Please May I Take Your T-Shirt Off? The Empathic Gaze: Redefining Consent in British & Irish Young Adult TV Series

In 2017, the #MeToo movement exposed widespread sexual harassment in Hollywood and European cinema, sparking renewed debates about the treatment of women in the industry, both behind the scenes and on-screen. Before #Metoo, female experience and sexuality had gained more attention, with numerous shows portraying women as active subjects with a more uninhibited depiction of their bodies and desires, e.g. Girls (Lena Dunham, 2012-2017), Orange is the New Black ( Jenji Kohan, 2013-2019), Fleabag, (2016-2019, Phoebe Waller-Bridge). These series emphasize women’s agency in navigating heterosexual relationships and patriarchal society. While they touch upon the concept of consent, the term itself rarely takes center stage in sexual encounters or is even mentioned. However, since 2017, there has been a shift toward consent, particularly in young-adult dramedies, redefining it as a stated agreement, not merely the absence of a “no”,  and exploring more equitable sexual relationships. British TV series offer inspiring examples focusing on this topic, with shows like Sex Education (Laurie Nunn, 2019-2023), Normal People  (Lenny Abrahamson & Hattie Macdonald, 2020), and I May Destroy You (Michaela Coel, 2020), which have garnered widespread public and critical acclaim.

While TV series can perpetuate stereotypes, they also reflect the social changes shaping their production context. With an extended format across multiple episodes or seasons, they are well-suited to portray the complexity of (sexual) relationships. It is no coincidence that series after 2017 are increasingly moving beyond the traditional male gaze, which centered on a cisgender, white, able-bodied male character and viewer, and which prioritized ‘masculine’ characteristics, such as courage, strength, and dominance, over traits socially considered as ‘feminine’: care, communication or empathy. More series are seeking to transcend the binary frameworks of patriarchal ideology in favor of more fluid representations. While the concept of the female gaze (Soloway 2022; Brey 2018, 2020), offers a valuable framework to analyze female representation, it still struggles to break away from a binary perspective. This analysis instead advocates for the term “empathic gaze.”

The London Short Film Festival defines the empathic gaze as “concerned with the act of looking, and the inherent power of being seen [and] enacting a common desire to peer beyond the inscrutable and to see ourselves and others with compassion” (LSFF, 2022). This concept better addresses the need for an analytical framework that focuses on characters’ experiences, regardless of their gender, and allows all viewers to connect with this perspective. Changing representations necessitates rethinking traditional audiovisual and narrative codes to facilitate not just different ways of seeing but also feeling and empathizing—echoing Joey Soloway’s notion of the “feeling camera.”

The empathic gaze adopts an approach that allows characters, regardless of gender, to transcend passive objectification and fully emerge as active subjects. It is a conscious gesture and aligns with Eric Macé’s (2007) concept of ‘anti-stereotypes,’ which views stereotypes as material for critical reflection. By making these stereotypes visible, the empathic gaze challenges and destabilizes conventional expectations. Macé distinguishes this from ‘counter-stereotypical images,’ which simply invert traditional representations in a voluntarist manner but risk overlooking the persistence of discrimination.

Sex Education (2019) and Normal People (2020) are two interesting examples of series focusing on consent and using an empathic gaze to promote compassion. The two intimate scenes analyzed in this video essay examine how the camera films bodies erotically to create desire, not through scopophilia (Mulvey, 1975) but by fostering a connection between characters, as well as between characters and viewers. Wheatley (2016, p. 131) argues that through the use of close-ups, there is an “appreciation of the body” that fosters intimacy. Moreover, the camera focuses on the characters’ emotional responses by filming their faces, rather than on the sexual act itself. 

“Consent is conditional; it’s never an absolute yes” as Catherine Le Magueresse (2021) points out. It is thus an active and repetitive gesture that can be verbalized or non-verbal; looking, listening, or being receptive to the other person. This heightened attention to the partner’s experience, where their pleasure is considered as important, if not more so, than individual pleasure, is also reflected in the close-ups of the faces. 

The studied series move away from a patriarchal tradition that assumes sex as following traditional patterns in a mechanical or performative approach. Instead, sex is presented as something that can be slow and interrupted. Additionally, vulnerability is not seen as a loss of power or a threat but the characters’ exposure is rather presented as an opportunity to connect with the other, based on trust and respect. Thus, these series centered on young adults perform what Victoire Tuaillon (2021) calls the “romantic revolution”: a revolution of empathy in relationships and sex.

This audiovisual essay examines heterosexual relationships between male and female characters, acknowledging that gender differences often perpetuate inequality (Illouz, 2019, p. 26). The series discussed feature white heterosexual couples to focus specifically on gender dynamics, though factors such as race, class, or sexual orientation can intersect to produce varied forms of discrimination.

Bibliography

Brey, I. (2018). Sex and the Series. Edition de l’Olivier 

Brey, I. (2020) Le regard féminin: Une révolution à l’écran. Edition de l’Olivier 

Illouz, E. (2019). The End of Love: A Sociology of Negative Relations. Oxford University Press 

Le Magueresse, C. (2021). Les pièges du consentement: Pour une redéfinition pénale du consentement sexuel. Editions iXe

Macé, E. (2007). Des ‘minorités visibles’ aux néo stéréotypes. Journal des anthropologues. special issue, 69-87. https://doi.org/10.4000/jda.2967

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Braudy, L. & Cohen, M.  (Eds). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings (pp. 803-816). Oxford UP

Websites

London Short Film Festival. (2022, January 14). The Empathic Gaze. LSFF website. https://www.shortfilms.org.uk/lsff2022-festival

Soloway, J. (2022, September 11). The Female Gaze [Master class]. Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto. https://www.youtube.com/live/pnBvppooD9I?si=OoFH2QC36M85_5cp

Podcast 

Tuaillon, V. (Executive Producer). (2021). Le Cœur Sur La Table. [Podcast]. Binge Audio. 

TV series 

Abrahamson, L., Bulfin, T., Ferguson, A., Garnett, R., Guiney, E., Lowe, A., Norton, E., Rooney, S., (Executive Producers). (2020). Normal People  [TV series]. Element Pictures & Screen Ireland.

Apatow, J., Dunham, L., Kaplan, B. E., Konner, J., Landress, I. S. (Executive Producers). (2012-2017). Girls [TV series]. Apatow Productions, HBO Entertainment & I Am Jenni Konner Productions

Burley, M. A., Friedman, L., Hess, S., Herrmann, T., Kohan, J., Vinnecour, L., Tannenbaum, N. K. (Executive Producers). (2013-2019). Orange is the New Black [TV series]. Lionsgate Television & Tilted Productions. 

Campbell, J., Nunn, L., Taylor, B. (Executive Producers). (2019-present). Sex Education [TV series]. Eleven Film.

Clarke, P., Coel, M., McLellan, J., Miller, S., Troni, Ro. (Executive Producers). (2020). I May Destroy You (2020).  [TV series]. FALKNA Productions & Various Artists Limited. 

Waller-Bridge, P. Williams, H., Williams, J. (Executive Producers). (2016-2019). Fleabag [TV series]. Two Brothers Pictures.