Remember that epic scene in Friends with Benefits when Mila Kunis’ character gives her co-star (Justin Timberlake) explicit directions on how to go down on her?
Can you think of another realistic portrayal of the female orgasm in pop culture? Yup, neither can Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom.
On Sunday, the Jewish actress furiously took to Twitter to express her dismay over the lack of representation of women who need clitoral stimulation to orgasm. “If I see one more TV show/movie where a woman cums easily from penetration without having to touch her clit I don’t know what I’m going to do because I’m on a broadcast network where I can’t show any of that so I can’t necessarily rectify the situation,” the actress tweeted. “But FUCK I’M ANGRY!”
Bloom is right: When it comes to the female orgasm, movies and television have historically excluded clitoral stimulation, which is ridiculous, considering that only 18 percent of women can orgasm from vaginal penetration alone, according to a Kinsey Institute study.
I applaud Bloom for using her platform to call out the media’s warped representation of female sexuality, but the Twitter award of the year goes to someone else: her mother.
Shelli Bloom’s very Jewish response to her daughter’s frustrated series of tweets made me laugh so hard I nearly spit out my coffee. “Is this the little girl I carried?” Mama Bloom tweeted, borrowing a lyric from Fiddler on the Roof.
“I think my mom just… won Twitter?” Rachel Bloom said in an Instagram post.
Yes, Rachel, she certainly did. But let’s get back to the Twitter rant.
Acknowledging that some women can orgasm from penetration alone, Bloom asserted that the majority of women (about 37 percent) need clitoral stimulation. “And even if you cum from your clit rubbing on the person’s body during sex, you never see any of that body adjustment/partner communication in TV/film.”
So though we can't talk about it on #CrazyExGirlfriend, I PROMISE you that every person Rebecca's enjoyed sex with knows about her clit and what gets her off. Same with Valencia. Same with Heather. Same with Paula.
— Rachel Bloom (@Racheldoesstuff) November 25, 2018
While Bloom can’t portray the pleasure she wants to see in the media on her own show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, she promised in all caps that all the people her character sleeps with “knows about her clit and what gets her off.”
“And even though I talk about this subject all the time, I STILL feel upset and inadequate that I can’t orgasm from penetrative sex alone,” Bloom wrote. “I feel like less of a woman and a partner, even now.”
Here’s hoping 2019 is the year of clitoral stimulation in the media… and more tweets from Shelli Bloom.
