In this episode I’m joined by my pal Sara, to review the Netflix show Bridgerton. Over 63 million people have watched it and apparently it’s the 5th most popular Netflix show of all time.
We chatted about race briefly but we focussed on the relationships and sex themes, as the multi-racial casting and inadequate treatment of racism has been covered by others in more detail already. For example this piece https://gal-dem.com/bridgerton-racism-netflix-post-racial-britain/ and this one https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/12/10244616/bridgerton-review-blackness-representation
We covered:
Romance novels and sexist criticisms of their readership
Romance tropes (fake relationship, big misunderstandings)
Shame and purity norms
Patriarchy
How characters did or didn’t have agency in a system with such unjust and scarce capacity for freedom
Masturbation and agency
Painful first time sex tropes
The hegemony of reproductive sex
Sexual harms and violence vs legalistic readings of consent
Hope you enjoy it! To hear the whole discussion head to patreon.com/culturesexrelationships
Justin
PS I'm going to start doing some more advice shows again soon. So please send me your questions about sex and relationships to the new email address culturesexrelationships at gmail dot com
