Why birds and bees?

Bees do it...   (Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim) 

When trying to answer children’s questions about sexuality, adults often resort to mumbling about “the birds and the bees.”  If you’re wondering what that has to do with human entanglements, the answer is “not much.”

Nevertheless, this response is a tried if not true one.  In fact, it’s been tried for the past few centuries.  In 1893, Dr. Emma Frances Angell Drake taught reproduction “to her young daughters” via an explanation of robin’s eggs and “bees gathering honey.”

By 1928, the story hadn’t changed much.  Cole Porter was peddling lyrics such as these:  “…birds do it, bees do it  Even educated fleas do it…”  At least some of today’s adults are still singing those same old songs.    

Resources

https://www.livescience.com/39316-birds-and-the-bees.html