From Mrs America to The Great – how bad sex became a staple of feminist drama

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Feminist Auteurs author Professor Geetha Ramanathan adds: “There this real effort to present things in a broader casual context, to diminish sex itself, to demystify it as the most important thing in women’s lives or in people’s lives and to take the sting away from it.” Ita O’Brien is a pioneer in sex on television, having worked on I May Destroy You, Sex Education, Normal People, Gentleman Jack and The Great as a movement director and intimacy coordinator. Professor Ramanathan asserts that Mrs America, The Escape and even Girls are “suggesting that cultural and social coercion – even when self-imposed – means there’s not really full and free consent”. There has to be a broader debate, a broader discussion across women of all ages, of all classes, of all races and all walks of life, over what constitutes consent.” Scott Frank’s The Queen’s Gambit, based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel, offers a huge tonal shift from the melancholy of Normal People and Mrs America, but bad sex still abounds. And I think that’s a pretty powerful message to send.” On The Great’s sex scenes, MacGowan says: “You don’t want any of the women to be a victim in an obvious way.