I started to follow the information of this show before it even started, because of Asa Butterfield, the actor of one of the protagonists Otis, and I watched it as soon as it’s released. It’s been a huge success, as far as I’m concerned, not only because of its funny and thrilling story, but also because how the story connected to our real life.
If you think I’m talking about sex, you’ll be disappointed. Because I reckon that although this show seems to be all about sex, just like what’s said in the title, it’s actually nothing about sex. All those crazy sex scenes and the sex problems are in fact the projection of other problems, like relationship of a couple, of mother and son, friendship, also women and LGBTQ people’s equality and so on. What leaves me very deep impression is the part when Otis meets a couple at a party, who are having an argument because the girl doesn’t want to have sex with the lights on, for she’s ashamed of her body, while the boy actually thinks she’s very beautiful, but a little bit shy to say it. The whole thing is just about the girl’s insecurities, which is something that I know very well. Growing up as a girl, I need to care about my appearance and behaviour much more than boys do, and what’s ridiculous is that a lot of people just think that’s normal.
Another part is that when Otis had a sex dream about Meave, he became so annoyed and ashamed, for his brain ‘objectified’ her, which actually surprised me because things like boys rating a girl by her hip or breasts, as she is much more than that, happened too much that it seems like a lot of girls started to think the same way. So it’s kind of comforting to see that, even just in the TV show, that there’s a boy who is not taking girls as sex objects.
And all the other details like Meave getting to know the lady when having the abortion, Eric being beaten for wearing dress, and Otis panicking at bad childhood memory when trying to have sex with Lily, seem crazy but somehow realistic, making me can’t help thinking while laughing and crying hard. I’m always jealous of kids who can have such colourful teenage life, with a lot of troubles of course but they grow up gradually through all the dramas, which is also something I really like that Sex Education shows.