Boo's It's Sex Review

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Four college freshman move into a dorm haunted by a ghost named Tara who regularly gives them tips on sex education.


My Thoughts: For me, sex education was a bit of a weird process. While I heard the word several times in popular media as an oblivious 12-year-old boy, I didn't really have a grasp of what it actually was beyond two people passionately making out with each other. And when I did receive "the talk" at 13, it was mostly the archetypal, cookie-cutter explanation about how a man penetrates his willy into a woman's rabbit hole when they're enamored and want to procreate along with a few STDs, primarily AIDS, and using protection though the exact forms of protection were left ambiguous. As a result, much of what else I learned about it was from TV, films, books, and, of course, the wondrous world of Wikipedia. Yet in spite of all of this, this webtoon was sincerely one of my most enlightening exposures to the subject as a grown male.

    When I first heard of this comic, I thought it would one of those kinky, NSFW titles with a hefty dosage of spectrophilia involved. However, since this was illustrated by the same creator as Assassin Roommate, another webtoon I followed and had comments lauding how 'educational' it was, I made the conscious decision to take a peek to see whether the commenters were being sincere or ironic like the old running joke of people who claim to read adult magazines "for the articles". It turned out, much to my surprise, to be the former and wasn't too explicit in content as it sounded. The chapters are pretty brief and, like I said, generally revolve around the girls' experiences navigating throughout college life as they get into various relationships with their peers while Tara gives the diverse quartet advice to safe sex and those relationships in general. Akin to the main characters, I too was more unaware of many aspects of complexities within human sexuality than I thought so I was also participating in this learning journey. In fact, it was my first introductions to concepts such as intersexuality and asexuality.

   At the same time, the comic successfully manages to mix its informative elements with sharp comedy and engaging characters rife with variegated personalities and orientations without coming across as forced and preachy. My favorite character arc was the one between Lindsey and Kim, and the funniest moments for me were when Tara was explaining the parts of a vulva using edible items and the chapter riffing off "The 12 Days of Christmas":

https://us.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/boo-its-sex/ep-56/viewer?title_no=1413&episode_no=57

Final Thoughts: Overall, I would highly recommend Boo It's Sex to anyone whose school system failed or is failing them in terms of sexual health education. The art, character dynamic, writing, and humor are excellent all round.

The entire archive of comics can be found here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/boo-its-sex/list?title_no=1413