right, sigh, so this is the glee post.
okay, probs the last i’ll say about this as i by and large really do watch this show for the music, and i really am not all that invested in the lives of any of the characters, but, just. just, no, this is not how you handle a storyline about a teenage girl being outed as a lesbian in small-town ohio, it’s just not, it’s just SO NOT.
so, here’s a list of everything ETA: NO WAIT IT’S NOT EVERYTHING I HAVE REALIZED THAT I FORGOT THINGS, oh my fucking god, here’s a list of most of what wasn’t okay about yesterday’s ep, and the reasons why it wasn’t okay!
- hi, was that an episode about a girl coming out as a lesbian that didn’t once actually use the word “lesbian”? i mean, correct me if i’m wrong, i only watched the episode the once and i was busy trying to lamaze breathe to calm myself, but i’m preeeeetty sure that was an episode about coming out as a lesbian that didn’t once use the word lesbian. not cool, glee! lesbian is not a dirty word; acting like it is just makes people think it is.
- um. really, with the finn arc? really? instead of “wow, santana, i am incredibly sorry for outing you, i see in the face of the unlikely (but, horrifically enough, not implausible) personal disaster it has wrought for you what an awful thing that was to do,” we get, “hey, santana, i will now use the situation we’re in to FORCE you to spend time with me and do something you’re not comfortable with, after explaining that i pity you and discussing what i think are your motivations for acting the way you do, which i totally don’t have any right to do in any case, but ESPECIALLY NOT IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.” REALLY??? not even one little apology? not even a hint that an apology is required? FOR REAL?
- wow, HOLDING A WEEK LONG LADY LOVE ~EMBRACE YOUR GAY/WE ALL KNOW ANYWAY/YOU’RE GONNA BE OUT AND PROUD WHETHER YOU WANT TO BE OR NOT~ SESSION FOR SOMEONE WHO REPEATEDLY INSISTS THAT SHE IS DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
- especially when they’re singing songs “at” her like she’s in some kind of intense musical intervention or deprogramming or something
- especially when it’s shown to be an activity sanctioned and encouraged by two fully grown paid educators?!!? excuse me? EXCUSE ME?
- and then she ~goes for it~ and ~thanks them for it~ which, actually, would have bothered me less if it had just been candyfloss all the way across the board, i could have dismissed that as glee making something ridiculously light because they’re kinda irresponsible like that sometimes but it’s a high school musical show and i can grit my teeth and let it go, but the thing with the harassment in the hallway and the scene with her grandmother were painfully spot-on, giving the impression that THE REST OF IT IS HOW “GOOD” PEOPLE SHOULD BEHAVE IN THIS SITUATION, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK GLEE, DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THAT THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WATCHING THIS SHOW WHO HAVE NEVER MET AN OUT QUEER PERSON IN THEIR LIFE SEE THIS AS ACCURATE RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
- and then the response to the kind of harassment that, hey, personal experience, you’d definitely get as a queer teenager living in small-town ohio, is to sing “i kissed a girl,” a song that’s been ROUNDLY denounced by the lesbian and bisexual communities, since it takes female sexuality and frames it through the male gaze, sexualizes it, trivializes it, portrays it as some kind of phase and actually WORD FOR WORD describes it as “wrong” and “not what good girls do” WHAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS WHAT THE FUCKING ACTUAL MOTHERFUCKING FUCK.
i think i should also put it out there that what adds insult to injury here is how well the kurt/blaine storyline was handled in this episode; we see these boys in a stable relationship, supporting each other through the assorted rough spots of senior year with the same kind of natural development that’s normally granted only to straight couples. and that’s awesome! but then, on the flipside, there’s santana grinding her hips and singing “it’s no big deal, it’s innocent,” in the direct wake of the kind of vicious verbal abuse that was a HUGE part of kurt’s story arc last season, that was handled with care then and is just blown right off now. and i am not, in ANY way, trying to do that weird fandom thing where it’s about which character is owed more or less or whatever the shit, because fuck that. i’m just wondering why, exactly, storylines about THE SAME TOPIC on THE SAME SHOW—a show that portrays itself as being about acceptance and inclusion, no less—must be so clearly, visibly driven by antiquated gender politics that do far more harm than good.
there. i’m done now. juuuust had to get that off my chest.
