tfw online platforms save us from the onani desert

If you’ve been quizzical about all this chatter around these new teen shows like Big Mouth, PEN15, and Sex Education, Longreads culture columnist Soraya Roberts has a great and oh-so-quotable take that bluntly ties these shows’ cultural significance together: Teen Girls Finally Get to Touch Themselves.

Here’s the tl;dr…

It’s a myth that is increasingly being confronted by popular culture — Big Mouth on Netflix, Hulu’s PEN15, and even a wink in Bo Burnham’s film Eighth Grade are all normalizing female masturbation at its pubescent source. This is partly down to the less rigid content rules of online platforms, partly to the growing number of women behind the scenes, partly to our collective increased awareness of how women and girls have been ill served by popular culture.

…but okay, important POV on 2019 sexual politics and the role of online platforms aside, you also just gotta read it for this perfect, incredible sentence fragment that refers to a Carly Rae Jepson single specifically but also our personal mood board forever:

“...it lubed up the act of female masturbation with a festive sheen, its confetti orgy at least partially eclipsing Prince’s outdated print fornicator.”

Sally forth with an extra festive sheen today my loves!!