Sex, Feminism and Romance: What Muslim Women Can Learn from Netflix’s Bridgerton

Bridgerton is a Modern Feminist Critique of the Past

We’ve all seen or heard about ‘Bridgerton’ — the Netflix regency style romance TV show which is an adaptation of Julia Quinn’s eight-part book series. “Bridgerton” took the world by surprise with its intense modern spin on a 19th century period drama. Underneath the show’s extravagant portrayal of Victorian aristocratic society is a blade-cutting modern critique of the heavily patriarchal culture of the time. Packed in this household TV series are themes of love, romance and feminism which make us reflect on whether or not today’s society is really different from what it was back then. The prominent theme in this show is the place of women in society and this is evident in the lack of agency displayed by the women characters who are groomed to have only one goal in life; to get married.

Muslim women, especially, can relate to most of the customs displayed in the show. ‘Bridgerton’ is narrated by an anonymous writer who publishes her stories under the pen-name Lady Whistledown. She is a member of the English aristocratic class whose work exposes the hypocrisy and drama behind the society’s love and marriage market scene. Even though her writings seem to be a pain in the neck for the members of this…