Television series, a window of sexual emancipation for young adults

Bathed in a subdued purple light, two teenage girls kiss on a bed. Cautiously, Ola’s hand goes down the zipper of Lily’s jumpsuit, slips into her panties … but stops dead under the “Ouch! “ of his partner. “It’s not you, it’s me. I am doing vaginismus’, said the latter with a grimace, disappointed to be stopped in her tracks. “So you don’t masturbate?” Yes, of course. When I touch myself, it’s okay. “ The next scene, the two high school girls caress each other on their side of the bed, in a joyful communion. The image opens the final episode of season 2 of Sex Education, the hit series from Netflix whose sequel will be available on September 17th.

Read also “Sex Education”, delightful and fine series on the sex life of teens

For the millions of spectators who follow her, she redraws the possibilities of sexual relations, outside heterosexual standards and an injunction to penetration. Sex Education is not the only one to take this turn: many series have reinvested, in recent years, this intimate field, exploring female pleasure, talking about consent, love and plural identities in an unprecedented way. . And have thus become the vectors of a new sexuality education for adolescents and young adults.

A turning point in the 2010s

“The heroines of the series no longer sport a fragile heart which awaits Prince Charming, but clitoris which pounding”, analyzes researcher Iris Brey, author of Sex and the Series (Ed. De l’Olivier, 2018), which co-published in 2021 Under our eyes (The city is on fire), a “Manifesto for a revolution of the gaze” for teenagers. “Me, I grew up with images centered on male pleasure: the woman pressed against the wall, ejaculation signaling the end of the report. There were few possibilities ”, remembers the 30-something, who identifies a turning point in the 2010s, accelerated by the #metoo movement.

The aesthetics and scenarios offered by these series participate in the creation of new imaginaries, for a young generation who “Binge watche” faster than his shadow. “The series were a strong basis of my sex education: it was the first time that I heard about pleasure and, above all, that it was shown to me”, says Idil, 23. In high school she devoured Sex and the City, the chronicle, revolutionary on its release, of the lives of New York women fully assuming their libido (a return of the series is also in preparation):

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