The birds and the bees

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For the 1956 film, see The Birds and the Bees (film).

"The birds and the bees" (sometimes expanded to "the birds, the bees and the butterflies" or "the birds, the bees, the flowers, and the trees") is an idiomatic expression which refers to sex, and is usually used in reference to teaching someone about sex and pregnancy. The phrase is evocative of the metaphors and euphemisms often used to avoid speaking openly and technically about the subject.

According to some, the birds and the bees is a metaphorical story sometimes told to children in an attempt to explain the mechanics and consequence of sexual intercourse. According to that story, a baby is created when a bee stings a bird. In some cases the choice of birds and bees may be because they provide a ready metaphor for insemination (pollination) and childbirth (hatching). However it may be called the "birds and the bees" in that it is simply the facts of nature; all creatures have sexual intercourse, birds, bees, and humans too.

"Word sleuths William and Mary Morris hint that it may have been inspired by words like these from the poet Samuel Coleridge: 'All nature seems at work ... The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing ... and I the while, the sole unbusy thing, not honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.' " [1]

[edit] In popular culture

In the Star Trek episode "Amok Time", at the outset of Spock's explanation of pon farr, given his evident reluctance to share the information, Kirk tries to relieve Spock's discomfort by saying, "It happens to the birds and the bees"; Spock rejoins by saying that such creatures are not Vulcan.