When it Comes to Teen Sex, MTV's "Awkward" is Anything But

Ashley Rickards and Beau Mirchoff in Awkward

Though countless television shows over the years have highlighted the everyday exploits of sexually-active teenage characters, only a select few of them have ever managed to capture what being a teenager actually feels like. Shows like Gossip Girl and Dawson's Creek may be good, soapy entertainment, but I certainly didn't know anyone who looked, talked, or acted like Blair Waldorf when I went to high school. 

Thankfully, MTV lately seems to be making a conscious effort to trend toward more realism-based programming aimed at younger demographics (contrived reality shows like Jersey Shore aside), at least judging by newer series like The Hard Times of RJ Berger, the now-cancelled Skins, and the network's latest entry Awkward, which follows Jenna (Ashley Rickards), a high school outcast who uses a false rumor that she attempted suicide as the launching pad for attaining higher visibility among her classmates. With each series, the network seems to be doing better and Awkward is by far the best of the bunch.

As in the former two series, the adolescent characters in Awkward talk about sex with a genuine frankness not often seen in shows aimed at teens – a frankness that may not be "P.C.", but that nevertheless approximates the way real young people speak to one another.

Which is why following an Awkward panel at the Television Summer Critics Press Tour in Los Angeles last week, I made sure to catch up with several members of the show's cast to talk to about the show's unflinching attitudes regarding teen sex, and how those attitudes might be reflected in the series going forward.

"I think the most annoying thing is when you watch a teenage show and they want to talk about sex, and so they keep using the word 'sex'," said Brett Davern, who plays popular class president (and potential love interest) Jake Rosati on the show. "And it sticks out like a sore thumb, because it's like clearly the network or ... Standards and Practices won't let them use… slang, or euphemisms, or whatever. And it's so fake, and so not real. I love the fact that our show lets us use slang, and use language that kids use."

Molly Tarlov, who plays full-figured cheerleader and "mean girl" Sadie Saxton, told me that Sadie's discomfort with the very subject of sexuality and her own body is a result of issues she has with her weight (not to mention her secret crush on Matty, played by Beau Mirchoff). This is externalized in Sadie's attempts to exercise a severe level of control over her classmates, even when it comes to things like how much skin they expose.

"She doesn't touch [on] the body [image] thing unless it's a real moment where she comes out and is really honest about it," said Tarlov. "But you know, in the third episode there's some hot tub action, which is much to Sadie's chagrin. So she tries to control everyone else's bodies [and] keep them covered up, because she's embarrassed about her own [body]."

Also featured in this week's episode (the series' third) is a subplot involving the character Lissa, played by actress Greer Grammer (daughter of Kelsey). Playing on an oft-talked about phenomenon in which teen girls preaching abstinence attempt to justify anything "short of" non-vaginal sex as a means to maintain their virginity, the storyline has holier-than-thou Lissa (think Mandy Moore's character in Saved) trying to more intimately connect with boyfriend Jake without going "all the way."

Greer Grammer as Lissa and Molly Tarlov as Sadie

"[Lissa] is not only very Christian, but she's the president of the abstinence club in school," explained Davern. "Which comes into play in this next coming episode, episode three. There's some stuff that goes down at a party between Jake and Lissa where she wants to give Jake a present but keep her virginity."

And no, the show isn't just talking just about oral sex, but anal sex as well. At one point Lissa announces she's going to give up her "behymen" as her way to please her boyfriend, but to stay "pure" at the same time. While the show doesn't huge a sledgehammer to make the point, it's clear that the viewer is supposed to think Lissa is ridiculous to believe she is somehow not having sex that "counts."

While the obvious implications of the scene Davern described could certainly be defined as "edgy" by the standards of network television, as far as series creator/exec-producer Lauren Iungerich is concerned the scenario isn't out of left field when you consider what regular teenagers go through on a daily basis. In fact, the show somewhat mirrors her own sexual awakening as a teenager.

"When I first started having sex… I had sex with somebody because I felt like I had to get it over with," she said. "And afterwards [it] was sort of this like, 'Oh my god, I gave this thing [up]. I'm really vulnerable… I've shared something truly intimate with somebody I don’t even really know.' Not until you're older do you realize what intimacy really is, and it has nothing to do with sex. And that's [Jenna's] journey."

The trap that some shows featuring similar female-centric premises have fallen into in the past is to present the male characters as one-dimensional pricks, but Iungerich refused to venture down that well-beaten path, particularly in crafting the Matty character.

"People think Matty's just kind of a cad… [but] he doesn't know what he wants!" she said. "He's a good kid! You know what I mean? It's not like Jenna's not consenting to this relationship. She's consenting. And when she finally asks for what she wants and he's not ready for it, he says 'I understand and I appreciate that ... and I will still be your friend. I'd like to be more, but I can't give you what you want right now.'"

As described by lead actress Rickards, Iungerich didn't just rely on calling up her own past experiences as a young person to make the show authentic, but actually went into the "field" to soak up the experiences of real teens.

"It's sort of an optional message," said Rickards, when I asked her whether she felt there was some overall lesson the show was attempting to convey to its young audience. "Lauren, before she wrote a lot of these scenes, went to a real high school and talked to teenagers to see how they talked, [and] what their different words were."

"The one thing that kids do not want is you talking down to them, or being condescending," said actress Nikki DeLoach, who plays Jenna's young, emotionally immature mother Lacey. "And so she wanted to talk about these issues in a very relatable, genuine way. And I'm sorry, there's not one adult who has not experienced that conversation in high school, of what who's doing, and what who's not doing, you know? And whether you should, or whether you shouldn't. It's awful!"

Indeed, while the scars of adolescence may last forever, many of the same intimacy issues we all experience as teenagers nevertheless continue to plague us into our adult lives.

"It's almost harder for [Jenna] to have the conversation [with Matty] about 'what are we?' than to actually just have sex," said Iungerich. "And I feel like it never stops! … No matter how old you are, that conversation is never comfortable."

Awkward airs on MTV Tuesday nights at 11 PM