Episode 14: Easy A (2010) with Justin Lehmiller
Does the double standard linger for men and women? What exactly is sex positivity? Do people make unfounded assumptions about self-esteem and casual sex? Paul and Eli join forces with Justin Lehmiller (host of the Sex and Psychology Podcast) to discuss Easy A, the teen comedy adaptation of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
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Hosted, produced, and edited by Paul Eastwick and Eli Finkel
Intro
1:00: (Eli) Who are the characters and couples?
2:10: (Paul) 1-minute plot recap
3:20: What is our relationship to this movie?
What the movie gets right
5:55: (Justin) The sexual double standard lives on
Women are judged more harshly than men for having casual sex meta-analysis by Dr. Endendijk
Virginity is a stigmatized status study by Dr. Gesselman
We don’t want partners with too much experience study by Dr. Stewart-Williams
Bullies don’t pay the price for bullying women who like casual sex study by Dr. Pickel
10:35 (Eli) Building up a culture of in-jokes
12:20: (Justin) Aphrodisiacs don’t work
Weak state of the evidence for aphrodisiacs review by Dr. West
14:15: (Paul) Sexual history is unrelated to later relationship outcomes
Association of prior sexual behaviors with relationship satisfaction is tiny study by Dr. Penke
Association of premarital sex with divorce is tiny study by Dr. Heaton
Hyperbolic claims about the downsides of having lots of sex partners blog post by Justin
Misconceptions in the movie
17:30 (Eli) People who have casual sex do not have low self-esteem
The widespread stereotype that women have casual sex because they have low self-esteem study by Dr. Krems
21:30 (Justin) Olive’s sex positive relationship with her parents is not the norm
Parents are often blinded by what their kids are up to blog post by Justin
22:55 (Justin) There are better and worse ways of handling consent and power dynamics
28:15 (Paul) The movie is a stereotype of youth hookup culture
Adolescents commonly have committed relationships review by Dr. Collins
Teens are having less sex these days blog post by Justin
“Are we ok with this?”
31:25: (Justin) The way that this movie engages with the Internet seems quaint now
33:10: (Eli) The movie is not actually edgy or sex positive from a 2024-vantage point
Relationship Quotes!
40:25: (Paul) Olive’s pure confidence at Melody Bostic’s party
41:50: (Eli) Famous rom-coms showed us many grand romantic gestures that haven’t aged well
What do we wish we knew?
44:50: (Paul) How much of women’s wariness of casual sex is due to reputational concerns?
47:15: (Eli) What sexual behaviors do people brag about today vs. the past?
Stars (1–5): All three hosts rate the quality of the movie
Rusbults (1–5): Both hosts rate the accuracy of the movie’s ideas about relationships
Music by Andrew Fraker and Sons
Artwork by Katie Keil