Hollywood's #MeToo reckoning not only shone a light on the industry's toxic culture of predation and sexual violence. It also underscored the critical need for an overhaul of the way sex and consent are portrayed on our screens, and a major change in the way cast and crew members are treated on and off set.
In Netflix's new teen comedy Sex Education, that change is palpable in the way the writers' tackle the topic of sex, but also in how sex scenes were filmed.
Netflix hired an "intimacy coordinator" to ensure both cast and crew felt comfortable when filming sex scenes and responsible for making sure actors agreed to be touched during intimate scenes.
Director Kate Herron told Mashable at an advanced screening of the first episode that the intimacy coordinator helped cast members with the sex scenes, but her main function was "making it clear that everyone's comfortable with what's going on".
Sex Education's approach to navigating sex scenes with a cast of young actors — many of whom are on their first big break — is a positive one. But, hiring intimacy coordinators shouldn't be something unique to the teen genre. This move sets a valuable precedent and should be adopted industry-wide.
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