Sex Education Season 2: Aimee's Story Arc

Just finished watching Sex Education Season 2, before anything else, if you havent watched this season please do not read on, this blog contains spoilers.
This blog also contains discussion on sexual assault and trauma. You have been warned. 


Sex Education Season 2 is the best, not because the girls wonderfully owned this season but this season talks about the female empowerment,
the reclamation of our sexuality, the everyday assault of women, societal views on assault and women supporting on women. 

One specific story arc that resonated with me was that of Aimee. 

Good natured Aimee decides to bake a cake for Maeve (its her birthday),
on her way to school she boards a pretty loaded bus. Once inside,
a man starts jerking off on her leg and blows his load on her leg.
Rightfully appalled, Aimee (still in her soft sweet voice) voiced her concern on what just happened to a
bunch of apathetic passengers. Just stared at her and let the guy walked on. 



Later on, she told Maeve of what happened and tried to brush it off as the guy must just be lonely and it’s no big deal.
Maeve insisted and reported it to the Police. 

The police took their statements and her jeans and drove them home. 

Aimee still seemingly ok enters and speaks to her mum briefly and went to her room.
After taking a shower she is shown crying. 

From this point on, Aimee’s trauma starts to affect her everyday life and her relationships.
She sees the face of her assaulter everywhere, she cant ride the bus and lastly,
she broke off with her boyfriend because she doesn’t like the feeling of being touched. 

During a scene where the girls get detention for something the principal did,
Aimee finally broke and shared her pain to her friends. 

This scene is very poignant and powerful .
This scene shows what we, women have to deal with everyday regardless of what we look like.
The lines said during this scene is en pointe and what we have been saying for the longest time. 



“Its feels like they thought my body was theirs or something, yeah, like were public property” - being groped in public

“Why should you change your behaviour because of what they did?” - on being catcalled

“Maybe it’s a power thing”
“I think the man on the bus, liked that I was afraid.”
“I don’t want to be dependent on another man to protect me” - on being assaulted, threatened, abused, attacked, stalked. 

History presents our assault stories as something to be our fault,
that we are supposed to feel ashamed and guilt-ridden, that we deserved it,
that what happened to us is belittled, our future is not important. 

Case in point, the Brock Turner Stanford Cas. I will never forget this case. The audacity of Brock’s father saying that why should we penalize his son “for a few seconds of action”.

How the defense painted the victim as the one to blame because she went there and partied and cant hold her liquor?! 

I am appalled and enraged all throughout the course of this case. How can a father (who has a daughter by the way)
only care about the future of his son and belittles sexual assault as “just a few seconds of action”.
Did he even think of his daughter when he made this plea?
Did he even imagine what his daughter would feel like when (God forbid) happens to her, or his wife? 

You have already admitted to your son’s guilt, you should have taken the responsibility of teaching your son about respect and apologized to the woman he wronged. (
If he had done this, I think I would have respected him)

The responsibility of being assaulted always falls on the victim.
Frankly, this needs to change. Starting with women.
We cannot force the men of our time to change and understand us, they were wired not to.
From the media’s objectification of women, from our patriarchal society.
We can't win. Unless we do something about it. 



The ending scene of Aimee’s struggle speaks volumes on how women’s resolved can change anything.
With her friends helping her get over her trauma of riding the bus, women supporting women is one of the strongest power we have. 

In this day and age Im glad that we have momentum on this.
I'm happy that even the conservative and highly patriarchal continent of Asia is now teeming with Female Empowerment. 

This whole season, apart from giving us entertainment, taught us something, I hope the teenagers who watched this show, didnt just watch it for the sex, they also watched it for the story. 
x

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