Was 'Euphoria' the Best Sex-Positive Series of 2022?
Unpacking Season 2’s affinity for sex — and our controversial opinion.
When looking back at 2022’s top films and series, HBO’s Euphoria is undoubtedly a standout series. Between the locker room of d-cks that opened Season 2, Rue’s Cassie, Maddy and Nate’s unintentional threesome, and its cultural impact on fashion, jewelry, and makeup – don’t forget the money Rue still owes Laurie, the sex trafficker — this season was all about sex. But in the case of sex positivity: where does Euphoria lie?
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So… sex positivity?
As we shared in our how-to-be sex-positive guide, the term “is all about being open-minded and nonjudgemental about how people live sexually.” Oh, the irony that we’re about to judge a series from a nonjudgemental standpoint, on how it measured up. However, Euphoria is a great example of how layered conversations surrounding sexuality can be.
This season welcomed a new character, Faye, played by former adult entertainer, Chloe Cherry. She was personally requested by producer Sam Levinson after he found her social media content to be hilarious and refreshing. For those unfamiliar, adult entertainers are one of the U.S.’s most marginalized communities, so directly supporting a sex worker by having them play a role that laid out the harsh realities of many sex workers, would be considered sex-positive for most. Cherry even went on to advocate for sex workers and shared her battle with an eating disorder, which is a common struggle in the community.
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This season also tapped the expertise of intimacy experts, whom Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie, and Jacob Elordi, who play Nate, revealed was essential onset. “It adds another level of comfort,” Sweeney said. “It’s a very safe and incredible environment to do such scenes in and having the intimacy coordinator adds another level of ‘I feel okay, I feel safe and this is for my character.” Elordi, who plays Nate added that “she saved the day.”
What about the controversial sexual scenes?
On the topic of intimacy coordinators, when recounting Season 2 moments that tapped sexuality, several controversial scenes come to mind. For starters, there’s the aforementioned opening scene of d-cks for Season 2 and then there are the more openly discussed nude scenes with Cassie (played by Sweeney). Amongst press interviews, Sweeney’s scenes were the most popular, and not only wreaked chaos in the media but also in her family. In an interview with The Independent, Sweeney discussed her experience with filming nude. “There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here,’” she said. “He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’ I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”
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On another account, there’s the scene where Maddy, who’s underage, assists Samantha, the mother of a child she’s babysitting, get undressed. Minka Kelly, who plays Samantha, also openly discussed what she considered to be excessive nudity. “[Levinson] thought it would be more interesting if my dress fell to the ground,” Kelly told Vanity Fair. “I just didn’t feel comfortable standing there naked.” And after vocalizing her concern, “He was like, ‘Okay!’ He didn’t even hesitate,” she said.
Amongst each interview, the common consensus was excessive nudity. But all cast members stood on the same metaphorical hill as Sweeney. “I think that’s a very realistic expectation of sex… when you’re growing up, it’s all about pleasing someone else and not yourself — you don’t learn that until you grow up. Especially for Cassie, she doesn’t realize that. It’s all for someone else, all her decisions are for someone else.”
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Streaming on HBO, Euphoria is amongst a lineup of adult TV series and films, despite being a show about 16-year-olds. At times the series drew parallels to iconic Canadian teen drama, notorious for introducing the world to Drake, Degrassi. The most blatant similarity being the series’ main character Manny Santos, who drew similarities to Euphoria’s character Maddy. Both shows also have a similar cultural impact in terms of viewership and as named earlier, fashion and beauty – but there’s one major difference.
The Canadian series was geared towards teens and touched on sexuality and drugs — but for teens experiencing the same issues. Euphoria is a show about teens, exhibiting clear nudity on an adult platform, for adults. Some call it odd, while others advocate for it as a representation of their teen years, referring to it as “healing,” as Youtuber Kenny J.D. found many believed in her review of the series.
The final verdict: Is Euphoria sex-positive?
Several actions could’ve made the show more sex-positive. For example, the notorious Clit Test focused on whether film or music scenes had mentioned pleasuring the clit. If not, they failed. If so, they passed, signifying that they understood the importance of female pleasure. However, Euphoria was not meant to accomplish these things. It’s a recount of teenage life which is not sex-positive because teens neither care nor are given the resources to be sex-positive — let alone know how to pleasure the vulva.
The series also created an opportunity for sex workers to share their stories while highlighting the uncomfortable truths surrounding sexuality in our culture. Although uncomfortable, it was honest. As a result, we won’t consider Euphoria to be sex-positive because of one major reason: it was never meant to be. It’s simply recounting the journey of teens, which isn’t always sex-positive. But it’s important to note that three things were done well: tapping intimacy coordinators, giving sex workers opportunities and keeping open communication about comfortability onset. As for adults acting as teenagers, in the nude… we’ll let you draw your own opinions on that.
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