{"id":1881498,"date":"2026-04-14T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1881498"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:38:00","slug":"euphoria-season-3-is-a-celebration-of-female-degradation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1881498","title":{"rendered":"Euphoria season 3 is a celebration of female degradation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443363.jpeg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/film-tv\/article\/70086\/1\/euphoria-season-3-celebrates-degradation-women-sex-work-fentanyl\" data-article-id=\"70086\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.5\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"chloe-cherry-drug-mule-euphoria\" class=\"img\" height=\"856\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1284\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443363.jpeg\" width=\"1284\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">(TV still)<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-14T11:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"14 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"14\">14,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - film-tv\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\">Film &amp; TV<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\">Film &amp; TV<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Euphoria season 3 is a celebration of <span class=\"nowrap\">female degradation<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>The latest instalment of Sam Levinson\u2019s show seems to revel in the abject sexualisation and humiliation <span class=\"nowrap\">of women<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-14T11:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"14 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"14\">14,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-14T11:38:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"14 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"14\">14,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/JennyJane\">Jenny Jane<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In the first 30 minutes of the new season of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/euphoria\"><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><\/a><span>, which premiered last night, we see the following: women choking as they attempt to swallow lubed-up balls of fentanyl they\u2019re attempting to smuggle across the border from Mexico; women preparing to shit out those balls into colanders once they get to the other side; women with shit trickling down their legs when they don\u2019t make it to those colanders in time; and then, as if this wasn\u2019t enough, a dog licking the shit off their legs (was that really necessary?).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The show\u2019s creator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/sam-levinson\">Sam Levinson<\/a> has faced numerous accusations of misogyny and mistreatment of women. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/55488\/1\/four-euphoria-actresses-discomfort-nudity-sam-levinson-sydney-sweeney\"><span>Four <\/span><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><span> actors<\/span><\/a><span> \u2013 Sydney Sweeney, Chloe Cherry, Martha Kelly and Minka Kelly \u2013 have reportedly asked him to cut nude scenes from the show, with descriptions of those scenes ranging from \u201cunnecessary\u201d (Sweeney) to having a \u201cgross paedophilia vibe\u201d (Martha Kelly). His other series, <\/span><em><span>The Idol<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/58333\/1\/sam-levinsons-the-idol-hit-by-explosive-allegations\"><span>faced similar criticisms<\/span><\/a><span>, drawing comparisons to \u201ctorture porn\u201d and \u201crape fantasy\u201d. And with the new season of <\/span><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><span>, Levinson does nothing to assuage these accusations. In fact, he appears to double down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We see a woman collapse and die of an overdose in an airport after one of those fentanyl balls bursts inside her body, followed by a shot of the remaining balls being sprayed clean of her blood and prepared for distribution. Later on, we see another woman (also young, also dressed in clothes that sexualise her) collapse and choke on her own, frothing yellow bile on a bathroom floor. These gratuitous scenes of drug misuse are hard to digest and even harder when you consider the fate of Angus Cloud \u2013 a star of the previous seasons \u2013 who died in 2023 from a lethal overdose of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, we see Sweeney\u2019s character, Cassie, dressed up as an infantile dog for Instagram, complete with a collar and lead, only to be shamed as a \u201cprostitute\u201d by Jacob Elordi\u2019s Nate in the next frame, and dragged by the lead towards him in the next. \u201cYou\u2019ve been a bad, bad dog,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sex work is a theme in almost every plot line: Hunter Schafer\u2019s character Jules is now a sugar baby, which Alexa Demie\u2019s Maddie says is tantamount to being a \u201chooker\u201d; Cassie is toying with the idea of becoming an OnlyFans performer; Rue meets a pimp who calls himself \u201cthe king of pussy\u201d and considers becoming a pimp herself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s not to mention all the sex workers who appear in scenes in Tijuana, in a strip club, a sex club. These scenes seem to relish in the dehumanising potential of sex work \u2013 and it\u2019s not shot from the position of the sex workers but from the men who are employing (and enjoying) them. The sex workers are not humanised or empathised with; we don\u2019t hear their stories and understand their motivations. They just serve as props \u2013 not even plot devices that aid the narrative of the episode in any way, just as props, aimed only at adding aesthetic appeal and perverse provocation to the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Responding to criticisms about the ways he portrays sex in 2023, he said, <\/span><span>\u201cWe live in a very sexualised world. Especially in the States, the influence of pornography is strong in the psyche of young people. We see this in pop music.\u201d But his work doesn\u2019t critique this; it reflects it, revels in it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But there\u2019s another scene that reveals Levinson\u2019s misogyny in sharpest relief. Maud Apatow\u2019s character Lexi is now working in Hollywood and is seen in a writing room, filled with women and queer people (one, pointedly, with dyed blue hair). The scene seems to mock the group \u2013 and by extension, women or \u201cwoke people\u201d in Hollywood \u2013 without offering anything close to comment, let alone comedy. The implication is simply that they are silly and sanctimonious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I\u2019m not sure if Levinson is aware of his own desire to see women so abjectly degraded in his work \u2013 but for us viewers, it\u2019s abundantly clear. The whole thing is gross \u2013 as hard to stomach as those lubed-up fentanyl balls.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Who is Takashi Miike? An intro to Japanese cinema\u2019s cult provocateur<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In the first 30 minutes of the new season of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/euphoria\"><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><\/a><span>, which premiered last night, we see the following: women choking as they attempt to swallow lubed-up balls of fentanyl they\u2019re attempting to smuggle across the border from Mexico; women preparing to shit out those balls into colanders once they get to the other side; women with shit trickling down their legs when they don\u2019t make it to those colanders in time; and then, as if this wasn\u2019t enough, a dog licking the shit off their legs (was that really necessary?).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The show\u2019s creator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/sam-levinson\">Sam Levinson<\/a> has faced numerous accusations of misogyny and mistreatment of women. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/55488\/1\/four-euphoria-actresses-discomfort-nudity-sam-levinson-sydney-sweeney\"><span>Four <\/span><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><span> actors<\/span><\/a><span> \u2013 Sydney Sweeney, Chloe Cherry, Martha Kelly and Minka Kelly \u2013 have reportedly asked him to cut nude scenes from the show, with descriptions of those scenes ranging from \u201cunnecessary\u201d (Sweeney) to having a \u201cgross paedophilia vibe\u201d (Martha Kelly). His other series, <\/span><em><span>The Idol<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/58333\/1\/sam-levinsons-the-idol-hit-by-explosive-allegations\"><span>faced similar criticisms<\/span><\/a><span>, drawing comparisons to \u201ctorture porn\u201d and \u201crape fantasy\u201d. And with the new season of <\/span><em><span>Euphoria<\/span><\/em><span>, Levinson does nothing to assuage these accusations. In fact, he appears to double down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We see a woman collapse and die of an overdose in an airport after one of those fentanyl balls bursts inside her body, followed by a shot of the remaining balls being sprayed clean of her blood and prepared for distribution. Later on, we see another woman (also young, also dressed in clothes that sexualise her) collapse and choke on her own, frothing yellow bile on a bathroom floor. These gratuitous scenes of drug misuse are hard to digest and even harder when you consider the fate of Angus Cloud \u2013 a star of the previous seasons \u2013 who died in 2023 from a lethal overdose of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere, we see Sweeney\u2019s character, Cassie, dressed up as an infantile dog for Instagram, complete with a collar and lead, only to be shamed as a \u201cprostitute\u201d by Jacob Elordi\u2019s Nate in the next frame, and dragged by the lead towards him in the next. \u201cYou\u2019ve been a bad, bad dog,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sex work is a theme in almost every plot line: Hunter Schafer\u2019s character Jules is now a sugar baby, which Alexa Demie\u2019s Maddie says is tantamount to being a \u201chooker\u201d; Cassie is toying with the idea of becoming an OnlyFans performer; Rue meets a pimp who calls himself \u201cthe king of pussy\u201d and considers becoming a pimp herself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s not to mention all the sex workers who appear in scenes in Tijuana, in a strip club, a sex club. These scenes seem to relish in the dehumanising potential of sex work \u2013 and it\u2019s not shot from the position of the sex workers but from the men who are employing (and enjoying) them. The sex workers are not humanised or empathised with; we don\u2019t hear their stories and understand their motivations. They just serve as props \u2013 not even plot devices that aid the narrative of the episode in any way, just as props, aimed only at adding aesthetic appeal and perverse provocation to the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Responding to criticisms about the ways he portrays sex in 2023, he said, <\/span><span>\u201cWe live in a very sexualised world. Especially in the States, the influence of pornography is strong in the psyche of young people. We see this in pop music.\u201d But his work doesn\u2019t critique this; it reflects it, revels in it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But there\u2019s another scene that reveals Levinson\u2019s misogyny in sharpest relief. Maud Apatow\u2019s character Lexi is now working in Hollywood and is seen in a writing room, filled with women and queer people (one, pointedly, with dyed blue hair). The scene seems to mock the group \u2013 and by extension, women or \u201cwoke people\u201d in Hollywood \u2013 without offering anything close to comment, let alone comedy. The implication is simply that they are silly and sanctimonious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I\u2019m not sure if Levinson is aware of his own desire to see women so abjectly degraded in his work \u2013 but for us viewers, it\u2019s abundantly clear. The whole thing is gross \u2013 as hard to stomach as those lubed-up fentanyl balls.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/70086\/1\/euphoria-season-3-celebrates-degradation-women-sex-work-fentanyl&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443363.jpeg&#8221;] (TV still) April\u00a0 14,\u00a0 2026 Film &amp; TV \/ Opinion Film &amp; TV \/ Opinion Euphoria season 3 is a celebration of female degradation The latest instalment of Sam Levinson\u2019s show seems to revel in the abject sexualisation and humiliation of women April\u00a0 14,\u00a0 2026 April\u00a0 14,\u00a0 2026 TextJenny Jane In the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1881498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1881498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1881498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1881498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1881498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}