his schoolmates by making them feel more insecure and disconnected from their real desires and selves. It eventually turns out that the self-appointed Sex King has anxieties that began with watching porn, and what ends up helping both Kyle and the guy he gave bad advice to, Dex, are simple, honest and empathetic discussions with Otis and Maeve. “It’s not wonky, it’s unique.” “Thanks Milburn, that means a lot.” While the supposed point of the sexual liberation movement was to make sex not shameful anymore, slut-shaming is still a problem, especially for women. “What a slag.” And today’s onlineness has even enabled new, even worse forms of shaming — we see this in Sex Education when Ruby becomes a victim of “revenge porn” after a picture of her is sent to everyone in school. “This kind of thing sticks. And it hurts, and no one deserves to be shamed, not even Ruby.” As the American Psychological Association reports, hook-up culture now dominates a longer period of life than ever before, since in the U.S. “the age when people first marry and reproduce has been pushed back dramatically, while at the same time the age of puberty has dropped.” At the same time, hookup culture isn’t appealing and enjoyable to everyone. "I literally can't stand hookup culture." One study found that upwards of NUMBER_TOKEN percent of both genders have “a history of experiencing regret” after casual encounters. In this new context, Sex Education helps reframe what sex positivity is or really should be — showing us that it’s not (as some of the media might suggest) about advocating that everyone needs to be having casual or adventurous sex, having more sex or having it earlier. Instead, true sex positivity is about why talking openly about sex is important. “That's normal to feel observed and vulnerable when you're having sex. And he probably feels just as silly sometimes, too.” Jean Milburn is determined to talk to her son about sex, in detail, and a lot. As a result, Otis’ entire home life is basically a never ending “talk”. “I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. No judgment.” A product of the NUMBER_TOKEN’s, her mindset of total openness can go too far, representing how the ideals of sexual liberation can become invasive if taken to the extreme that doesn’t respect others’ comfort level. “So you decided to write a book about my sexual dysfunction?” But on the whole, Otis does internalize and subscribe to the key tenets of his mother’s outlook. And if Jean represents an older generation of sex-positivity, Otis embodies what it can look like for today. “I can't really explain why I love talking to people. It’s just-” “Like a rush?” “Yeah, a rush of connection.” Through him, the show also develops its unique viewpoint and language about sex. The series avoids the clinical framing of Masters of Sex, the depressing edginess of shows like Skins and Euphoria,
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