Insecure S2 Ep3: The SSL Review
Insecure
This here is my 2nd Insecure SSL Review, and it'll be a quick one - and positive to boot. If you haven't checked out this show yet, it's probably because you don't have HBO, so my suggestion is to get an HBOgo password from your brother-in-law or something. It's the best way to do it. You should really share these things - with at least one other person, I think. And I say that as a person who creates video content. Anyway, check the show out. It's for sure worth a watch.
This, like my first Insecure SSL review, is just one simple scene, but this one will be much more light, airy and orgasm-equality forward. It's an easy one. I'll describe it below and then give a quick take on it.
An SSL Review
As a quick reminder, SSL Reviews are depiction or discussions of female orgasm and/or masturbation and/or the clit. Only those specific things are reviewed - other discussions or depictions of sex or sexuality not within the above confines are for the most part not of interest to me. In these reviews, I critique the realism (for instance, were the physical things happening to that women while she orgasmed things that could realistically cause orgasm for a woman?) and also speak on what the depiction/discussion reflects from and adds to the larger cultural discussion around lady-gasms and female sexuality.
You can see all the SSL TV Reviews HERE (and as always you can find all the movie SSL Reviews HERE).
Season 2 Episode 3: Treacherous Batteries
Vibrators need batteries. Well, no. They don't all. In fact, I feel like a person's bedside ol' trusty should be a plug in. I just think it's unnecessary to ever worry that your vibrator is going to run out of juice. We have enough worries in our lives, a slowing vibe right when you're about to pop off should not be one. And that brings me to the scene in question.
Issa is laying on her back in bed. Her covers are up so that we don't see any of the goods or even where her hands are specifically. What we do see is that she has a vibrator, and it seems she's using it in her general vulva area. The batteries go dead before she gets to orgasm, and so she's looking all over the house for them. In the end she can't find any.
First, clearly a vibe in the vulva area is a realistic way to depict a female masturbating to (hopefully- as long as the batteries hold) orgasm. Clitoral glans stimulation is how females come, just as penile stimulation is how males come. So, this gets a big ol' check in the realism department.
It's also an awesome Orgasm Equality scene in another way though too. Just seeing a woman masturbating - and not in a way that makes her use of masturbation seem pathetic - is good for women and our orgasms. The more we see that other women masturbate in media, the more it normalizes that in our culture. Older women who feel weird about it might grow to feel less weird, and young girls will eventually grow up in a world where it's kind of expected that they experiment with masturbation in their childhood and continue through adulthood, much like we expect of males. That normalization of female masturbation is an essential ingredient in orgasm equality because frankly, we can never expect for women to orgasm to the degree men do in partnered sexual experiences if so many women don't know how to get themselves off when they are alone. Stepping stones.
The Vulva Rating
So, bravo Insecure, you've made a solid contribution to the Orgasm Equality Revolution with this episode. The masturbation is depicted in a way that realistically could get a woman to orgasm, and the way it was depicted, although comedic, was not negative toward masturbation in general. I give this a full 5 out of 5 vulva rating.
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