Netflix’s Sex/Life is an ode to the much ignored Female Gaze

Is it possible for a woman to have it all? Shahi responds, “I desire everything, and then I don’t want to settle.” “Knowing whatever you want and pushing after it is what life should be all about. You might be able to have it all, but you’ll have to make some compromises.”

The reality that people’s sentiments and impulses vary over time isn’t necessarily vacuous or filthy. Books, films and television geared at women and girls in particular frequently employ split attachments to develop further and analyze their strong female characters.

Netflix is back with another project that talks about pleasure, pain, rich people doing rich things and fantasies you never asked about. Sex/Life is an addition to the long array of female empowerment shows on the streaming platform. But is it empowering enough?

Sex/Life: Plot Overview

Since we first meet Billie Connelly (Sarah Shahi), she lives in ritzy Greenwich, Conn. She appears to work as a full-time mother to two young children—a job that primarily takes the form of lounging all over her luxurious residence in a nap gown, waiting for her muscled finance-guy hubby Cooper (Mike Vogel) to arrive home. Sex/Life follows one woman’s slide into infatuation with her ex-boyfriend, inspired by BB Easton’s 44 Chapters About 4 Men, a self-published novel whose rise recalls the Fifty Shades tsunami.

Shahi seems to do a lot of nasally moaning, lip-biting, wriggling, and orgasm imitating in each incident, which includes a menagerie of fantasy scenarios, flashback sequences, and sexual daydreams and recollections. If being naked is an act of bravery in and of itself, Shahi is a true hero.

Netflix is slowly extending its programming roster with risqué movies and TV series. Largely from the perspective of female characters, and Sex/Life, like Bridgerton before it, aims to respect the female gaze.

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The love for love triangles

Romeo and Juliet show it, Bridget Jones’s Diary is full of it, Twilight runs it in a fancy fantasy story-line. Never have I ever used it in the next season. Don’t even get me started on the Kissing Booth Franchise. The sometimes softcore Sex/Life is born of a long tradition. It puts an explicit spin on the love triangle concept.

Every movie targeted towards YA female audiences is about how their favorite protagonist’s life problem is choosing a man to be with. Sigh. Aren’t we better than this? Don’t we, as viewers, deserve some real-life issues that a young girl can connect with? I genuinely do not have to go to school tomorrow and decide who my prom date will be.

All these movies and TV shows are different in production, setting, and storyline (mostly). Although, all of them have the same ideology; to present the female gaze.

What is a female gaze?

The female gaze is a feminist cinema theory concept that refers to the female viewer’s perspective. In modern usage, the term “female gaze” refers to a female filmmaker’s viewpoint on a film. It differs from a male perspective on the material.

It’s a reaction to feminist cinema scholar Laura Mulvey’s phrase “the male gaze.” It’s not just the gaze of a heterosexual male spectator but also the gaze of the male protagonist and the male filmmaker. The female gaze is a heterosexual female viewer or seeing males as objects of desire.

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Female Gaze and Sex/Life

Without a doubt, kudos to the crew being the gender the show is actually about. In this season, the show has an all-female directors panel. They have a total of six authors, and all of them are female. The Production Designer and Costume Designer are both female department leaders. The show must be written and produced with a female perspective. That is how they achieve the female gaze.

Stacy, the show’s creator, always had it based on a feminine perspective. It’s something I constantly keep in mind while choreographing personal moments, such as foreplay. Because the personal sequences on the series were so vital to the story, series creator Stacy Rukeyser enlisted the aid of intimacy coordinator Casey Hudecki to assist on set throughout those critical moments.

Intimacy directors assist in telling the written tale while also considering and lobbying for the actors’ boundaries and ensuring that everyone will be safe and educated. Having intimacy specialists on hand now assists in general since you have somebody whose purpose is to consider all aspects and provide suggestions.

Anytime you see a female character demanding what she wants, she’s usually the wicked mean girl, or she’s penalized for being passionate. In contrast, guys are celebrated for being rakish and expressing all their impulses. Making a series about a woman who desires sex and seeks emotional and financial fulfillment in engaging in this very natural human way. It is somewhat a ground breaking gesture in and of itself. Sex/Life aims to say that it’s alright for women to confess they have sexual urges, that they’ve had intimate relationships, and that they want extra. Billie and Sasha are both intelligent, Ivy League-educated females who have wealthy life and enjoy sex. Stream it on Netflix.

Final Thoughts

It’s still uncommon to see a drama made by a woman that engages all female filmmakers. A series that has a female closeness coordinator to portray the joy of a sensual female lead. That program would be a hit among geriatric youngsters.

There’s a certain type of pleasure derived from the narrative that’s so terrible it’s hilarious. However, in that area, this series is still in the same boat as shows like Sex and the City. That show hasn’t aged well at all. Of course, the portrayal of women in television series has improved. However, there is still a long way to go for our filmmakers.

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