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Sex Education on Netflix: It's complicated, but we're okay

2021-09-18T09:28:32.379Z


"Sex Education" is one of those Netflix series that everyone is talking about. Now there is the third season. It's about strap-ons, identities, and other issues of sexual self-determination: smart, not raunchy.


Enlarge image

Scene from »Sex Education« with Asa Butterfield and Mimi Keene: How do I get my girlfriend to orgasm?

Photo: Sam Taylor / Netflix / Netflix

Yes, this series has the word "sex" in the title.

It is therefore by no means slippery or greasy, and certainly more instructive than any sex education lesson.

In addition, the third season of the exceptional Netflix tragic comedy »Sex Education« inspires with wisdom, self-irony - and a diverse cast that alone causes a sensation.

The complexity of »Sex Education« is almost awe-inspiring: series creator Laurie Nunn succeeded in narrating all the characters in such a complex way that the 25 (!) Main characters have already formed a tangle of stories that is impossible to unravel.

An attempt would look something like this

(Warning: From now on there will be spoiled)

:

Late bloomer

Otis (Asa Butterfield) has a problem with sex because of his sex addict and notoriously insincere father.

Maybe because his mother Jean (Gillian Anderson) is a sex and relationship therapist and sex over-present in his home.

Although Otis has no practical experience, the teenager knows quite a lot about sex through his mother and can talk about it very sensitively.

In order to get closer to his classmate, the intelligent and cool Maeve (Emma Mackey), he agrees to advise classmates on sexual issues together with her. And there are plenty of them: How do I use an anal shower? How do I bring my girlfriend to orgasm? Is my vulva beautiful? Sex education at Moordale School was as dry and brittle as a condom from 1978 - until now.

Otis' school has become a freer place for everyone with his therapy sessions (and he himself has overcome his fear of sex in the new episodes of the series). But because Great Britain is not yet ready for this, the students are now being assigned a new headmistress: Hope Haddon (Jemima Kirke) is supposed to bring the school back on a reactionary course. You just can't tell - because Hope is young, committed and describes herself as a feminist.

In this poor description of "Sex Education", of course, many secondary characters are neglected: for example, there is the black, queer Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), who has same-sex sex with his new friend Adam for the first time. Or the former competitive swimmer Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling), who is struggling with an anxiety disorder and falls in love with the non-binary person Cal (Dua Saleh). And there is the wonderfully honest Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood), who is recovering from a sexual assault and feels that she is no longer the same and maybe never will be.

Laurie Nunn has developed characters that quickly become dear to your heart because of their vulnerability.

And it brings debates about identities, gender roles and sexual self-determination to a place we all know: the school.

In this microcosm, through the eyes of teenagers who are just discovering themselves and the world, what no non-fiction book can convey is broken down.

For example, that sex is never just sex.

No matter whether you wear a strap-on, an alien costume or nothing at all.

Sex is an interplay of identity constructions and projections, gender issues, socialization, and the attribution of norms and meaning.

And then there are also feelings.

So it's complicated.

And that's okay.

Because we are okay.

Or we can be.

Because this series also shows: Some questions can be answered (Is my vulva beautiful? Yes, it is unique).

However, some problems cannot be dealt with on your own and you should get help.

So that everyone involved in the sex scenes feel comfortable, Nunn and her directors worked with intimacy coordinators on the set.

And that's what you think to look at in her pictures: The touches of non-binary or handicapped figures, for example, are never depicted in a deficit or voyeuristic manner, but are shown as close and sensual as if you were there yourself.

"Sex Education" demonstrates more humanly than ever how many facets intimacy, lust and love can have. And that you shouldn't be ashamed of any question or need. Because everyone becomes freer when we - finally - see each other for who we are.

Source: spiegel

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