Florence Discovering Her Asexuality
Sex Education never holds back when tackling topics surrounding sexuality. In the fourth episode of season two, we meet Florence (Mirren Mack); a drama student who has no desire to have sex, ever. After she receives increasing pressure from her friendship group to get busy, she approaches Otis with her so-called problem. Of course, Otis is completely unfamiliar with the notion of asexuality (because he's, you know, not a qualified sex therapist) and offers Florence weak advice including the cliched notion that she just isn't ready. "Try not to think about what other people are doing," Otis says. "Run your own race, and when you meet the right person, I'm sure you'll be ready."
Not only is Otis's advice unhelpful, but it also invalidates Florence's experience by framing her sexuality as merely a phase. Dissatisfied with his advice, she later speaks to Otis's mum Jean (Gillian Anderson), who is a sex therapist, and expresses her concerns, explaining that she feels nothing when she thinks about sex and has no connection to it. "No. I don't want to have sex at all, ever. With anyone." Florence tells Jean. "I think I might be broken." Jean enlightens her on the concept of asexuality — something Florence previously knew nothing about — and explains that "sex just doesn't do it for some people". She finishes with the life-affirming message that "sex doesn't make us whole. And so, how could you ever be broken?"
It's a beautiful and important moment in the show. Put simply, the more we hear about topics like asexuality, the more likely we are to open up a healthy dialogue surrounding them. However, there may be a reason that this is often ignored in the media. "When it comes to asexuality, much more research needs to be conducted in order to understand it more clearly. One of the reasons why the topic is not discussed often is because of the ambiguity surrounding it," says Dr. Jones.
"As it is mentioned in the show, sexuality is fluid – at least this is our current understanding of sexuality," Jones continues. "When it comes to asexuality, a person may go through periods where they are not interested in sexual activity. Later this could change. In this way, I think that asexuality is semi-common, since a lot of factors impact and influence our libido."