Heartbreak

I've been debating whether or not to write about Tyler Clementi and the other young men that have recently taken their own lives as a result of bullying they each endured for being gay.  On the one hand, it's been covered to death in the mainstream news, and I don't want to be redundant.  On the other hand, though...how can I not write about it?

Bullies make rainbows cry.

First Tingles

I could link to video of the first boy I totally wanted to make out with in 6th grade, as he has become a minor internet sensation, but that would be too embarrassing for words.  Instead, I reveal the first more widely-known man to catch what would become my certifiably boy-crazy eye:

Dance, magic, dance...in my pants

Way To Set an Example, Ya Jerks

When I first heard about the plight of Constance McMillen, I thought it was one of the more ridiculous things I'd ever heard.  Constance, a lesbian teenager, wanted to take her girlfriend to prom, which so incensed her school board that they cancelled the prom.

I may be a decade or so out of high school, but I haven't forgotten that prom was a big deal, whether you loved it or hated it.  It's an iconic part of the American teenage experience, especially in the South, from what I understand (this all went down in Mississippi).  So for educators to cancel it, simply to discriminate against a student, was so far beyond the pale I could hardly believe it was true.

Constance McMillen, the face of EVIL, apparently

Oh, Tyra

Not a great way to encourage this young man to ask adults honest sex questions (which was the point after all), but an excellent way to entertain me. Thank you, Miss Tyra.

...or whatever.

Recently, I discovered that every single episode of the incomparable 90's teen angst-o-rama My So-Called Life is available on Hulu. I didn't watch it the first time around, because I was graduating from high school and obviously too cool to watch a show about sophomores, but watching it now, I'm impressed. Here are real (albeit mostly white) kids in a real school facing real issues.

One episode, called "Pressure" really struck me. Unsurprisingly, it was about sex! The main character, Angela, is totally in love with Jordan Catalano (first and last name always, please) and makes out with him in the boiler room at school every day, but isn't ready to have sex with him. He's pressuring her and she's worried that she's somehow abnormal because she's not into it.

What I found so refreshing was that the show tells kids there are all kinds of 'normal' when it comes to sex and teenagers. There is:

the smart girl with opportunity who wants to wait,

the sexy boy who is unused to girls wanting to wait

the wild girl who screws everyone and likes it

the shy boy that would hop in bed in a second - if he had someone to hop with

the good girl who really only likes her boyfriend because they have great sex

and the sweet boy coming to grips with wanting to sleep with boys.

Unlike the CW, which would have kids believe they're some kind of prude if they don't want to have group sex in the VIP lounge of some NY nightclub, this show lets kids be KIDS, to be dorky and confused and sexy and even ugly. And I think kids today could, like, do with a little dorkification. Or whatever.