sex education season 4 and its impact!

School is back in session!

The new season of Sex Education sparked a lot of queer joy for its viewers this past week! This season had more queer representation than I have ever seen in the media before. The new season of Sex Education aired on Thursday, September 21st on Netflix. If you’ve followed the show this whole time like I have, you’ll know that this season was monumental in its representation of queer relationships, disabled relationships, and overall identity. Now if you haven’t seen it, I’m here to enlighten you about Sex Education. Sex Education is a series on Netflix that pertains to the importance of sex education and highlights topics such as sexual assault awareness, informed consent, queer relationships, etc. This show has been very impactful because it has a normalizing approach on sex compared to other depictions in the media which can put out a false narrative. 

Most of the queer representation in this series prior to the new season, has mainly involved the character Eric and his journey of accepting himself in terms of his sexuality, race, culture, and religion. In this new season, many of the same characters are now moving forward in their academics at a more progressive and inclusive school. More representation in casting and characters opened up more conversations about asexuality, disability, polyamorous relationships, and the lives of nonbinary and transgender people. In this season, a new couple is introduced, Roman (he/they) and Abbi (she/her).  

Photo by ScreenRant

Roman and Abbi are both transgender and throughout the new season, viewers get insight into their stories and obstacles in their relationship. Abbi struggles with the feelings of abandonment from her past and does not like to deal with the negative or heavy feelings of life, so she makes it a point to always be nice and not participate in drama. She also expects Roman and their friend Aisha to hold the same values. As the season goes on, these values become a barrier in Abbi’s relationship with Roman and friendship with Aisha. 

One of scenes that I feel had a lot of impact in the media is the scene of Cal (they/them) and Roman having a discussion about top-surgery. Cal had noticed that Roman had gotten top-surgery from their scars and asked them what the process was like. Roman expressed that it was difficult to get a consultation and then get clearance for the surgery, but that it was all worth it. Roman said the healthcare system makes people wait years to get a consultation and then it can be a couple more years until they are given the procedure(s) they desire. Sadly, this information is not just satire for dramatic purposes. It is true that getting gender-affirming healthcare is very difficult.

 According to this article, top surgery can cost anywhere between three thousand and ten thousand dollars. On top of that, the process to even get there is extraneous in itself. From this article I found that in most cases, it is required that individuals have evidence of living with dysphoria and of them having the gender expression to which they wish to transition to. It is also required that they go through a mental evaluation and get cleared by a licensed psychiatrist and also be of age to have the surgery done where they reside. The complications and costs of getting gender-affirming care often keeps people suffering from getting the help they need. Sometimes it can be the one thing that encourages people to keep going, so to make it so restrictive speaks volumes of how corrupt the healthcare system is. 

While the particular scene between Cal and Roman stuck out to me, I feel that there are some more influential things throughout the series. Seeing disabled representation with Aisha and Isaac shows us that disabled people have sex. Seeing older couples in the show challenges the ideas of ageism. Having conversations about sex and gender that are otherwise seen as uncomfortable to the general public makes this show stand out from others! If you haven’t already, I suggest you put this series on your watch list and learn more about Sex Education!