Sex, Explained Was a Lot of White Noise and Mansplaining
January 15, 2020As I sat and binge-watched what I thought would be an inclusive, sex-positive, informative series, I realized that Netflix and Janelle Monáe sold me a dream of black kink and birth outside the binary.
Two years ago, Netflix partnered with the news outlet Vox to create the docuseries Explained, which focused on a number of social and cultural issues. After two seasons they decided to release Sex, Explained, a series centered around sexual and reproductive health. So, for five short episodes, I yelled at my television and cursed every scene because if I wanted a bunch of white people telling me about my body alongside cute but weird illustrations like sperm in sunglasses, I’d sit in on my daughter’s health class.