Jude goes to extreme lengths to learn about gay sex, Callie shows her senior project, Brandon helps, Emma which causes problems with Jesus, and Stef tries to teach Mariana about self-defense.
Having never been through sex-ed myself, I find myself feeling very sympathetic for Jude. When you don't learn about sex, you will go to some weird places to learn about it. Being a bit of a bookworm, I mainly went to the encyclopedia but also watch shows with LGBT characters (such as Queer as Folk) secretly so I could see how two guys "did it". Jude found himself in a similar position. He has no idea how two guys would have sex, so he decides to see what he can find for himself. His idea was definitely more dangerous. Even as an adult, hooking up can be somewhat hazardous. Lying about his age, while understandable, was beyond stupid. He should know that he can talk with Stef and Lena about anything. Granted, they don't have any hands on experience in this particular area, but they might know some gay guys who could sit Jude down and answer any questions he might have. And yes, I know it would have been embarrassing, but better to be embarrassed than assaulted or dead. Sorry, but that apartment building was seriously sketchy and the initial encounter went exactly the way I would have expected. The host is all ready for the visitor. And I will leave it at that.
That being said, LGBTQIA sex ed is definitely needed in school. We give parents to opt their children out of sex ed now, so why not give them the same choice for LGBTQIA sex ed? After all, it is a whole lot better to talk with kids openly about sex than it is to hide it. Talking about it openly doesn't mean that you're advocating for them to have sex, but hiding it makes it the forbidden fruit which is always more tempting for teens. Just give them the facts and answer their questions honestly. I remember when I was teaching religion and we hit the sexual morality portion of the year, I always had a day where I would simply answer questions. I would say "penis" or "vagina" or "breasts" as often as possible so that my students knew that the words were not dirty or anything and to remove some of the stigma or shame surrounding them. I think sex ed should be the same way. Deal with it frankly and in a way that is age/developmentally appropriate. To do otherwise is to tell one groups of students that they don't deserve the same treatment or the same respect as the rest of the students and that is wrong.
Callie's project was seriously powerful. While I understand why Monte wanted the project removed, I am not sure she should have tried. I am pretty torn about it because I do get why it might be bad for the image,particularly after everything that happened with Nick. That being said, taking away one of the senior projects was just not a smart thing. It might have been better to see if there was some way to make it blend in so that it wouldn't have been as noticeable. I don't know how exactly the projects were presented, so I don't know if that would have been feasible. I was surprised that Talia apparently led the boycott given her and Callie's rocky past. It was nice to see, but still somewhat surprising.
Brandon certainly had an eventful week. First he helps Emma get through an abortion, then he messes up at the music therapy, then he has Jesus accuse him of sleeping with Emma. Helping Emma was definitely the right thing to do. Jesus could not handle being a father at this point and I don't see Emma being a single mother in high school. Unfortunately, Jesus misread everything that was going on and thought the secret being kept was that Brandon and Emma were having sex.
The whole "let's teach Mariana self-defense" felt relevant to her, but still felt like a bit of a throwaway. I hope they keep it going to show that it was not something just to give her a story in this episode. I did love her screaming in Stef's ear though. That was funny.
You have to feel for AJ. His brother wants them to live together when he gets out of prison, but Mike wants to adopt him. And to make matters worse, Mike and Ana apparently can't live together while Mike is fostering because Ana has a felony. That sucks.
And then there is Callie's court case. One person refused to settle, so they are going to court. Here's hoping they can get this taken care of and keep Callie out of prison.
Next episode in two weeks. See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment