vasquezkyle

[vasquezkyle]

Education is sexy.

Disclaimer: Sex Education 2 spoilers ahead!!!

I have just finished watching the second season of Sex Education. The second season started with how most people normally perceive sex education, just like how the first season went. Significantly, the second season continued to tackle issues beyond the dictionary and social definitions of sex education. It tackled how self-discovery is a prerequisite of having important and meaningful connections to others. I liked how they focused on much more complex dilemmas of the individual self and the social self. Here are some thoughts (and spoilers) why the series is so important and why is it also important for us to have an actual and functional sex education curriculum at schools:

1. It talks about stigmas on sexually transmitted infections. Although this is a surface content of sex education curriculums, we cannot deny the vitality in understanding the concept of sex. The series started with a ‘chlamydia hysteria’ outbreak at the school which was caused by the belief that chlamydia is an airborne infection (which is technically not). I just wished this series made an effort to discuss HIV because it is the chronic and life-changing condition that sexually active people may encounter. Also, by discussing these issues, we can remove stigmas that not all people living with sexually transmitted diseases deserve a place in hell for being too nasty.

2. It talks about the importance of building and opening up on sexual relationships. This series may really raise an eyebrow on older people, but I really find it essential for people in their teenage years to discover their individual selves with the help of sex education. It shows how we discover our earthly desires, usually through masturbation while watching porn or seeing sexy bodies from a common household product (just like how Otis discovered the pleasure of doing it to his self at 16, kinda late though). I just thought that this series should have been more careful with dealing with sexual partnerships among minors, but I know it’s now on the broader concept of cultural and generational understanding of sexual partnerships. Even if the series is filmed and based on modern English culture, the series happens in the realities of the Filipino youth. For some, sex is a sacred act which people should only do with their husbands or wives. For others, sex is just a physiological need which people should not be ashamed of doing. Regardless of our point of view in the sanctity and need of sex, in the context of sex among minors, we should discourage the young people to engage in such activities. There are a lot of reasons why. These include lack of proper mindset, and inability to handle much bigger responsibilities such as teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. 

On opening up on sexual relationships, it is about mutual satisfactions. It is not limited to mutual orgasms as we are talking about sex, but let us admit it, sex has a big role in establishing relationships, even platonic ones. Mutual satisfaction is more of emotional safety and assurance among relationships. It is very important for us to know what and who we want, the one who makes us happy and blush and gives us sexual tension and other cliché stuff. This deals with the importance and risks of questioning the idea of entering dating scenes and not gambling all of your coins on to one person. From Maeve’s late realization of her admiration to Otis, to Ola’s dissatisfaction on Otis’ clock fingering technique and late realization of her admiration to Lily, to Eric’s emotional confusion between bully yet true love Adam and all-in-one yet can’t-find-myself-with-you Rahim, to Mrs. Milburn’s independence which masked her romantic attraction to Jakob with casual hookups, and up to Otis’ realization that it was Maeve and Maeve since then, Sex Education S2 tells us that the heart wants what it wants. Life will give us a series of surges of hormones and a timeline of different people which may either be problems, memories, or for keeps, but this series will help you realize that you already have your answer for your life’s satisfaction. It is up to you to flip the cards again and check which is the ace. 

In addition to building and opening up on sexual relationships with partners, the series highlighted the role of parents in the sexual life of a sexually active youth. Although this is very awkward for most people, it still goes back to them when the cards turn as problems.

3. It is not selfish. It talks about the society. As I have been saying for a number of times, sex education is not limited to sex, orgasms, relationships, infections, etc. It goes back to where it started, the society. The lack of sex education curriculum gives younger people the wrong understanding of how sexual partnerships work. Sex has been a taboo for some culture. I think it is not yet too late for us to establish a sex education curriculum that would discuss the essentials of sexual partnerships. I also believe that sex education should not (1) be first taught as a general education class in college, and (2) just be a small percentage of the discussions on the reproductive system in Science classes and gender and sexuality in Social Studies classes of the basic education. I think a proper sex education should have a significant time for a student’s weekly timetable as early as possible, and that it should not only focus on the surface definitions of sex. 

I really liked how Mrs. Milburn did a needs analysis for a sex education curriculum because it will be very vital and interesting for those who will receive the curriculum. Imagine sitting in a classroom to listen to avoid sex when it is not really what you need. I remember taking two general sex education courses in one semester in college because sexuality and gender are very interesting, HUME 10: Sexuality in Adolescence, and SOSC 3: Gender and Sexuality. Have I learned a lot? Not really. I knew how to put a condom on an eggplant and that if I do not wear one, I can get STIs from my partner, learned that the clitoris is the original sex structure of humans and that it just becomes a penis after sexual differentiation in the embryonic development, knew that sex has four physiological stages namely arousal, plateau, orgasm, and resolution, and I remember sleeping at the back of the classroom because I got bored of the repetitive basic discussions. I am not telling that we should not remove the anatomy, physiology, and political knowledges of sex. What is essential is the addition of the psychological and cultural aspects of sex education. Why don’t we discuss why are there sexual inequalities? Why are there ghosts, breadcrumbs, and cheaters? Why would a man jack off in a bus and cum on a woman’s favorite jeans? Why does the penis think that a human with a vagina or a castrated penis is inferior of them?

With these, I do not think sex education can function as a curriculum for all (which makes Mrs. Milburn as the star of S2). We really need to look how it is needed by the students to understand their individual selves so that they can become their better social selves and be better partners in the future. We really need to remove the negative stigma of sex first. And it is important that we should not only talk about it. We should also correct what is happening now. With a proper sex education, we will have peers who will understand us more and help us how to solve our problems on intimacy and relationships.