Intro

Spoiler alert: Do not read this article if you haven’t seen season 4, unless you don’t care about being spoiled!

The British Netflix series Sex Education is not only about sex but also about living within your very own values and giving a s*** about society's framework.

The series shouts out that finding your true identity and having the courage to be seen is the only way to happiness.

Just another teenage drama? At first, I was sceptic. But after watching some episodes, I stuck to it. The story kept evolving and the characters were getting more and more complex.

At the end, they were all getting impressively courageous in the way they were seeking to live a life in full integrity with their own values.

They became role models our society should be proud to have in reality.

What is it about?

The title of this British 'Coming of Age' TV series is derived from the education of the main character, Otis, and his classmates in high school. Otis’ mother is a sex therapist. Through a series of events, Otis becomes a sex therapist at his school for his fellow high school students.

The sexuality of students, their coming outs, predujices they face, handicpas, diseases, and their struggles with identity are the focus of the series. And there are many more characters who struggle with the topic of finding their way to truth and fulfillment, and each story wowed me!

In the first 3 seasons, the characters go to a standard high school that could be everywhere.

In season 4, they find themselves at Cavendish, a progressive school managed by queer students. And here begins the visionary part of the series!

The main characters and their seek for identity

There is Eric, Christian, gay, loving his family and his church. He wants to be baptized but his church – at first – won’t allow it. He recognizes that he can only be himself and live a fulfilled life by living openly gay, conspicuously made up for school and being a worthy member of his (old school) community at the same time. He gets there by standing up for himself. He chooses to live in integrity. And he may be the first pastor who has so much courage!

There is Otis, Eric’s best friend, cis man from separated parents who has to let his girlfriend Maeve go so that she can follow her true passion. But finding true love with her fulfills him so he can life with her leaving.

So, there is Maeve who loses her mother to drugs. She hates her, is ashamed of her, is relieved when she dies, but also loves her and feels grateful to be her daughter. After her mother’s death, she finds out what she really wants in life. She wants to be a writer and learns that no one has the right to be in her way. She bravely leaves England to start a new chapter of her life, relieved from the fears about her mother and her self-doubting elements of personality in America.

There is Cal who was born as a woman and feels like a man. To be able to live liberated and truly, he wants to be operated to end but hasn’t enough money for the operation. His friends from school organize a fundraiser event to make it happen…

This same community also helps Isaac who often can’t join classes in time because of the broken elevator he depends on because of his wheelchair. He falls in love with Aimee and helps her overcoming her fear of intimacy that was caused by a sexual assault. He shows her how art can help her with her issues, and she finds her beautiful own way by taking self-portraits with the jeans she wore on the day of the assault (I truly would love to see this exposition!)

We must also mention beautiful Abbi who can’t stand any negative words because of her traumatic past and her partner Roman. Both will surprise us at the end while finally having the sex they were longing for.

… and we should name many more!

Why does identity matter so much?

It has already become clear that Sex Education shows an admirably wide range of characters, all of whom find themselves in their own unique way.

Why does identity matter so much (not only when in comes to sexuality)?

In parallel to watching the series, I read “The Way of Integrity” by Martha Beck, Harvard PhD, an ex-Mormon, mother of a cild with trisomy 21, and best-selling author who talks about the path to your true self. She grew up in two worlds of values and found happiness after having overcome many struggles, threats and multiple depressions.

It’s one of the best books I've ever read (and I read a lot).

So, if you feel that you don’t fit it, if you’re seeking to belong and be seen as you are, I highly recommend this book. It’s enlightening (see the book on amazon).

We’re all massively adapted to our own society.

Although it makes sense to live within a set of rules for living well together (no one wants to see a guest eating at a table in a restaurant), the idea of what e.o. should be and live like is often more restrictive than we may think. We suffer from headaches, depression, and anxiety because we don’t want to show who we truly are.

Sex Education shows us that we should.

And that’s why, sadly, it's so progressive...

Why I recommend watching Sex Education

The whole Netflix series is worth watching, but it's the season finale that blew me away. It paints a futuristic picture of how we could all live together (in school but also beyond school life) by being open, curious, and inclusive.

What's the main message of Sex Education?

We must all start asking questions, trying to really understand the people close to us. To be truly empathic instead of sympathetic, famous shame researcher Brené Brown would say: (If you look for something really deep to read about the concept of shame and vulnerabilty, I recommend Dare to Lead and Braving the Wilderness from all my heart 💛.)

In my opinion, we should all start by raising our voices for others. It would be so refreshing, relieving, and healing to live in such a world any time soon.

The best day to start the revolution is today.