Netflix's Sex Education series is back for its second season. This new season, released on January 17, included delightful items like a two and a half minute opening montage of the lead teen character continuously masturbating, a discussion on sexuality being fluid, and the trials of teens obtaining the Morning After Pill.
To recap, Sex Education takes place at a sex obsessed British high school where Otis (Asa Butterfield) gives out twisted sex advice to fellow students. The second season focuses around his mother, Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson), coming into the school to revamp their sex education because of news of a Chlamydia outbreak that turned out to be just hysteria.
Throughout the season, Jean sets up a classroom where students can come and ask anything and get advice. One of these students is named Florence (Mirren Mack) and in episode 4 she reveals that she doesn’t want to have sex ever. After this revelation, Jean announces that Florence must be asexual meaning that she “has no sexual attractions to any sex or gender” and that “sexuality is fluid.” The only positive thing about her advice is that Jean says that “sex doesn’t make us whole,” alluding to the fact that if you don’t have or want to have sex you are not weird or missing out as so many teens think.
Florence - "I don't want to have sex."
Jean - "Okay. Do you want to have a seat? Not having sex is a valid choice. And you shouldn't have sex unless you're..."
Florence: "No, I don't want to have sex at all. Ever with anyone. I think I might be broken."
Jean - "Okay. Why don't you start by telling me how you feel when you think about having sex?"
Florence - "I don't feel anything. I have no connection to it. It's sort of like I'm surrounded by a huge feast with everything I could want to eat, but I'm not hungry."
Jean - "Do you know what asexuality is? It's when someone has no sexual attraction to any sex or gender. Sex just doesn't do it for some people."
Florence - "Oh. But I still want to fall in love."
Jean - "Well, some asexual people still want romantic relationships, but they don't want the sex bit. And others don't want either. You know sexuality is fluid. Sex doesn't make us whole. And so, how could you ever be broken?"
In the seventh episode, after a raging party during the prior episode, Otis wakes up next to Ruby (Mimi Keene) and they think they had sex with each other when they both were drunk, but they aren’t 100% sure. Ruby also can’t remember whether they used a condom or not, so they decide to get the morning-after pill. Ruby makes Otis buy it, but the pharmacist refuses to sell it to him since he’s not a woman, which in this day and age, could be considered discrimination since gender is apparently fluid.
After Ruby goes in to buy it, the pharmacist asks her if she’s used emergency contraception before and her family medical history. Not once did the pharmacist ask Ruby what her age was, she is more than likely underage since they are in high school, or mention anything about how it works or the side effects. Then the pharmacist gives Ruby the pill, which Ruby immediately makes Otis pay for since “it’s his penis." After Ruby takes the pill it is never mentioned again.
This show, which is primarily geared towards teens, is rated TV-MA and teaches questionable sex education. Of course, both Seventeen and Teen Vogue have praised Sex Education. Seventeen said on February 1, 2019, that the show is "seriously a must-watch" and that it is praised for its "ability to take on issues involving LBGTQ teens, consent and abortion appropriately, while still providing a hilarious bough of comic relief." Not sure how abortion and comic relief fit in together - that would only make sense to people who think this is a good show for kids.
