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Glee season 2
V scattered reactions to Glee season 2…
IT’S BRITNEY BITCH. W00T!
Yay girls kissing! WIN! Much as Artie/Brittany was pretty cute, this is so much better.
Ack poor Kurt. :( I really feel for him.
Hello Mr Criss! I’ve never seen AVPM but I have seen you in many gifs! You seem cool.
“You can refuse to be the victim”. I find this annoying. Sorry, Blaine. “Confront him, call him out… I ran away, I didn’t stand up.” I just. Okay, “you can refuse to be the victim”, “survivor, not victim”, this kind of rhetoric can be empowering for people and really help them. I’m not criticising that at all. And I get the whole heartwarming-tale-of-empowered-kids-fighting-bullies thing. But I have so many problems with this kind of stuff, especially when it’s about how members of oppressed minorities can stand up and be strong against the oppressive, vastly-outnumbering majority.
1. There is nothing wrong with being a victim. Okay, obviously being a victim sucks, but the idea that being victimised inherently makes you weak, or unheroic, or pathetic, that it’s somehow a failure to be victimised by those who use their power against you? Fuck that.
2. There is NOTHING WRONG with running away. Standing up is brave and heroic and we need people to do it; I like to think I’ve done a little of it myself and I’m so glad I did. But choosing to survive, choosing to get out, choosing to focus on making yourself safe? There is nothing wrong with that. I just. I don’t have a problem with it eating at Blaine or him feeling like it maybe means he’s a coward but I wish the show didn’t frame it as him needing to redeem it in some way. Practicing self-care is part of the revolution, people.
3. This could go under 1 or 2, but: speaking as a serial confronter and caller-out (if not with my family…) I just. Again, confronting and calling out is often brave and awesome and what needs to happen to continue the fight for equality. It’s not a moral failing to not do it. It’s okay to not have the energy or the nerve, it’s okay to be exhausted or sick of being on the defensive or just not want the fight. Again: running away from people and places that are unsafe without confronting anyone, and going somewhere to be openly and happily yourself? Good choice! That is fine! Self-care is part of the revolution etc etc.
I don’t want to seem like I don’t admire the confronters and the speak-uppers, because I do. But I think this kind of anti-victim rhetoric is bollocks, and I think the demand on queer people that we must inherently be activists is kind of horrible. Aside from the “living well is activism” thing, activism of that kind is really tiring and hard. No one should be forced to sign up for it because of the way they were born. (See also: coming out, and why it is awesome but not for everyone and we need to not judge people for making the decision to stay in the closet, because that’s a decision that pretty invariably comes out of some kind of fear.)
I am actually sort of tired of the homophobic-bully-is-secretly-gay trope. I’ve seen it quite a bit and like. Some people are just bigots. Idk, I get that it speaks tragically to the self-loathing queer kids are taught and makes your antagonists more interesting, but the classmates who told me that if my gay friend met me at our school, they’d kill him? They were not all gay. Good chance none of them were. This is down to aesthetic tastes more than Opinions About How Homophobia Is Portrayed In Media, but sometimes the ringleaders aren’t acting out deep issues, they are literally just hateful bigots.
This one kind of worked for me, though, because Kurt was so visibly completely freaked out and not into it one bit. And ack, poor Kurt, his first kiss with a boy was that guy grabbing him :(
OMG, the scene with Blaine and Kurt discussing all this gay-politics stuff was SO GREAT. Like, yes, I have been exactly there. I bet they had the big conversation about how they knew and told their coming-out stories and all of that. <3 Baby queers! So cute!
Oh dear Blaine. I totally sympathise, I do, and I outed someone by mistake once when I was seventeen. BUT SERIOUSLY YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THIS SHIT BEFORE GAYING IT UP AT SOMEONE'S WORKPLACE.
Ahahah the party episode. It's such a fanficcy episode, just “let's put the characters in a room and get them drunk”, and I love it. I can tell it's a good high-school-y episode because it made me randomly think of getting naked with this boy when I was like sixteen, whose name was Silas and who made really no impact on my life at all. TEENAGERS WOOT.
And then they performed Blame It On The Alcohol, which is maybe my least favourite song ever. Blurred Lines has nothing on this rape culture anthem.
“Bisexual's a term that gay guys in high school use when they want to hold hands with girls and feel like a normal person for a change!” Wow. FUCK YOU KURT. Seriously fuck you.
Omg Blaine. <3 I love you.
Also, I am feeling a rush of real affection for Glee right now. Seriously, this is much braver than I expect from it. When the conversation started I was groaning to myself and preparing for yet another fucking conversation on TV about attraction to someone who isn't (what you thought was) your preferred gender where THE WORD BISEXUAL IS NEVER USED. Because that happens ALL THE TIME; I'd say the most egregious offender currently on the air is Sherlock but it happens a LOT.
And not only did the word “bisexual” actually pass someone's lips on TV, Blaine defended it and called Kurt on his prejudice! The biphobia within the queer community (being real, the gay and lesbian community) actually got addressed on mainstream television! I was not giving this particular pretty-gay-white-boys love story enough credit, apparently.
...Buuut not brave enough to have an actual bisexual character. Well, I suppose my assumption that Brittany's bi may yet become textual.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stop preaching celibacy! EMMA. LOOK AT THE STATS. TEEN PREGNANCY IS NOT MADE LESS LIKELY BY ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION. Celibacy: good for preventing pregnancy. Celibacy clubs that specifically say NO QUESTIONS: exactly the kind of bollocks that means preaching celibacy doesn't make teenagers less likely to have sex, just less likely to have safe sex.
CONDOMS NOT CELIBACY
Yay Holly! Boo Emma!
DOLTON DOESN'T HAVE SEX ED CLASSES?! MOST SCHOOLS DON'T?!?!??!?!?!? WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AMERICA. THAT IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS DAMAGING THING I'VE EVER HEARD. HOW ARE YOU NOT UP TO YOUR KNEES IN UNWANTED PREGNANCIES AND CHLYMADIA?
OMG Santana cried and Brittany is all I AM CONFUSED. Santana totally has feelings! I am all verklempt. Also: seriously, I really really love having a female character who’s given the woobie treatment. (Apparently by fandom as much as the programme, which gives me deep joy.) Like, she’s mean and snarky and manipulative and then SHE HAS FEELINGS AND LOVE SHE CRIES, ALL IS FORGIVEN. Because there are ~reasons for her being mean, you see, and she just feels like she can’t show those emotions but she loooooves her. Seriously, I’m being a bit snarky but I love it.
*eyeroll* Kurt's dad being all “women are different, they like intimacy” is IC but still annoying. Stop being wrong, Burt. Liking intimacy or sex to whatever degree has nothing to do with gender.
2.18: the way Will looms over Emma and is generally aggressive in that conversation about working on her OCD? No. Nope. NOPE.
Kurt’s As If We Never Said Goodbye was fabulous. FABULOUS.
Jesse is such a fuckhead. STOP TALKING YOU RUIN EVERYTHING. JUST GO AWAY.
HAHAHAHA THIS IS SO 2011 I LOVE IT. Also Puck doing “Friday” is like a beautiful, mad dream. I do really like Puck, much as he’s a dick who slept with his best friend’s girlfriend having deliberately got her drunk. (I’m not clear on how drunk she was, but certainly “have another wine cooler” when a girl says no is not the best indication of respect for good consent.) Still. I really have such a soft spot for him. I love that once he joins Glee he pretty much never shows an ounce of shame. He’s just so confident in his own badassness and refuses to worry the way Finn constantly does about his reputation. Puck <3
Oh Kurt. Poor kid, and the “Kate Middleton eat your heart out” was great. So brave!
Kurt <3 Blaine <3 Rachel <3 Quinn <3 Santana <3 Brittany <3
Also the funeral speech made me cry.
YAY FOR GOOD. I mean I was sort of :( at first because their relationship isn't quite there for me, enough to support that song? But For Good is my favourite love song of all time and the Rachel/Kurt friendship is lovely. That bit that they were never friends before they stopped being in competition for solos was great and I love that they’re still friends now Kurt is back. They do get each other so much :D
Also Rachel choosing her love of her dream was inevitable but still wonderful. LOVE YOU RACHEL.
I know it's a product of the TV format but the fact that they are STILL WRITING THEIR SONGS while in New York makes me want to strangle them. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO WIN BASED ON THIS LEVEL OF EFFORT.
And they didn’t! Huh. Still surprising when Glee does that. Good for them.
Will continue, because my life is empty, apparently.
IT’S BRITNEY BITCH. W00T!
Yay girls kissing! WIN! Much as Artie/Brittany was pretty cute, this is so much better.
Ack poor Kurt. :( I really feel for him.
Hello Mr Criss! I’ve never seen AVPM but I have seen you in many gifs! You seem cool.
“You can refuse to be the victim”. I find this annoying. Sorry, Blaine. “Confront him, call him out… I ran away, I didn’t stand up.” I just. Okay, “you can refuse to be the victim”, “survivor, not victim”, this kind of rhetoric can be empowering for people and really help them. I’m not criticising that at all. And I get the whole heartwarming-tale-of-empowered-kids-fighting-bullies thing. But I have so many problems with this kind of stuff, especially when it’s about how members of oppressed minorities can stand up and be strong against the oppressive, vastly-outnumbering majority.
1. There is nothing wrong with being a victim. Okay, obviously being a victim sucks, but the idea that being victimised inherently makes you weak, or unheroic, or pathetic, that it’s somehow a failure to be victimised by those who use their power against you? Fuck that.
2. There is NOTHING WRONG with running away. Standing up is brave and heroic and we need people to do it; I like to think I’ve done a little of it myself and I’m so glad I did. But choosing to survive, choosing to get out, choosing to focus on making yourself safe? There is nothing wrong with that. I just. I don’t have a problem with it eating at Blaine or him feeling like it maybe means he’s a coward but I wish the show didn’t frame it as him needing to redeem it in some way. Practicing self-care is part of the revolution, people.
3. This could go under 1 or 2, but: speaking as a serial confronter and caller-out (if not with my family…) I just. Again, confronting and calling out is often brave and awesome and what needs to happen to continue the fight for equality. It’s not a moral failing to not do it. It’s okay to not have the energy or the nerve, it’s okay to be exhausted or sick of being on the defensive or just not want the fight. Again: running away from people and places that are unsafe without confronting anyone, and going somewhere to be openly and happily yourself? Good choice! That is fine! Self-care is part of the revolution etc etc.
I don’t want to seem like I don’t admire the confronters and the speak-uppers, because I do. But I think this kind of anti-victim rhetoric is bollocks, and I think the demand on queer people that we must inherently be activists is kind of horrible. Aside from the “living well is activism” thing, activism of that kind is really tiring and hard. No one should be forced to sign up for it because of the way they were born. (See also: coming out, and why it is awesome but not for everyone and we need to not judge people for making the decision to stay in the closet, because that’s a decision that pretty invariably comes out of some kind of fear.)
I am actually sort of tired of the homophobic-bully-is-secretly-gay trope. I’ve seen it quite a bit and like. Some people are just bigots. Idk, I get that it speaks tragically to the self-loathing queer kids are taught and makes your antagonists more interesting, but the classmates who told me that if my gay friend met me at our school, they’d kill him? They were not all gay. Good chance none of them were. This is down to aesthetic tastes more than Opinions About How Homophobia Is Portrayed In Media, but sometimes the ringleaders aren’t acting out deep issues, they are literally just hateful bigots.
This one kind of worked for me, though, because Kurt was so visibly completely freaked out and not into it one bit. And ack, poor Kurt, his first kiss with a boy was that guy grabbing him :(
OMG, the scene with Blaine and Kurt discussing all this gay-politics stuff was SO GREAT. Like, yes, I have been exactly there. I bet they had the big conversation about how they knew and told their coming-out stories and all of that. <3 Baby queers! So cute!
Oh dear Blaine. I totally sympathise, I do, and I outed someone by mistake once when I was seventeen. BUT SERIOUSLY YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THIS SHIT BEFORE GAYING IT UP AT SOMEONE'S WORKPLACE.
Ahahah the party episode. It's such a fanficcy episode, just “let's put the characters in a room and get them drunk”, and I love it. I can tell it's a good high-school-y episode because it made me randomly think of getting naked with this boy when I was like sixteen, whose name was Silas and who made really no impact on my life at all. TEENAGERS WOOT.
And then they performed Blame It On The Alcohol, which is maybe my least favourite song ever. Blurred Lines has nothing on this rape culture anthem.
“Bisexual's a term that gay guys in high school use when they want to hold hands with girls and feel like a normal person for a change!” Wow. FUCK YOU KURT. Seriously fuck you.
Omg Blaine. <3 I love you.
Also, I am feeling a rush of real affection for Glee right now. Seriously, this is much braver than I expect from it. When the conversation started I was groaning to myself and preparing for yet another fucking conversation on TV about attraction to someone who isn't (what you thought was) your preferred gender where THE WORD BISEXUAL IS NEVER USED. Because that happens ALL THE TIME; I'd say the most egregious offender currently on the air is Sherlock but it happens a LOT.
And not only did the word “bisexual” actually pass someone's lips on TV, Blaine defended it and called Kurt on his prejudice! The biphobia within the queer community (being real, the gay and lesbian community) actually got addressed on mainstream television! I was not giving this particular pretty-gay-white-boys love story enough credit, apparently.
...Buuut not brave enough to have an actual bisexual character. Well, I suppose my assumption that Brittany's bi may yet become textual.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stop preaching celibacy! EMMA. LOOK AT THE STATS. TEEN PREGNANCY IS NOT MADE LESS LIKELY BY ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION. Celibacy: good for preventing pregnancy. Celibacy clubs that specifically say NO QUESTIONS: exactly the kind of bollocks that means preaching celibacy doesn't make teenagers less likely to have sex, just less likely to have safe sex.
CONDOMS NOT CELIBACY
Yay Holly! Boo Emma!
DOLTON DOESN'T HAVE SEX ED CLASSES?! MOST SCHOOLS DON'T?!?!??!?!?!? WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AMERICA. THAT IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS DAMAGING THING I'VE EVER HEARD. HOW ARE YOU NOT UP TO YOUR KNEES IN UNWANTED PREGNANCIES AND CHLYMADIA?
OMG Santana cried and Brittany is all I AM CONFUSED. Santana totally has feelings! I am all verklempt. Also: seriously, I really really love having a female character who’s given the woobie treatment. (Apparently by fandom as much as the programme, which gives me deep joy.) Like, she’s mean and snarky and manipulative and then SHE HAS FEELINGS AND LOVE SHE CRIES, ALL IS FORGIVEN. Because there are ~reasons for her being mean, you see, and she just feels like she can’t show those emotions but she loooooves her. Seriously, I’m being a bit snarky but I love it.
*eyeroll* Kurt's dad being all “women are different, they like intimacy” is IC but still annoying. Stop being wrong, Burt. Liking intimacy or sex to whatever degree has nothing to do with gender.
2.18: the way Will looms over Emma and is generally aggressive in that conversation about working on her OCD? No. Nope. NOPE.
Kurt’s As If We Never Said Goodbye was fabulous. FABULOUS.
Jesse is such a fuckhead. STOP TALKING YOU RUIN EVERYTHING. JUST GO AWAY.
HAHAHAHA THIS IS SO 2011 I LOVE IT. Also Puck doing “Friday” is like a beautiful, mad dream. I do really like Puck, much as he’s a dick who slept with his best friend’s girlfriend having deliberately got her drunk. (I’m not clear on how drunk she was, but certainly “have another wine cooler” when a girl says no is not the best indication of respect for good consent.) Still. I really have such a soft spot for him. I love that once he joins Glee he pretty much never shows an ounce of shame. He’s just so confident in his own badassness and refuses to worry the way Finn constantly does about his reputation. Puck <3
Oh Kurt. Poor kid, and the “Kate Middleton eat your heart out” was great. So brave!
Kurt <3 Blaine <3 Rachel <3 Quinn <3 Santana <3 Brittany <3
Also the funeral speech made me cry.
YAY FOR GOOD. I mean I was sort of :( at first because their relationship isn't quite there for me, enough to support that song? But For Good is my favourite love song of all time and the Rachel/Kurt friendship is lovely. That bit that they were never friends before they stopped being in competition for solos was great and I love that they’re still friends now Kurt is back. They do get each other so much :D
Also Rachel choosing her love of her dream was inevitable but still wonderful. LOVE YOU RACHEL.
I know it's a product of the TV format but the fact that they are STILL WRITING THEIR SONGS while in New York makes me want to strangle them. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO WIN BASED ON THIS LEVEL OF EFFORT.
And they didn’t! Huh. Still surprising when Glee does that. Good for them.
Will continue, because my life is empty, apparently.
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Ummmm, we... are?
From a much longer paper:
Despite recent declines, the current level of births to adolescents continues to be much higher in the United States than in most other developed countries. Continued decreases in U.S. rates have only succeeded in moving the country's levels slightly closer to where those of most other developed countries were during the late 1990s.2 (By 2000, the teenage birthrate in the United States had declined to 49 per 1,000, as compared with late-1990s rates of 7-9 in Sweden and France, and 20-31 in Canada and Great Britain.)...
In addition to having a higher adolescent pregnancy rate, the United States has higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adolescents than most other developed countries. The incidence of chlamydia among adolescents in the United States (1,132 cases per 100,000) is nearly twice that in Canada and Sweden (where reporting is relatively complete), five times that in England, and 20 times that in France (two countries where reporting is considered to be less complete, as it is in the United States). The annual incidence of gonorrhea among all U.S. adolescents (572 cases per 100,000) is 10 or more times the level in the other four countries.
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