Activist who worked on Sex Education was “disappointed” with depiction of asexual character

❘ Updated: 2023-09-25T13:50:39

Netflix

While Sex Education has previously been praised for its depictions of different sexual identities, one activist has something to say about Season 4.

As the gang movies from Moordale Secondary School to Cavendish College, there’s plenty of change afoot in Sex Education Season 4. This includes characters leaving, and characters joining.

One new character includes O, played by Thaddea Graham, who goes through development by coming out as asexual. To portray asexuality, the Netflix show worked with an activist to help make the show as considerate to the topic as possible.

However, that activist has recently spoken out on social media to state that she was unhappy with the final product.

Asexual activist and model criticises Sex Education Season 4

Sex Education Season 4 has just dropped on Netflix, and features a bunch of new faces. One face, named Sarah ‘O’ Owen, runs a popular sex therapy clinic at Cavendish College, until main character Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) emerges as a rival.

However, as the episodes were released, Yasmin Benoit, an asexual activist who worked as a scriptwriter and consultant on the show, began posting a Twitter thread about O’s asexuality, and how she wanted O to help ‘defy stereotypes’. Unfortunately, she was ultimately “disappointed.”

The scene between Otis & O in the lift picked things up again & touched on the themes that were meant to be present throughout, but only through exposition. You didn't get to see the impact of race, privilege and acephobia as much as intended, it's just mentioned in passing.
— Yasmin Benoit, MSc (@theyasminbenoit) September 22, 2023

As Benoit explains: “I’ve finally had time to watch the season and was disappointed to see that some important moments were cut out or changed.”

Describing certain scenes, she states “You didn’t get to see the impact of race, privilege and acephobia as much as intended, it’s just mentioned in passing.

“Maybe they just didn’t have enough time to resorted to exposition, not realising that scenes portraying an asexual character as inherently “cold” was dangerous.

O was not meant to be a villain. She was a WOC being pushed out of a space she had found success in by a white guy who thought he deserved to be there more than her. She was meant to be the target of a petty smear campaign that led to her being outed.
— Yasmin Benoit, MSc (@theyasminbenoit) September 22, 2023

“O was not meant to be a villain. She was a WOC being pushed out of a space she had found success in by a white guy who thought he deserved to be there more than her. She was meant to be the target of a petty smear campaign that led to her being outed.”

However, Benoit did go onto say that she was “grateful to have been able to work on the character and storyline, and I’m glad that people have enjoyed her anyway.”

So you might want to keep in mind that almost all of the interviews and promotion I've done regarding the storyline took place before I had the opportunity the season, when I thought it was depicted the way it was in the script!
— Yasmin Benoit, MSc (@theyasminbenoit) September 22, 2023

While Benoit’s thread has an outpouring of support from other users, Sex Education or Netflix has yet to make a statement on this situation.

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