The Office (US) stole the hearts of audiences everywhere, thanks to its larger-than-life characters, including that of it its childlike boss, Michael Scott. The show incorporated many storylines over the course of its eight-year run, many of them on the topic of sex. With such a diverse group of characters, these storylines varied between sex-positive and sex-negative.
The show's writers often used its characters to explore everyday American attitudes towards sex and sexuality. More so, the writers used the characters to also mirror changing attitudes towards sex during the period, both for the good and the bad. The brilliance of The Office is that the writers explored these topics in very humorous ways that audiences could relate to.
10 Sex Positive: Phyllis
Bob Vance, of 'Vance Refrigeration', became one of the most wholesome characters on the show, despite being a minor character. He is portrayed as a loving boyfriend, and later husband, who takes good care of Phyllis financially and emotionally and protects her from the worst of Michael's shenanigans.
Despite Michael's fatphobia and his refusal to date overweight women, Phyllis is, nevertheless, portrayed as a desirable woman, who has a very healthy sex life with Bob, much to the embarrassment of Jim and Pam, who catch the two making love in a restaurant's public restroom.
9 Not: Oscar
"I don't think I can work here anymore. This has been the worst, most backwards day of my life."
The unfortunate circumstance of Oscar's outing as a gay man in the episode titled, 'Gay Witch Hunt', lives in fame as one of the funniest episodes of The Office. Michael does not know how to react to news of Oscar's sexuality and, in true Dwight form, Dwight is incredibly insensitive about the topic.
In a season three episode, Angela has also not been through much character development and is incredibly bigoted towards Oscar, including not wanting to touch him. To prevent Oscar from resigning in this suddenly-hostile environment, Michael tries to forcibly kiss Oscar to prove that he has no issue with gay people.
8 Sex Positive: Michael & Jan
Michael's relationship with Jan is a chaotic and toxic one that brought audiences a lot of laughs at the expense of Michael. The relationship examines how emotional abuse plays out between couples, although it does so in a clever way that makes audiences laugh while feeling sorry for Michael at the same time.
After mocking Phyllis's encounter with a flasher by poking his finger out of his zipper, Michael asks the ladies out to lunch to repair some of the damage. During lunch, he confesses that Jan sometimes forces him to do things sexually that he does not feel comfortable doing. The best part is, the women encourage him that this is not healthy, and he needs to leave Jan since she does not respect sexual consent.
7 Not: Meredith
After a rowdy Christmas party, a drunk Meredith comes into Michael's office and flashes him without saying a word. There is no question that, throughout the series, Michael acts insultingly towards women he does not find attractive. He treats Meredith the same way too.
After she flashes him, he takes a quick photograph, then posts it on the office building's billboard to mock her for having a supposedly unattractive body. Truly, Michael has no concept of consent, and, many times, acts in ways that really should get him fired, and even arrested.
6 Sex Positive: Creed
When the office finds out that Oscar is gay, the usual ignorant suspects act with the expected amount of ignorance. Similarly, the more tolerant colleagues accept this news fully, and without prejudice. Creed, the office's wildcard, reacts to the news with his usual crazy aplomb. Happily, he describes his time during the free love movement of the 60s, where he whiled away time with women, having orgies in the mud.
Discursively, he adds that it is possible that he accidentally had sex with some men during these orgies, because everyone was covered in mud, and it was hard to tell.
5 Not: Meredith Again
Another disaster occurs in the office thanks to Michael's unconventional managerial style. This time, he tells his employees that they have immunity to confess whatever unethical thing that they have done with regards to their work.
The confessions are all tame until Meredith pithily declares that she has sex with a distributor once a month for a company-wide discount. Although Holly, the HR rep, tries to inform the bosses of this, she is shut down and told to her business, because Dunder-Mifflin needs the discount.
4 Sex Positive: Michael & Helene
At Pam's wedding, Michael meets Helene Beesly, Pam's mother. He is depressed about not meeting anyone at the wedding as he anticipated, so he is happy to hook up with Helene. They begin a relationship that leaves Pam furious with Michael for dating her mother.
Although this is a minor storyline, it is a sex-positive one, because it shows a fifty-nine-year-old Helene still with her agency and her sexual prowess as an older woman. When Michael breaks up with her, it is not because of her age, but because he wants someone he can experience important life milestones with - milestones that Helene has already achieved.
3 Not: Todd Packer
Todd Packer, general bully, and inconsiderate jerk taught Michael most of the insensitive things that he says and even believes, including the ever-popular, "that's what she said." Todd calls Michael often to ask him about the women he slept with and to just generally have some good old-fashioned locker room talk with Michael.
For example, he asks Michael "do the carpets match the drapes" when speaking on the phone on corporate time. In a final triumph for Michael, he learns to stand up to Todd, showing his character development in the process.
2 Sex Positive: Angela
Angela starts off the show as a highly conservative woman who judges the other women in the office for even the simplest things. As time goes by, Angela slowly learns that life is much more complex than trying to have a perfect life, free of judgment. Her love affair with Dwight also opens her mind to the possibility that love does not have to be constraining, and sex can be freeing too.
At the end of the series, Angela learns to go with the flow, and she learns many lessons about sex positivity along the way, including accepting her friend, Oscar, as he is.
1 Not: Michael & Jan Again
As the seasons go by, Michael learns to be more tolerant and to be more respectful to others. His employees help him understand what is right and wrong with human interaction, such as when Jim teaches him not to declare his love for Holly because he just met her.
Conversely, in the earlier seasons, Michael does not understand how to approach women. In the case of Jan, he harasses her constantly, refusing to take no for an answer, and embarrassing her with his sexual comments in the office, in front of her employees. The writers do not handle this storyline very well, because Jan ends up with Michael, reinforcing the idea that a woman's no means yes.
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