For a long time, Maggie accepts Street\u2019s terms and conditions, even though they leave her feeling empty; both Maggie and Birdy repeatedly avoid having an honest conversation about their fractured friendship, even though their continued silence does more harm than good; <\/span>Nell allows her relationship to slump into a state of inertia to spare her boyfriend\u2019s heartbreak; <\/span>Amara can\u2019t bring herself to admit to the others that<\/span> her stable, well-paid, \u201cgrown-up\u201d career <\/span>is sucking the life out of her.<\/p>\n The fear of what could happen next, when the cat cannot be stuffed back inside the bag, is paralysing.<\/p>\n But those who are brave enough to ask for what they want, putting their fear of rejection aside in the pursuit of more, can reap the benefits, as Amara\u2019s dating escapades prove.<\/p>\n After giving her number to dishy waiter Rege in episode 3, they head back to Amara\u2019s house and waste no time ripping off one another\u2019s clothes. But while Amara is<\/em> having fun, she knows the secret ingredient that will take their rendezvous to the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cSlow down,\u201d she commands, before instructing Rege to hand over her vibrator, baton-like, with Amara readying herself for the final leg of the relay, the gold in her sights. It\u2019s swift and seamless, the moment passing as quickly as it arrived, but it exudes power and confidence.<\/p>\n Amara doesn\u2019t hesitate. There\u2019s no, \u201cWould it be OK if\u2026?\u201d or \u201cHow about we\u2026?\u201d Her voice doesn\u2019t wobble. The dancer doesn\u2019t dance around the subject, but asks for what she wants, in no uncertain terms, which shouldn\u2019t be a revolutionary act, but it\u2019s impossible not to marvel at her assertiveness.<\/p>\n After growing up on a diet of TV and film that predominately disregarded sexually empowered women, or used their desires as a stick to beat them with, characters such as Amara have a spellbinding quality to them, even as we\u2019re seeing more and more of them on our screens. And with real-world attitudes towards women who take ownership of their sexuality still met with disdain by large swathes of society, both Amara\u2019s understanding of her requirements and<\/em> her ability to express them are vital viewing.<\/p>\n Read more: Everything I Know About Love\u2019s ending explained<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n That scene also invalidates one of the biggest myths about female sexual pleasure that still retains a great deal of power and deprives myriad women of satisfying sex.<\/p>\n In 2021, Cosmopolitan\u2019s orgasm survey<\/a> revealed that 8% of women are most likely to reach climax through vaginal penetration. By contrast, 66% said that clitoral stimulation leads to orgasm.<\/p>\n Not that we didn\u2019t know it already, but Amara is out here doing the Lord\u2019s work.<\/p>\n Amara is also rewarded for asking for what she wants. \u201cF**k, that\u2019s hot,\u201d says Rege in response to her instruction, and on they go. He doesn\u2019t receive it as an affront to his masculinity and, by default, his sexual prowess. It\u2019s not about him, but Amara fulfilling her own needs, and he understands that.<\/p>\n If you fall still for just a second, you\u2019ll probably hear choruses of \u201cYeah, right!\u201d from the many, many women who have dared to do what Amara does and have been chastised for it. Countless women would never dare for that very reason. But whether it chimes with the common reality or not, particularly a decade ago when this story unfolds, it\u2019s invigorating to watch that scene play out so positively.<\/p> Our four protagonists endure their fair share of complications and upset \u2013 Amara is relentlessly fetishised by men on dating apps, such is the reality of existing in the world as a Black woman \u2013 but Everything I Know About Love also celebrates the joy of being a woman, giving Amara the space to spread her wings and pirouette through her youth, sampling the numerous delights on offer.<\/p>\n The hook-up montage in episode 4, when Maggie and Amara whizz through the burgeoning dating app scene, is playful and sexy and casual dating as it should be: \u201cHuman bodies are like countries and you are free to explore the world if that\u2019s what you want.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Off the back of a history of stories which have ignored, misrepresented and brutalised women, with female trauma mined for entertainment, what is, on the surface, just a slice of fun becomes something much more substantial. To be a woman means to shoulder unwarranted leers and remarks from men we pass in the street and encounter online, from those we come across on dating apps, and even from those who are supposed to serve and protect us.<\/p>\n While Amara\u2019s dating adventures might feel far-fetched, boy, are they needed.<\/p>\n Everything I Know About Love is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer<\/a>. <\/b>Check out our\u00a0<\/b>Drama<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with\u00a0our\u00a0<\/b>TV guide<\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n You can\u00a0purchase the book of Everything I Know About Love on Amazon<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/b><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 12:00 am At varying moments in Everything I Know About Love, all four of the central quartet struggle to vocalise their needs because there\u2019s safety and ease in sticking to the script.\u00a0 For a long time, Maggie accepts Street\u2019s terms and conditions, even though they leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16892,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-scaled.jpg",2560,1753,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-300x205.jpg",300,205,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-768x526.jpg",768,526,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-1024x701.jpg",800,548,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-1536x1052.jpg",1536,1052,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/06\/why-this-everything-i-know-about-love-scene-is-so-important-2048x1403.jpg",2048,1403,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 12:00 am At varying moments in Everything I Know About Love, all four of the central quartet struggle to vocalise their needs because there\u2019s safety and ease in sticking to the script.\u00a0 For a long time, Maggie accepts Street\u2019s terms and conditions, even though they leave…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/16891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/24609710-high_res-everything-i-know-about-love-e4ab792.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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