Apparently, you need girls for romance--who knew?

[mysid]

Not one to do something halfway when I can go overboard instead, I have of late become completely obsessed with Queer as Folk. I haven't posted anything in ages because all my computer time has been spent either watching episodes or reading fanfic. (Thanks again for the recs, secretsolitaire!)

Brian and Justin are simply the hottest couple to ever grace our television screens. Male on male sex with storylines--in other words, porn for women. Wow.

I was watching a clip on YouTube the other day--something tame as my daughter (age 7) was in the room, and she happened to glance at the computer screen just as Brian kissed Justin.

"Did those two boys just kiss?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Why?"
"They're in love," I said.
"That's creepy." (Creepy is her current word for anything unusual or strange.)

Now, this reaction surprised me, as she's grown up with a lesbian couple next door, is friends with their daughter, and thinks of her friend's moms as just as married and "ordinary" as my husband and I. So I asked her about her reaction pointing out that J. and A. were both women, and she knew that was normal.

"Girls in love with girls is OK, and girls in love with boys is OK, but boys in love with boys is creepy."
"Why?"
"Because to be in love, someone has to be romantic, and boys aren't romantic; girls are romantic."

Huh. Well, I counterd that boys can be romantic, and offered as proof a clip on YouTube of Brian and Justin at Justin's prom. I stopped the clip before the bashing, but not wanting to completely gloss over how bad homophobia can be, I told her in general terms why I was stopping the clip where I did.

The final result, she's still not sold on boy+boy being as sensible as girl+girl or boy+girl, but it's only a little bit "creepy."
.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the prom scene. I'll have to find it. But that seems like a place to start. Interesting insight on the "romance" question. Being open with children about the issues and knowing same sex couples is key for them to grow up with healthy attitudes I think. I have to interject my own favorite child story on the question here. My son was invited at about age 11 to go on a camping trip with a classmate. I hadn't met the parents, so I made arrangements to meet them. I first asked my son what they were like--his answer was "just like you and dad." When I met them, I discovered they were two lesbian women from Texas. His dad and I could not have been more different on the surface, but our attitudes about child-raising and tolerance and intellectual interests were remarkably similar. I was delighted with my son, felt like something about what I had tried to communicate to him had reached him.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

Big hugs to your wonderful son--and to the wonderful parents who raised him so well.

The QaF prom scene is fabulous--which is why I made a link to it in my entry. But here is the URL again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlg-CH19KHw