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Jessica Biel Uses Humor To Educate Women About Sex, Says Reproductive Health Should Not Be Taboo

By Val Powell
Published on: 17:08 PST, Oct 1, 2015

Jessica Biel has a new role, this time, as an advocate of women’s reproductive health. The actress has launched a series of educational videos that tackle reproductive health and other sex-related topics – subjects that are typically considered taboo.

Biel teamed up with WomanCare Global, a group that focuses on issues concerning women’s reproductive health. They released the sex-ed videos online to raise awareness on the topic.

The series, entitled, “If You Don’t Tell Them, Then Who Will” was launched in the comedy website, Funny or Die on Tuesday, September 29. Biel and Saundra Palletier, CEO of WomanCare Global, spoke to Amy Robach on Good Morning America about their recent project on Tuesday.

The two women explained that the videos are educational yet humorous.

“I mean, that’s really how we want to speak about this issue and share this issue with everyone. Because we want to take it out of the shadows,” said Biel. “We don’t want women’s reproductive health issues to be hidden under stigma or taboos anymore. And how best to reach all demographics. Can we please laugh about this crazy stuff that happens to us?”

The three hilarious videos feature Biel, former model Joy Bryant, and comic Whitney Cummings. The three get candid about sex, how women’s bodies work, periods, and contraception. In the first video, the three celebrities talk about condoms. They are wondering why men buy condoms that are larger. The lesson: wrong condom size could lead to pregnancy and STD.

The second video tackles the use of IUDs and Biel shares her own experience with the contraceptive device. Cummings innocently asked the 33-year-old actress if she was not worried about having an metal object inside her body when there is a storm. Biel honestly replied that she has no idea if lightning will strike a metal object inside one’s body. Since the video aims to educate and correct long-held beliefs, it clarifies that IUDs are mostly plastic and are not conductors of electricity. It also informs women of the effects of using an IUD.

The third video explains the importance of birth control pills, which most women can relate to.

Biel, who welcomed her baby in April, candidly told Robach that she was surprised about the changes in her body during her pregnancy.

The actress has a five-month-old baby with singer Justin Timberlake named Silas Randall.

“The specifics of ‘Well, what does my body need to go through?’ I knew nothing,” the actress confessed. She believes that schools have to properly educate teenagers about the subject. “I remember my health class in middle school literally was the girls were separated, the boys were separated, and I think it was ‘Here’s a tampon, good luck’ kind of thing,” she vividly recalled. “And you just walk away from that experience feeling kind of shameful. And you feel kind of weird and like, it was kind of gross,” continued Biel, remembering the awkward feeling she felt during their health class back in middle school.

Pelletier said they are concerned about where young people are getting information on reproductive health.

“We want to bring it all together because we know that young women and young men are getting information sometimes in the wrong places.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that almost half of pregnancies in the country are unplanned. Proper reproductive health education is a way to prepare young people to become responsible parents in the future and to prevent them from contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

When asked about how her husband, Justin Timberlake, felt about the project, Biel said: “he supports everything that I do and that’s I think why he’s a wonderful partner.”

[Image by Scott Gries/Getty Images]

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