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

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

I went through a QaF craze a couple years back. Love them. Actually one of my favorite characters is Emmett. He is so adorable, especially in his relationship with that older guy. And I thought the Justin's musician boyfriend was so romantic (for a while anyway.) Really enjoyed a show with real plots AND hot sexy scenes. Yay!

Oh and re your daughter. Isn't it interesting how young they pick up on the general anti-gay bias? I'm glad you're teaching her to think differently. I've had to work at it with my kids.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

It's one of the reasons I'm so glad that J. and A. live next door to us. (Above and beyond their being generally nice neighbors of course.) Just my kids growing up knowing them, knowing their daughter, and seeing them as completely "oridnary" teaches the necessary lessons quite well.