip,” one boy deadpanned, instigating a round of laughter. “If there’s grass on the field, play ball, right, right,” Vernacchio agreed, “which is interesting in this rather hair-phobic society where a lot of people are shaving their pubic hair - ” “Some people say it’s an orgy, some people say grand slam is a one-night stand. “Now, ‘grand slam’ has a bunch of different meanings,” replied Vernacchio, who has a master’s degree in human sexuality. talked about that made me feel really good was that penis size doesn’t matter”).

“Grand slam,” called out a boy (who’d later tell me with disarming matter-of-factness that “the one thing Mr. Arrayed before Vernacchio was a circle of small desks occupied by 22 teenagers, six male and the rest female - a blur of sweatshirts and Ugg boots and form-fitting leggings. “Give me some more,” urged the fast-talking 47-year-old, who teaches 9th- and 12th-grade English as well as human sexuality. His goal was to prompt the students in Sexuality and Society - an elective for seniors at the private Friends’ Central School on Philadelphia’s affluent Main Line - to examine the assumptions buried in the venerable metaphor. “First base, second base, third base, home run,” Al Vernacchio ticked off the classic baseball terms for sex acts.

Guide to Getting It On! by Paul Joannides