When it comes to sex education, the 1970s were a wild ride. Instead of glossy brochures or straightforward PSAs, this filmstrip decided to take a more artistic route. Enter the 1974 filmstrip titled "How to Get Gonorrhea"—a psychedelic odyssey through the land of STD awareness.
This filmstrip doesn't just educate—it mystifies. Gonorrhea is depicted as a serpent-like creature who terrorizes little cartoon couples, hugging each other as they fear for their lives. I have a hunch that the person who made this film may have taken a few mind-bending substances beforehand.
Despite its offbeat approach, the filmstrip does manage to convey some serious information about gonorrhea — how to avoid it, what to do if you get it, and why it's a good idea to consult a doctor rather than just hoping it goes away. This bizarre, animated public service announcement feels like it came straight out of a fever dream.
From YouTube:
I need your help to save endangered filmstrips! Visit https://uncommonephemera.org/donate to support me on Patreon, GoFundMe, and more. I am the only person on earth actively preserving sound filmstrips, a still-image presentation format distributed on 35mm film that was used in the 20th century in education, business, and industry. Filmstrips are not the same as 16mm short films, and cannot be preserved in the same manner. Because filmstrips have been so forgotten, specialized tools do not exist and all restoration is being done by hand. This is time- and labor-intensive, and your help is needed for this work to continue.
The original, lossless scans and audio for this filmstrip, along with the original rendered video uploaded to YouTube, are available at The Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/uncommon-…
Produced by Sunburst Communications in the suburbs of New York City, this 1974 filmstrip teaches the viewer about gonorrhea using completely reasonable facts and advice but insane illustrations.
This restored sound filmstrip is part of the Uncommon Ephemera collection at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/uncommone…
