Guadalupe Rivero
09/17/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Relations
Updated 9/17/2021 6:01 AM
Abuse, premature ejaculation, abortion, diversities, prejudices, taboos, chlamydia, asexuality, pansexuality, masturbation, vaginismus, sexual debut and pleasure.
Can a series cover such a wide thematic variety?
Sex Education
, the original Netflix production that premieres its
third season
on Friday, September 17
, proves that it is.
The series tells the story of
Otis Milburn
(
Asa Butterfield
), an allegedly introverted teenager who lives with his mother
Jean
, a deprecated sex therapist (
Gillian Anderson
).
Together with his friend
Maeve Wiley
(
Emma Mackey
), the young man uses his intuitive talent to improvise a sex therapy clinic at school.
From there, endless sexual anecdotes are unleashed in Moordale, the peculiar school that the protagonists attend.
Beyond the strictly audiovisual, there were several characteristics that made Sex Education a success.
According to
Carolina Meloni
, a transfeminist sexologist and sex educator (on Instagram, @ meloni.sexologa), the main contribution of the series is “the
visibility
on a world scale of issues such as violence against the
LGBT +
population
,
bullying
, sexological consultation, sexual difficulties at the beginning, the imperative of sexual practice, revenge porn and the lack of information on sexuality in education (formal and informal) ”.
There were several characteristics that made Sex Education a success.
For
Carla Garibaldi
, psychologist and clinical sexologist (on Instagram, @psicologiaysexologia), another vital point is how Sex Education talks about sex,
demystifying negative beliefs
about sexuality.
“I think it breaks structures because it goes beyond condoms and prevention.
The series talks about pleasure, love, encounters and disagreements, emotions, sexual consent, emotional responsibility, the 'no is no', sisterhood, sexual diversity, new identities, sextortion, fetishes, of self-knowledge, of feminine pleasure and much more ”.
Gillian Anderson plays Jean, a sex therapist.
Photo: Sam Taylor / Netflix.
Real sex: the added value of Sex Education
A great achievement of the series, according to the specialists, is trying to show sexuality as it is, without resorting to hyperbole of pleasure more linked to
porn
than to everyday experiences.
According to Meloni, Sex Education "shows more difficulties and dialogues between characters than great achievements and spectacular sexual performances carried out by successful and wealthy men, or hegemonic women competing for socioeconomic position and beauty."
The Netflix production, Garibaldi said, "shows us
a bit more realistic sexuality
and is a far cry from the unattainable ideal of perfect sexuality."
Sex Education 3 has 8 episodes.
Photo: Netflix.
“The lack of
sex education
and the excess of bad education around sexuality
made us believe that sex is perfect
, that you always have to feel like it, that nothing can go wrong, and that anything outside the norm must be silenced.
So much demand, shame and guilt did not allow us to encourage ourselves to talk about a real sexuality.
Many times people recognize and identify with a problem through fiction ".
In this context, he mentioned that after some chapter people came to his office who described their discomfort, claiming to believe that they had "vaginismus
as such a
Sex Education
character
."
A disruptive series
Why is Sex Education defined as a disruptive series?
Garibaldi mentioned a set of characteristics in this regard:
It shows that
size
does not always matter for pleasure.
It shows that men also pretend, cry, are afraid of failing.
It shows that women can be friends,
sororities
and support each other.
It shows that sexuality does not end when we have children or are over 40 years old.
It shows that we can choose, wish, say yes and, above all, that 'no is no'.
It shows that women have the right to seek our own
pleasure
.
It shows that
self-stimulation
and
self-
discovery are healthy exploration and pleasure-seeking practices.
It shows that bonds are healthier when we have
emotional responsibility
.
It shows that sex is crossed by emotions and is better when we feel it.
It shows that we do not have to like all the practices, and that none are
mandatory
.
It shows that sex is more than penetration and
masturbation of
others.
It shows that there are healthy bonds free of jealousy, possession or aggression, breaking with the logic of
romantic love
.
It shows that young people and adolescents have a voice, decision, rights and vote over their bodies.
It shows that
there is no such thing as perfect sex
or sexual experts.
It shows that you don't always have to feel like it.
The new adventures of Otis and Eric, friends and protagonists of Sex Education 3.
What Sex Education left us
According to data collected by the report "
Schools that teach ESI
", carried out by UNICEF Argentina together with the Ministry of Education of the Nation in 2018 in five provinces of the country, a survey revealed that 96% of teachers and 50% of Students say they know the Comprehensive Sexual Education Law (Fundación Hupedes, 2018).
However, 75% of adolescents in the last two years of secondary school indicate that
the school does not offer them subjects that are of interest to them
, among them, the contents of comprehensive sexuality education and gender violence (Ministry of Education , 2018).
Meloni summarizes in two words the contribution of the series to the adolescent public: making
visible and depathologizing
.
"The accessibility in terms of scope and format makes it very simple to identify with certain characters," he pointed out while highlighting "the approach to themes that seem far away but that we could find around the corner simply by paying attention ”.
For his part, Garibaldi emphasized that although
a series does not replace Comprehensive Sexual Education
, it is positive that a series is based on content that, apart from being attractive, is
as educational as possible
.
“Sex Education adds up to a lot because it
arouses curiosity
, questions and motivates reflection among peers.
Without being porn content, it tries to show a more real sex, not perfect.
In that sense, it shows a healthier sexuality than other fictions ”, he pointed out.
Specialists highlight the contribution of Sex Education regarding clear information on sexuality.
Photo: Sam Taylor / Netflix.
Some questions
The series that saw the light in 2019 is also a source of
criticism
about some
conceptual errors
.
Both sexologists agreed that the making of Netflix confuses, for example, vagina with vulva.
“This is a
common and historical confusion
that must stop happening.
The vagina is the inner part of the female genitalia and the vulva is the outer part.
It is important to make this distinction because the most important sexual organ of women is the clitoris and it is located in the upper part of the vulva ”, assured Carla Garibaldi.
On the other hand, Carolina Meloni indicated, "although it takes a few minutes to make the asexual spectrum very visible, including romantic orientation as differentiated from sexual orientation, the whole series is
completely alosexual
."
In this sense, the specialist said that within the framework of these contents "it is difficult for an asexual person to easily identify or not self-pathologize."
The sex educator also added that "although some identities of the LGBT + community are made visible,
trans people
, transvestites and non-binaries do
not appear
, which continues to reproduce a binary model of sexuality."
Emma Mackey (left) is Maeve Wiley in Sex Education 3. Photo: Sam Taylor / Netflix.
Finally, Garibaldi mentioned that in some chapter there is a reference to the "morning after pill", when the correct way to call this method is "emergency hormonal contraception".
"It can lead to confusion because
the sooner it is taken, the more effective it is,
" he concluded.
Look also
Sex, stability, passion and security: is it possible to have it all?
Make sure your daughter knows the difference between her vagina and her vulva
Tati Español: "Orgasm is overrated: sexuality is more amorphous and less linear than what we were taught"