Sparing the doctors blushes: the use of sexually explicit films for the purpose of Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) in the training of medical practitioners in Britain during the 1970s

The general reluctance of medical practitioners in postwar Britain to ‘speak of sex’ during healthcare consultations increasingly became a matter of professional concern in the wake of legal reforms and social changes during the 1960s affecting sexual expression and reproductive health, and a growing optimism in the early 1970s concerning the treatment of sexual difficulties. In the mid-1970s, largely as a result of the work of Dr Elizabeth Stanley, Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) seminars were introduced from the USA into some medical schools in Britain, usually as a part of courses that were intended to help students develop the attitudes, knowledge and skills needed to facilitate the discussion of patients’ sexual concerns and to treat ‘simple’ sexual problems. SAR seminars entailed the showing of sexually explicit films as a stimulus for exploring, in small discussion groups, the sexual attitudes and beliefs of students, and the potential impact of these on future professional practice. Drawing on publications by Dr Elizabeth Stanley as well as archival materials, this article examines the aims of SAR seminars, the rationale provided for their inclusion in the undergraduate medical curriculum, and the ‘permission-giving’, educative approach to sexual counselling that SAR seminars supported. It also explores some of the barriers to the more widespread use of such seminars in medical education in Britain at this time. The behavio...
Source: Medical Humanities - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Original research Source Type: research