‘Sex Education’ is undoubtably a show that represents many different sexualities, races, and identities, something for which it deserves all the praise that it gets. It follows the lives of sixth form students as they discover themselves and their bodies, and what they like to do with them. The third season has just come out, and has, arguably, stepped away from the realism that they captured so well in their earlier portrayal of 16-17-18-year-olds.
Obviously with a title like ‘Sex Education’, it is expected that there would be a significant amount of sexual content, however in season three this seems to be all that the students’ lives consist of. In an earlier season the character Florence discovered that she was asexual, but sadly she made zero appearance in season three. The inclusion of asexuality as a sexuality is important, as it is something that is so rare, but in my opinion it is not enough. There is a difference between people who don’t experience sexual attraction and those that generally have little interest in sex, and her character fails to highlight that people’s entire life does not need to revolve around sex, especially at school age. Some people of sixth form age are straight up not ready for sex: I know that at the age of sixteen I personally wasn’t emotionally mature enough, and, having discussed it with many of my friends, they feel the same.
‘Sex Education’ makes a point of highlighting that people should never feel pressured into doing something sexual that they don’t feel comfortable with, but then shows nothing but teenagers being sex obsessed, in a way adding to the peer pressure around sex that already exists. In a culture that seems to revolve around sex, having a show that is meant to provide a more realistic portrayal of life do the same must be disheartening to the some viewers, particularly the ones of the age that it’s mean to be representing who may not feel that way.
The writers attempt to add some dimension to the teens’ lives with the plotlines of Maeve’s mother and Otis’ general family drama. These subplots revolve around powerful topics such as addiction and homophobia, but it sometimes feels as though these creators were trapped by the title of their own show, and felt the need to add unnecessary sex scenes in theatrical montages. It does normalise teenagers having sex and a sex drive, which is important, but can feel like it goes too far in this. A fifteen-year-old watching, for example, might feel abnormal for not having as many sexual thoughts or experiences as shown in the series.
The depth that is created by the characters’ backstories feels as though its dashed by the dramatic pornographic intros and ludicrous alien sex musicals – which by the way was a perfectly reasonable thing for the students’ parents as well as the media to be outraged by. Specific characters indirectly involve their classmates in an advocation of sexuality, without their consent, and it is difficult to justify the real world ethics of this. The themes of kinks and fetishes that appeared in the open day play scene are very much emphasised within the show as a whole: the show suggests that as a late teen, people should already know or be discovering what they’re into sexually. Feeling comfortable is the most important thing during sex, especially when only just entering the world of adult sexuality, and so this focus on kinks and fetishes feels misplaced. Sex is a vulnerable and sometimes emotional experience, and feeling the need to perform for someone in order to fulfil their desires isn’t necessarily something that goes hand-in-hand with feeling comfort and safety.
I wonder if having people in their late twenties play adolescents who are finding themselves sexually is actually a positive thing. Although the hormone-fuelled antics and ‘Fuck the pain away’ mantra make for an entertaining show, it could be that ‘Sex Education’ actually ends up having a negative effect on the sixth formers of today.