Expressing Teen Sexuality One Episode at a Time

Recently one of my friends suggested that I watch an episode of Glee, a new series about a high school teacher who attempts to bring some meaning into his life and the life of his students by restoring the status of the glee club. Although at times I got scared that Glee was just High School Musical but in series form, this show got my approval due to the discussions it contained surrounding sex, especially teenage sex. And because of the singing and dancing. Obviously.

In the second episode, the female lead, Rachel, goes to a celibacy club meeting in an effort to spend more time with her boy crush, even though his abstinent cheerleader girlfriend is head of the club. They start doing an exercise meant to help them practice leaving space for Jesus in between themselves using a balloon to demonstrate the appropriate distance to stand apart. Irritated, Rachel vocalizes her objection to the club in a thoughtful diatribe. She explains how studies show that celibacy does not work in high schools and explains how bottling up emotions and hormonal urges has negative effects and causes teenagers to act out in unhealthy ways. I was stunned, especially since I feel like I’m always reminded of how talking about sexuality, especially teen sexuality, can negatively  affect of your reputation. However, Glee mentions this topic is many different ways, including demonstrating different reasons why teens have sex, talking about sexual urges that teens are feeling, sexual concerns of teens, and sexual orientation. Since I am a sexuality nerd, I got really excited that these topics were being discussed on television. Plus they were accompanied by renditions of Journey and Beyonce songs. Fantastic.

During her rant, Rachel also suggests that the way to handle teen sexuality is to be prepared. However, there’s the question of what being prepared means. The Right’s definition would include something like, “preparing children for a life rich in Christ and grounded in morals” whereas the Left’s would be more focused on providing children with information to make informed decisions regarding their sexuality. As long as these definitions are different, the battle of sexual education will continue. And given the history of things, it’s going to be a long battle.

Allowing teens to be prepared also means granting teens agency, which is something that would never happen. It’s just funny because it makes me reflect on my teenage years when I would have friends with ridiculous rules regarding sexuality, like no dating boys until graduation and no going over to a boy’s house unless the parents were going to be there. And there was always a phone call to make sure that the parents were indeed there. All of my friends who had dating rules enforced upon them were girls. These rules are just so crazy for me to comprehend but demonstrate the stifling of teenage sexuality and the idea the female sexuality is something to be protected and not discussed.

Rachel also covers the topic of the missing discourse of female desire. She states that, “girls want sex just as much as guys do.” I was a little stunned when I heard these words shouted on a primetime show whose target audience extends to teens because of the lack of discourse on female desire in sexual education today. Much of sex education focuses on the anatomical aspects of women. Desire is never mentioned. Women are expected to be silent about sexual desires. The clitoris and all its pleasure holding capabilities are rarely discussed, and masturbation is not covered by most sex education programs. The fact that girls want sex just as much as guys do is a fact that has been kept silent for many years. However, once the secret’s out, maybe we can start moving towards a more comprehensive sexual education system. By having this line written into the script, Glee has gotten my attention.

So if you’re not doing anything later and you like singing, dancing, and comical story lines surrounding teen sexuality, check out Glee. It’ll be good for at least one season before they start having to use far fetched story lines to keep it interesting.