Like anybody with good taste in Netflix shows, I spent this month counting down to the release of Sex Education Season 2, and proceeded to binge-watch the entire thing in one day once it dropped. It was funny, it was joyful, it was relatable, and it was heart-warming – but (spoiler warning) there’s one storyline that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind since.
In Episode 3, we see the usually bubbly Aimee riding the bus to school. She gives a friendly smile to the man standing behind her in the aisle, before feeling something strange. The man is masturbating – and eventually ejaculates – onto her leg. Aimee panics and announces what’s happening to the crowded bus, but no one says or does a thing. Distressed, she rushes off before it even reaches her stop.
When Aimee gets off the bus, she plays the incident down to her best friend Maeve. Maeve tells her that this is “serious” and needs to be reported, but Aimee brushes it off as “silly” and insists that she’s “fine”. And even when Maeve eventually convinces her to come to the police station, Aimee really does seem fine... until she gets home, and we see her break down alone in her bedroom.
Unfortunately, as discussed in Episode 7, almost every young girl has experienced something similar. In fact, I’m sure most of us have lost count of how many times we’ve been through something like this. Because what happened to Aimee on that bus is, scarily, somewhat considered “the norm”. Is it seen as acceptable? No. But is it seen as unusual? Not hugely.
It’s considered such a standard experience, perhaps, that I don’t think I’ve ever even seen something like this get so much screen-time in a show before. It’s almost like it’s not considered “big” enough. Yet, as school quiz team member Viv points out in Episode 7, two-thirds of girls experience sexual harassment in public spaces before the age of 21. This can be in the form of many things, such as inappropriate comments, groping, or indecent exposure. But we shrug these events off. “It’s just something that happens,” we tell ourselves. “It’s not a big deal.” I’ve heard myself saying those exact words before. Yet it’s events like the one in Sex Education that have made me scared to even leave the house alone.
For the rest of the season, we see Aimee too frightened to board the bus again, opting to take the long walk to school every day instead. But then her fear begins seeping into other parts of her life, too – she starts imagining the face of her assaulter at parties and at school. She withdraws from her mum and boyfriend, and keeps her anxiety to herself. And seeing Aimee experience the same fears that I’ve been through finally made some of my feelings seem valid. Because as I watched, I wasn’t shrugging it off like Aimee did initially. I wanted to fiercely protect her like Maeve did.
I’m painfully familiar with Aimee’s crippling fear of catching public transport alone. I’ve often felt uncomfortable around boys in clubs. I refuse to get taxis on my own. I’m scared to go out alone. The fears started at the age of 12, because that’s the age I first started experiencing persistent catcalling. It made me feel vulnerable and unable to just go about my business freely anymore. When I look back now, it disgusts me. Not only was a minor, but I wasn’t even a teenager. And yet, this behaviour is all too common.
I was most recently assaulted in June, by a drunk man outside a train station, in broad daylight, with parked taxi drivers watching. They all sat there and did nothing. That’s how unbothered they were to watch a huge, visibly wasted man overpowering and putting his hands all over a young, crying girl's body.
I think I’ve only caught the train alone twice since then. I’m scared. Scared like Aimee. And I recognise now that I have a right to be. We need to stop brushing this behaviour under the carpet, and start acknowledging that it’s frightening and unacceptable.
Thankfully, this is acknowledged in Sex Education. In Episode 7, when a group of female characters find themselves in detention, they’re challenged to come up with something they all have in common. This is when we hear each of them sharing similar stories to Aimee’s. Because we all have a story like Aimee’s. In fact, most of us have several. But we shouldn’t.
I want to be able to go out alone without the fear of being shouted at, approached, or touched by strangers. I want every girl, every Aimee, to be able to do that. I’m tired of people making the world feel like an unsafe place for women and girls. This shouldn’t be the norm. I hope to god, one day, it no longer is.
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