Sex/Life breaks barriers with its raunchy pregnant romp
Sex/Life season 2 spoilers follow
We've heard it before: some pregnant women's libidos go through the rough while they're creating life.
All those hormones surging can make a lady want to drop her knickers tout-suite but when it comes to pregnant sex on screen it's a different story: the talented, creative minds in the business are only comfortable with portraying pregnant women in one of two (limiting) lights.
Either they are glowing, ethereal, precious beings bringing forth a natural miracle or they are emotional, erratic, flatulating mummies-to-be whose raging hormones must be tamed. Think Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) during her pregnancy in Friends and you've got it.
Sex is rarely even on the table, and reserved only for the first trimester – when the inconvenience of the baby-bump is not an issue – or the last trimester when you just need to get that darned baby out.
Again think Rachel.
The scene in which she tries to seduce Ross (David Schwimmer) really sums things up.
"Think of me like a ketchup bottle," she urges, "sometimes you have to bang on the end of it just to get something to come out." Uhh…not the kind of 'bang' you want to be thinking about during sex but okay.
She follows up with: "That's not sexy," and no. It's not.
Here she is folks, the unsexy pregnant woman agonising over her late labour.
We get it, Friends is a comedy. The mediums are completely different but this is the overriding narrative for a pregnant woman and it's time to flip reverse-cowgirl it.
Women are multifaceted, three dimensional, complicated beings. They can be glowing and irritable, hormonal and exhausted and yet still be sexy.
Sex/Life's steamy pregnant sex scene is evidence of it.
Gigi (Wallis Day) may be doubting Brad's affections for her but if there's one thing she's certain about its her femme-fatale sexual prowess.
"Are you sure [you want to spend the rest of your life with me]?" she asks Brad (Adam Demos), "because I know a way to make sure. To make sure that I am the only woman on your mind."
It's a bold statement made bolder by her sultry tone. Her confidence in eclipsing Billie (Sarah Shahi) by way of sex is utterly convincing.
Billie, who wouldn't have to support a bump with her hand while bumping and grinding, who needn't persevere through heartburn and the very real presence of a foot in the rib.
It is the boldest statement but it shouldn't be, because pregnant women can be sexy too.
That side of a woman during this special time in her life shouldn't be pushed out of mainstream media. It should be folded in, as mundane and everyday as the missionary position.
Gigi taking Brad's hand and manoeuvring his fingers underneath her burgeoning belly is a moment that should go down in television history, because when was the last time you saw that?
He thrusts his fingers, lifting her stomach a little in the motion, and there is something about the unabashed way in which the scene unfolds that dares you to have a problem with it. It dares you not to find it just as titillating as you would any other sex scene that the show has laid before you up until now.
Her breast moving in a circular motion with her tummy as she gyrates on top of Brad is making a point, and that is that pregnant women are still women. Still capable of desire and being desired, still sexy and still deserving of sex. Not pity sex. Not close-your-eyes and fantasise the belly away sex. Real, in the moment, electrifying, pleasurable sex.
Gigi and Brad's tandem groans of ecstasy along with his entranced gaze and wandering hands only underscore this point.
They seal the deal with a kiss and spoon. His hands don't shy away from her pregnant body as she demands that he never see Billie again.
That's it, back to stark reality but in that one racy moment, while her linea nigra glowed underneath the sensuously dimmed, soft light, she really was the only woman on his mind.
All episode of Sex/Life are available to stream now on Netflix.
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