'Sex Edutn's' Eric Effng is spiratn to Nigeria's gays, says activist : Goats and Soda : NPR

Contents:

• ERIC CHOOSG ADAM OVER RAHIM 'SEX EDUTN' UNRTIMAT THE TRMA OF GAY BULLYG
• 'SEX EDUTN' IS EXPLORG GAY SEX WAYS RARELY SEEN ON SCREEN
• 'SEX EDUTN'S' ERIC EFFNG IS SPIRATN TO NIGERIA'S GAYS, SAYS ACTIVIST

ERIC CHOOSG ADAM OVER RAHIM 'SEX EDUTN' UNRTIMAT THE TRMA OF GAY BULLYG

Saleh was particularly moved by scen portrayg Eric Effng (Ncuti Gatwa), a gay Ghanaian-Nigerian character who attends a fay weddg Nigeria. But that do not make hurt any ls that the Netflix show disregard the experienc of thoands of queer people by cidg to have gay character Eric (played by Ncuti Gatwa) choose to date his ex-bully Adam (Connor Swlls) over the man that fairly unndnally loved him, Rahim (Sami Outalbali).

Versn of Queer as Folk 20 years ago has a show so much tried to explore what is like to be a young gay man the Brish equivalent of high school. The show should be praised for tacklg plex topics like Eric's ever-changg relatnship to a relign that he was brought up but shuns him, as well as his exploratns of genr Edutn's first season should also be praised for tacklg the reali of g out gay while still school. Per LGBTQ+ chary Stonewall, 45 percent of lbian, gay and bisexual pupils, and 64 percent of trans on were bullied bee of their sexual orientatn the last year, and ne out of 10 sendary school teachers polled reported that LGBTQ+ pupils had been bullied their school.

'SEX EDUTN' IS EXPLORG GAY SEX WAYS RARELY SEEN ON SCREEN

Chary the Child Md Instute, meanwhile, found that gay teens were four tim more likely to attempt bullyg a part of many young LGBTQ+ stunts' liv, Sex Edutn serv some cred for acknowledgg that Eric was the victim of a mpaign of bullyg by Adam, and yet not lettg Eric ever be seen as purely a then the show ma Eric fall love wh Adam.

Then Season 2, Eric got a relatnship wh the out gay man Rahim, only to leave him at the end of the season to explore a relatnship wh Adam, the man who until that pot had done the utmost to make Eric's life a livg hell. There is a kernel of tth Adam's story of gog om homophobic bully to closeted gay man. Adam's progrsn om homophobe to homosexual may e some anti-gay bulli to qutn exactly why they are physilly and verbally hurtg their classmat, but also pletely unrvalu the ser trma that a staed mpaign of bullyg n do to a many Netflix viewers who have experienced anti-LGBTQ+ bullyg their past, the ia of a gay man embarkg on a relatnship wh this bully is at bt unrealistic, and at worst a horrifyg, re-trmatisg urse, we also have to nce that Sex Edutn is a edy-drama, and so has to have dramatic stak – stak that we get om the plited relatnship between Adam and Eric but did not get om the sweet, lovg relatnship between Eric and Rahim.

However, queer viewers will not fet what Adam did to Eric throughout the earlier n of the show, and Sex Edutn should not should also sp-off showg Rahim's fabulo gay adventur Paris, but that is a discsn for another Edutn Season 3 is released on Netflix on September 17. And ironilly enough, that's primarily down to a lack of tn about sex, or the gay kd, at stigmas and unfound stereotyp dictate that tops are naturally more mascule and often, they're physilly larger too. And that's key, bee much of the stereotypg that revolv around gay sex rol actually om a place of shame.

'SEX EDUTN'S' ERIC EFFNG IS SPIRATN TO NIGERIA'S GAYS, SAYS ACTIVIST

To top is somehow seen to be more manly, and therefore more acceptable, ls "gay" somehow. If he n ph through the ternalized homophobia that's fed his actns for so long, then so n anyone else watchg back 's a msage queer and non-queer people alike n learn a lot om, whether that the form of bottomg for another man or simply embracg your more 'feme' sir, jt like Adam do when he wr that poem or when Eric puts make-up on cred: NetflixOf urse, we now know that Eric and Adam's story don't end happily, not immediately at least. Alix, who’s worked on the show sce the start, spoke to about the pri she felt workg on the scene season three where Anwar (Chaneil Kular), a member of the Untouchabl clique, speaks to a nurse at a sexual health clic about his fears regardg HIV and Aids as a gay teen.