Another week, another episode of liberal lectures from the sexually graphic Freeform teen drama The Bold Type. Thursday’s episode, “To Peg or Not to Peg,” was all about how the liberal boogeyman known as “the patriarchy” is responsible for everything, from women not wanting to discuss their private parts with each other, to a man not feeling comfortable dating a woman who is more dominant, to Kat (Aisha Dee) having some hesitation when a man asks her to dominate him via “pegging.”
Kat, previously straight before she proclaimed herself a lesbian, is back to questioning her sexuality and sleeping with a male bartender. Said bartender asks Kat during one of their trysts if she would “peg” him, which involves a woman wearing a strap-on and penetrating the man. Shocked and scared at first, she begins to warm up to the idea when the girls talk to their coworker Alex (Matt Ward).
Alex went on a date with a woman who is much more successful than he is, as well as domineering. When he tells the girls he doesn’t think he’ll keep seeing the woman, Kat interjects and explains that they're both afraid in their relationships. Because that's what “the patriarchy” taught them.
Alex: I just don’t think it’s gonna work.
Jane: So, what I'm hearing is, you're gonna walk away from an incredible woman because of your ego.
Sutton: What about all the stuff that you said to me about Richard, you know? "Let him buy you the sewing machine. The power struggle is in your head."
Alex: That's different.
Sutton: Why, 'cause I'm a woman?
Alex: That's not what I said.
Kat: But that's what you meant.
Alex: Why do I feel like I need a lawyer?
Sutton: Maybe you do.
Kat: MM, I kinda get it. But it's just fear. You said that this woman's great, right? Cody's kind of great too but putting on a strap-on and pegging him's really scary.
Alex: I feel like I missed something.
Kat: But it's scary because it's different than what we were taught to expect. Patriarchy has taught us that men are supposed to be powerful, women are supposed to be submissive. That's it. So, you feel like less of a man without your power, and I feel like less of a woman with it. But that's trash. Okay. Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna peg Cody.
Kat even dons a strap-on to work the day of their next date. “I strapped it to my inner thigh just to feel the energy between my legs,” she boasts to her friends.
"The patriarchy" was at it again as Jane (Katie Stevens) discovered that she’s not the only one among her friends who has ever gotten a yeast infection, which leads to a TMI conversation. “Why did I not know that you guys get yeast infections,” Jane asks incredulously. Sutton (Meghann Fahy) answers, “Well, it's not something you necessarily advertise like, ‘Hey, everybody. My vagina's making yeast!’"
“Yeah, but we're not everybody,” Jane retorts. "I mean, we were more than comfortable talking about what strap-on Kat would be. Why aren't we comfortable talking about, you know, our problems down there?”
You can probably already guess who is to blame for their silence on vaginal yeast. Yes, the same women who helped retrieve a vaginal egg that was stuck in Jane’s vagina, who shop together for sex toys and strap-ons, and who share every graphic detail of their sexual encounters are hesitant to talk about something as normal as a yeast infection because of…the patriarchy. Sutton proclaims as Kat nods her head vigorously, “It's the patriarchy, bro. Gettin’ in our heads, messin' with it.”
If this is all oppression by “the patriarchy,” I can’t imagine what would be left to say or do that hasn’t already been said or done if they were ever free from their invisible prison.
