So just how does the "birds and bees" analogy work in explaining sex?

Question

I'm just the standard "penis goes here, baby comes out same" mentality. I wouldn't even know what step-by-step mechanics involve the birds and bees, it just sounds like a colorful colloqualism.

Answer 1

I think it’s more of an ‘accepted cop-out’ than an explanation. It’s for parents who are too chicken to delve into human biology, but whose children are beyond belief in the stork.

It goes something like this:

“Daddy, where do babies come from?”

“Ummm, well, you see son…. ummm the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees…. you see in order for more trees to grow, the flowers need to be pollinated, and for that you need birds and bees… the bees go to the flowers for food and the pollen from the flowers gets stuck to the bees legs and then the bees go to other flowers and the pollen from the first flower gets on the second flower, and before you know it the flower is fertilized and the flower begins to swell and produces a fruit, lets say a berry. Now inside the berry is some seeds, and we all know trees come from seeds… now some of the berries will fall to the ground and eventually the berry will decompose leaving the seeds exposed to the soil and they might take root and grow into new trees… but it’s better for the trees if the seeds are taken further away, so they can be spread out over a bigger area, and that’s where the birds come in. The birds are hungry too, just like the bees, so they’ll eat the berries and then the seeds are in the birds’ stomachs. The birds will fly off to other areas, eventually pooping out the seeds, and then the seeds can take root and grow in another area, further away from the parent tree, and this is good for the forest…”

By this time the kid should’ve wandered off to play video games and that’s why no parent has actually ever had to figure out what humans have to do with the birds and the bees.

The worst part about this whole charade is if the kid puts too much thought into it then he might jump to some rather frightening and incorrect conclusions… such as ‘spreading the seed’ is good for humans also and/or interspecies sexuality makes for better babies. But if he’s particularly smart, he’ll come to the conclusion that eating is an important part of sex. ;)

Answer 2

It's not an analogy, it's a commonly used phrase (which has become somewhat of a cliché) which refers to clumsy or inept attempts at sex education for children or adolescents, such as the use of euphemisms or symbols to describe sexual behaviour or body parts.

You could try searching for the 'mechanics' of Bird and Bee reproduction if you are that interested.

Answer 3

That guy is right ^

it's a commonly used phrase (which has become somewhat of a cliché) which refers to clumsy or inept attempts at sex education for children or adolescents, such as the use of euphemisms or symbols to describe sexual behaviour or body parts.