Are YA shows too explicit? 'Euphoria' director defends depictions of graphic teen sex

In last week's uncompromising season premiere of HBO's "Euphoria," a 17-year-old trans girl named Jules (Hunter Schafer) encounters a married man (Eric Dane) on a dating app, then meets him at a dingy motel where they have violent sex. 

The scene, which depicts statutory rape and full-frontal nudity, is just one of the many uncomfortable moments featuring teen characters in the new drama, airing Sundays (10 EDT/PDT).

Based on an Israeli series and executive-produced by rapper Drake, it stars former Disney actress Zendaya as a recovering addict navigating modern high school life. Hard drugs, underage drinking, webcam sex and close to 30 penises crop up in the show's first four episodes alone – enough for Zendaya to issue a warning to her young fans on Instagram ahead of the show's premiere, cautioning that some scenes "can be triggering." 

"Euphoria" is hardly the first young-adult-centric series to graphically portray mature subjects. In 2017, Netflix drama "13 Reasons Why" garnered widespread backlash for its disturbing, uninterrupted scene of a teenage girl (Katherine Langford) slicing her wrists and bleeding to death in a bathtub. A recent study by JAMA Psychiatry found that teen suicide rates rose 13% in the months after the premiere of the show, which also depicted rape and a planned mass school shooting in its first two seasons. 

Netflix's high school-set "Sex Education," which premiered in January, similarly drew criticism for its frequent nudity, frank discussions about sex and depictions of masturbation. So too have middle-school comedies "Big Mouth," also on Netflix, and Hulu's "PEN15," albeit to a lesser extent. ("Big Mouth" softens its vulgar content by being animated, while "PEN15" features adult actors playing preteens.)

All of these shows "are clearly marketing the most extreme, explicit behavior and conduct to children and teens," says Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. "As a result, children are led to believe that such extreme conduct is acceptable. ... It is naive to believe that the entertainment children consume cannot have harmful, lasting consequences."

But Augustine Frizzell, who directed "Euphoria's" first episode, argues that the point is to jolt viewers and in turn start conversations between parents and teens about some of the drama's more sensitive subjects.  

"We planned very early on that none of the sex scenes would be sexy, because they're not supposed to glorify what's happening in the show," Frizzell says. For instance, while shooting the rape sequence with Schafer, 20, and Dane, 46, "we decided there would be no slow pans or leering camera – it would all just be very clinical. So the actors knew exactly what they were getting into, and if they ever felt uncomfortable, our (intimacy) coordinator was always on set to keep a lookout for that." 

"Euphoria" also aims to be sex-positive by showing characters using condoms and by representing equal amounts of female and male nudity throughout the first season. 

"I don't like gratuitous nudity, but I also don't shy away from something that feels honest," says Frizzell, calling it "almost a responsibility" to show characters practicing safe sex.

Honesty was crucial to "PEN15" creators Maya Erskine and Sam Zvibleman, who are both in their 30s but co-star as awkward best friends trying to survive middle school. The Hulu comedy, which features a mostly teenage cast, playfully tackles pubescent insecurities around first kisses, periods and female masturbation, which Erskine says she had never seen depicted onscreen before in an authentic, funny way. 

"The only time I've really seen a woman masturbating was in 'Mulholland Drive,' and she's doing it while crying and she's miserable," Erskine says. "(In real life), it was such a joyful experience for me, but also complicated because it was mixed with shame. I didn't know anyone else who did it." 

But by addressing seemingly taboo topics such as masturbation on TV, she believes it can help younger viewers feel less alone. 

After "PEN15" premiered in February, "a lot of girls would reach out and say: 'Thank you. I was doing that too, and no one talked about it,' " Erskine says. "I got closure from putting that out there. The intention was just to be honest about the things I felt ashamed about."

Contributing: Andrea Mandell