A week ago I asked my friend for a series recommendation and she suggested Sex Education, and so I started this series. I watched the 2 seasons in 3 days (8 episodes each season ) and I can’t recommend it enough. It deals and explains so well everyday life and coming of age situations.
The series focuses on the life of a couple of 16 year old students. This series includes enough romance, humor and friendship to make it very interesting to watch while it teaches you so much about life.
Eric Effiong, a very loud, courageous and happy person, came out to his very religious parents as gay at the age of 12. In the beginning of the series he was having issues connecting with God and going to church because he felt he wasn’t welcome.
Throughout the first season Eric gets bullied by Adam Groff, a guy with home and relationship problems. Adam Groff discusses some of his Issues with Eric Milburn, he explains that he can’t ejaculate, through therapy it is is explained the reason behind this is because he has pressure from his parent and pressure to excellence in sex due to his larger than usual penis. Later on in the series Adam discovers he is Bisexual and after giving Eric a blowjob he starts developing feelings for him , however he has problems with going public with his sexuality and has problems connecting with people even as friends.
From the very first episode we are also introduced to Jackson Marchetti, from an outside look , he is the perfect boy with the perfect life. He is good looking, school head-boy and successful in most sports played at school especially swimming. Through the series we realize the pressure he goes through to keep on winning in school competitions, he has to follow a strict diet, take anxiety pills,and listen to his parents (two mums) argue everyday because of him, this pushes him to the point where he self harm so that he can no longer compete in swimming competitions and experience what it feels like to be a normal student at school.
Other sexualities are explored like Asexuality, when Florence admits she doesn’t want to have sex at all she thinks she is broken, however a sex therapist assures her that “sex doesn’t make us whole and so how could [she] ever be broken”.
However Sex education doesn’t explore the lives of young adults only, it also features the lives of their parents. Maureen Groff is a very submissive women who admits during therapy that her husband has been refusing to have any kind of sexual interaction with her for 6 years, and Jean Milburn,a sex therapist who has a lot of sex with random man however, she has become so independent since her divorce that she has problems with opening up to relationships and sharing her house with another man.
Sex education also explores the stigma that is associated with
- 16 year olds who are still a virgin
- with self pleasure
- catcalling woman
- leaked nudes
- a heterosexual guy being best-friend with a homosexual guy
- being the child of a drug addict
I believe colleges and post-secondary schools should encourage their students to watch this series as it educates so much. Being a series,Sex Education, viewers can associate themselves with the characters. It can help form part of a holistic education which is completely ignored in some colleges in Malta. Having lack of sex education is in the same level as not being able to write or read.
Sex education in Malta is still way to stigmatized, while homosexual sex is not even mentioned especially in church schools. Colleges do include personal growth sessions however sex is almost never mentioned. It is time to start including sex education as part of the curriculum.
The goal for schools shouldn’t be academic learning but holistic learning.
A voice in the echo 