OPINION: Are period dramas ‘too raunchy’? No - Bridgerton is the porn women need!

SPOILER ALERT: There are Bridgerton season 3 spoilers ahead in this article.

Are period dramas “too raunchy” or have they just changed their narrative and stopped being made for the male gaze? 

Throughout history, figuratively and literally women have been told to be there to please men, to tend to their every need in the home, in the bedroom and in life. It is with all of these factors combined that young girls were thought to dream of being the “perfect housewife”...that was until we learned what the patriarchy was.

Bridgerton is a period drama that has challenged the idea of the place of a woman during that time frame, which would have been between 1813 and 1827.

In the show, it is considered to be improper to have a job if you are part of ‘high society’, or just ‘society’ in the world of Bridgerton. Penelope Fetherington, played by Nicola Coughlan, not only stands out as a woman in society to have a job, she stands out as the only person in society to have a job.

Penelope, has the secret identity of Lady Whistledown who hears and spreads all of the gossip of the ‘ton’ through her anonymous newspaper. She is a very popular news source for those high in society who religiously hang on her every word.

Throughout time, women have been represented in a very sexualised way in TV shows and movies. 

When we think of stereotypical male gaze shows and movies such as American Pie, The Inbetweeners and even The Wolf of Wall Street (yes even women love that scene!), they are funny, but let’s be honest, when you’re a teenager watching these you think sex is only for men and as a woman you think the only goal is to please the man. (Thank God for vibrators, am I right ladies!)

In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.

Period dramas such as Bridgerton have challenged that and this season in particular has proven this the most in my opinion and I don’t believe they are “too raunchy”, they are just the porn women need!

Women, unlike men, are not visual, they are emotional, which is why audiobooks and romantic novels are a hit with the ladies. Bridgerton has it all, a love story, steamy scenes without the dramatic gasp when someone touches a woman's leg and it is validating to see women’s needs being put first. 

From season one to now, the show focused on ‘taboo topics’ in today’s society such as female masturbation and female orgasms and it has always created time for the women on our screens to get there first!

Penelope slowly begins to realise her worth and how she deserves to feel love, every inch of her that is. The bond she and Colin share, which goes back to childhood, helps them trust one another and allows them to gain the most out of the experience. 

When women are portrayed for the male gaze, they usually look a particular way, tall, slim, small waist, long legs, luscious locks but they have the curves in the right places. Bridgerton challenges this as Penelope is a “curvier” woman and despite online trolls who said “bigger people don’t deserve intimacy”, Nicola Coughlan, the queen she is, unapologetically challenged this.

During the Dublin Bridgerton premiere last week at the Light House Cinema, Nicola Coughlan, when asked about the importance of body representation in Bridgerton said: “You know, it is hard because I think women with my body type, women with perfect breasts, we do not see ourselves onscreen enough. I am very proud as a member of the perfect-breasts community. I hope you enjoy seeing them.”

We love her even more for that and it highlights how confidence no matter what size or shape you are is sexy. From the carriage scene where Penelope got her bit and Colin didn’t pressure her for more to the anticipated mirror scene to come during the next part of Bridgerton it is empowering. 

Girlies find you a person like Colin, a person willing to make sure you both win, who listens, has patience and doesn’t care if you have size 6 or 26 jeans. 

You deserve a person to kiss your tiny waist or your wobbly stomach but overall someone who grabs (consensually) your gorgeous body, because let me tell you life is too short to spend it with someone who can’t get you to the finish line.