What Sex Education Gets Right About Modern Sexuality Essay
What Netflix’s Sex Education Gets 100% Right About Modern-Day Sexuality
Watch out! This post contains spoilers.
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Watch out! This post contains spoilers.
In episode six, Anwar (Chaneil Kular) — who is an openly-gay member of the school's cool group — subverts our expectations in a scene with his boyfriend, Nick (Tom Atkinson). The two are about to have anal sex for the first time together, but Anwar bolts under the guise of a friendship emergency when Nick questions whether he's already douched. We later learn that Anwar has never had anal sex before, and is embarrassed to admit he doesn't know how to douche.
The storyline is later resolved at a party when the two have a heart-to-heart and Nick reveals that he didn't know how to do "any of that stuff" before either, and offers to show Anwar how it's done. While the teen characters manage to navigate this subject alone, the plot highlights a crucial point about anal sex and a need for better education.
"There is such a lack of education around anal sex," says Dr. Jones. "It is extremely important that increased awareness of safe anal practices becomes readily available. Teaching on this subject really needs to be expanded upon and more sources need to be produced. I believe that understanding how to properly have anal sex in a healthy way will decrease the associated stigma and ease many people's anxiety revolving around it."
Last year, new regulations for teaching Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education in England's primary and secondary schools passed through the House of Lords. The legislation comes into effect in September 2020 and means secondary schools have to teach pupils about sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, relationship education will be mandatory in all primary schools. Whether this will extend to provide education about safe anal sex — and it absolutely should — remains to be seen.