Asking for Help
Content Warning:
This article contains mention of sexual assault and trauma. Please utilize the “Quick Exit” button on the top right if needed.
Image: Unsplash
Netflix’s Sex Education is back with its third season (spoilers ahead!) and to none of our surprise, it doesn’t disappoint. The tv series has previously received positive reviews for how it dealt with subjects such as sex, sexuality, intimacy, pleasure, gender expression, sexual assault, and consent. Many credit the show for being more informative than the actual sex ed classes they took in middle and high school. Teenagers currently growing up with the show as it streams are exposed to valuable lessons. The third season, while it tackles a plethora of important issues, explores going to therapy after experiencing trauma in the best way.
the scenes between Aimee and Jean are written so well and are so incredibly important #sexeducation
— esha ☀️ (@eshacindyairey) September 20, 2021
The third season of the show continues to follow Aimee after she experiences sexual assault, in the second season, on the bus to school. When Aimee is hesitant to take the bus to school again, her friends rally around her and show her support by taking the bus with her. In the third season, Aimee’s healing journey is further highlighted when Maeve recognizes that Aimee is having trouble with intimacy after her assault. Maeve asks Otis to ask his mother, Jean who is a sex therapist, if she would speak to Aimee. In the third episode of the third season, Aimee explains the changes in how she views her body after the assault to which Jean responds in a trauma-informed and survivor centric way. She says, after recognizing Aimee’s experiences and letting her know she doesn’t have to talk about anything she doesn’t want to, that by processing the trauma safely can help Aimee change and develop her relationship with her body again.
This scene between Jean and Aimee in #SexEducation is so important and I just think this show is one of the best TV shows right now. Period. pic.twitter.com/kVshgRQ3k6
— Nora Dominick (@noradominick) September 18, 2021
Sometimes the hardest thing about therapy is making the decision to go. Asking for help can be tough but it’s important to remind ourselves that it is an important part of our healing journey. It’s also important to remind ourselves that healing is non-linear. Healing is constant. Coming to this revelation is also an integral part of healing. Allowing ourselves to be gentle with ourselves as we engage in important healing work. When Aimee is concerned with whether she will ever return to being her “old self”, Jean mentions that Aimee may never be her old self again, but reassures her that it’s okay and that what happened wasn’t Aimee’s fault. Healing, while it may not look as a forward moving line, it takes us in all sorts of directions we may not have anticipated before. Reassuring that it’s okay not to return to our “old” selves, the self we were before the traumatic experience also results in relieving the pressure we put on ourselves. Without the burden of returning to our old selves on our shoulders, we embrace healing and welcome the possibilities that await us on this journey.
thank you very much for that scene when jean assured aimee that what the man did to aimee on the bus is not because she smiled. it feels like a reassurance to me too and that scene is so important
— dinie ⁷ 🏴 (@diniejunaidiiii) September 23, 2021
“Sometimes the hardest thing about therapy is making the decision to go. Asking for help can be tough but it’s important to remind ourselves that it is an important part of our healing journey. ”
