We’ve entered a precarious sexual age, and if you don’t think so, talk to any teenage girl. Sexuality is not just in magazines and on TV like it was a generation ago. It’s on our computers and on our smart phones. It has infiltrated the way we relate to one another, how we present ourselves and how we see ourselves. Happily, there are some who come out the other side with a healthier attitude.

SEXY BABY follows three women in three different parts of America. Laura is a 22-year-old teaching assistant who wants surgery to boost her sexual confidence. Nikhole is a 33-year-old looking to turn a page in her life after working for many years as porn star Nakita Kash. Finally, there’s Winnifred who is 12 when the film begins, 14 when it ends, and changes by leaps and bounds during the space between.

Of these stories, Laura’s is the least compelling. Her decision is a controversial one to be sure, one that had me shaking my head as a matter of fact. However, we never really see who she is as a person and how this affects her life. When the book closes, her pieces of the story feel like more of a footnote, though a footnote worthy of a documentary all its own.

Nikhole on the other hand is fascinating. As a woman who has made her bones by performing all manner of sexual acts in front of a camera, she has become something of a yardstick in the information age. Men have come to see the things she does as what they’d like to be doing behind closed doors, and women have come to see her as a blueprint on how they should be performing. While others look to her and see what they desire, she looks right back at them with a desire for what they have – normalcy. She see spouses, children, and stand-up jobs. They come to her for enticement; she envies them for their intimacy.

Equally fascinating is the evolution of Winnifred. When we meet her, she’s a headstrong tween who understands media, is involved in a whole host of activities, and has a keen stance on what sexually charged conditioning society is trying to feed her. However, as the film plays she gets a little older…and a little older…and her attitudes radically shift. She gains a vastly different relationship with her peers, becomes far more at odds with her parents, and develops an unhealthy attitude towards sexuality and social media.

What SEXY BABY leaves us wondering is how things came to this. How did we get to a point where children not even old enough to drive think nothing of not only snapping suggestive photos of themselves, but publishing them for all to see? How did we become a society so self-conscious, that we’re ready to undergo risky cosmetic surgery on parts of our bodies so few see? And how did we find ourselves in a spot where the person at the table with the healthiest take on sexuality is the porn star?

For these questions, and for many more, SEXY BABY is worth a look…even if it does leave you wanting to take a shower when it’s over.