Riverdale: 5 Times The Show Was Sex Positive (& 5 It Wasn’t)

Slick and provocative, Riverdale took a modern spin on Archie Comics. The show has not been a stranger to sex and teen dramas have always had a complicated relationship with sexuality.

The teen mystery takes up the mantle where The O.C. and Gossip Girl left off. The show does its best to be progressive most of the time. But sometimes, it doesn’t fly.

10 Not Positive: Polly Is Punished For Getting Pregnant

Polly Cooper’s presence on Riverdale was always contingent on her sex life. The circumstances surrounding her started out as mysterious but clearly had something to do with her relationship with Jason Blossom.

Hal and Alice Cooper shipped her away to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy because she was pregnant which started a life of stigma. All the consequences surrounding Polly were because she had sex with Jason Blossom.  Including joining a cult and having a vendetta against her sister.

9 Positive: Archie And Veronica

Archie and Veronica had always been sexual. They had chemistry from their first moments on screen. Their sexual tension was a definitive point of season one, but they couldn’t be together for various reasons.

From then on, Veronica and Archie were inseparable. Even when Archie was thrown in juvie or when Veronica couldn’t say that she loved him, they always had a special connection. Their sexual relationship was never questioned as right or wrong. It just was.

8 Not Positive: The Sticky Maple

One of Riverdale’s first attempts at being progressive was tackling the mistreatment of women. Though the attempt was admirable, the episode failed to stick the landing. Veronica dealt with being slut-shamed on social media by Chuck after a casual date. Betty and Veronica soon discovered there was a black book of conquests kept by the football players where they shamed girls they had and had not been with.

Riverdale had an opportunity to address sexually active teens and what they were really like, but this episode portrayed girls like Ethel Muggs as defenseless and needing to be rescued.

7 Positive: Dark Betty

Dark Betty was a thread often forgotten and not always done tactfully. However, Betty’s dalliance with darkness made some fair points. At times Betty explored her sexuality by donning a black wig and experimenting with her sexuality. Kevin pointed this out best by acknowledging Betty’s exploration of BDSM as widely accepted.

When Betty introduced Jughead to this aspect of her personality, he accepted it with no question. Jughead supported her experimentation without being exploitive.

6 Not Positive: Kevin Is Always Judged

Kevin had a difficult time finding happiness. Though he eventually found a relationship with Southside Serpent, Fangs, Kevin struggled to get there. He had resorted to cruising the woods in Fox Forest because he was desperate to be with someone who wasn’t close-minded.

This was a source of frustration for him. As dangerous it may have been, it was his decision to make. For the most part, he was met with judgment, particularly from Betty. Betty’s intentions were in the right place but Kevin’s search for comfort was always met with discouragement and dismissal.

5 Positive: Betty And Jughead Sleep In The Same Bed

Many things were strange about the Cooper-Jones household. For a time, the Jones Family were the prime residents of Betty’s house after Alice decided to join a cult. But after she returned, Alice and Betty lived with FP, Jughead, and Jellybean as though they were the Brady Bunch.

Issues of stepsiblings dating aside, there was no question that Jughead and Betty would share a room. Jughead took up residence in Betty’s room immediately with no question from their parents. Riverdale supported this shared intimacy as a positive.

4 Not Positive: Alice’s Reaction Towards Birth Control

Alice put up a fight about Betty’s relationship with Jughead. She turned a blind eye to them sharing a room but had issues with Betty trying to be safe. Once Alice found Betty’s birth control, she overreacted and started tightening her grip on her daughter again.

This came from a place of misplaced love but whenever Alice felt like she was losing Betty, she became intolerable and toxic.

3 Positive: The Maple Club

After Clifford Blossom’s death in season one, The Blossom Family went in a different direction. Their front for drug running had been busted and they were hard up for cash. Penelope started a brothel from their home at Thistle House and soon after started The Maple Club.

Penelope never hid her proclivities and even went so far as demanding that Hiram Lodge let her run her brothel in peace. Penelope supported sex work and never gave in to the stigma that surrounded it.

2 Not Positive: Donna Shames Betty 

Donna’s obsession with Betty stemmed from the Stonewall Preppies’ project to kill Jughead. At times, it seemed as though Jughead’s demise was a footnote to her. She harassed Betty and supported the decision for Bret to film Betty and Jughead’s sex life without their knowledge.

Once Betty knew about the tape, Donna shamed Betty for having a sex life.

1 Positive: Betty Didn’t Let The Sex Tape Bother Her

Betty and Jughead’s sex tape was created and circulated without their knowledge. Immediately upon finding out, Jughead became indignant and protective of Betty.

Betty had a casual outlook on it and remained largely unconcerned. This wasn’t the first time she had been on camera after dabbling with being a cam girl in season two. More concerned by the attempt on Jughead’s life, Betty found comfort in taking down the Preppies.

About The Author

Carolyn Jenkins
(109 Articles Published)

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Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King.

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