 by Heather HoganColumns
Video
Currently Recapping
Popular People
|
Lesbian teens voted "Best Couple" by their graduating classNPR's All Things Considered recently aired a segment about two lesbian high school students, Victoria Cruz and Deoine, who were voted best couple by peers in their graduating class in South Bronx. Cruz did the reporting herself, through a local NPR-affiliate program called Radio Rookies. She opens like this:
It's a funny, touching story about how the girls' two-year relationship has survived against the odds, and how they were finally accepted and celebrated by their classmates. Deoine commented:
Stories like Victoria and Deoine's aren't exactly the norm, but they are becoming more common. Part of the reason teenagers are able to embrace their sexuality at a young age is the positive portrayals of lesbian teens on TV. Here are six of our favorite fictional teenage lesbian couples, the ones who helped pave the way for a girl to bring another girl to prom. Jessie and Katie, (Evan Rachel Wood and Mischa Barton) Once and Again, 2002
Jessie and Katie were a lot of firsts for primetime television: the first teenage lesbian couple not to be a one-episode probe into gayness, the first lesbian couple ever to share more than one kiss in an episode, and the first positive portrayal of a teenage lesbian relationship. Plus, every time Katie tells Jessie to just throw away the letter confessing her feelings, and Jessie says, "I can't. I can't throw it away. I want to keep it forever" and then kisses her, I turn into a puddle of sentimental goo. Alex and Marissa (Olivia Wilde and Mischa Barton), The O.C., 2005
Alex and Marissa's relationship may have been a ratings stunt, but up until the episode when Alex went inexplicably beer-can-throwing crazy, there was something really authentic about their portrayal of lesbian teenage love. Marissa's curiosity about Alex led to confusion, but ultimately she embraced her feelings, and verbalized them to both Alex and her mom. One of the best parts of the story arc was that Seth and Ryan treated Marissa and Alex just like every other couple. Paige and Alex (Lauren Collins and Deanna Casaluce), Degrassi: The Next Generation, 2005
After playing fauxmosexuals to get into a VIP party, Paige and Alex find themselves unquestionably attracted to one another. Alex is relaxed about it, but perfectionist Paige fully freaks out. Paige ultimately overcomes her fears when Alex tells her they don't need a label. Like Alex and Marissa, these two get a ridiculous ending, but not before Alex can add an all-time favorite line to the fictional lesbian canon: "Because I love you, you idiot!" Spencer and Ashley, (Gabrielle Christian and Mandy Musgrave), South of Nowhere, 2005
School shootings, dead dads, inherited millions, over-involved ex-boyfriends, even homophobic mothers: Nothing could keep Ashley and Spencer apart. Well, that's not true. Plenty of things kept them apart, but they always found their way back to one another. (Sometimes it involved literally nothing but a raincoat.) Spencer and Ashley's friends treat them like any other legitimate couple, and even Mama Carlin comes around to loving Ashley in the end. Kim and Sugar (Olivia Hallinan and Lenora Crichlow), Sugar Rush, 2005
Where other shows involving teenage lesbians have kept it chaste, generally speaking, Channel 4's Sugar Rush amped up the sexuality to an entirely different level. Kim sexuality is not about braiding hair or long, tender hugs; Kim's sexuality is about sex. She loves her best friend, Sugar, but she also openly lusts after her. The portrayal of their relationship is probably the most honest looks at at the actual sex part of lesbian teenage sexuality on TV to date. Naomi and Emily (Lily Loveless and Kathryn Prescott), Skins, 2009
When Emily falls in love with Naomi, she is ready to steer the relationship full speed ahead. It takes Naomi nearly an entire season to finally come to grips with her own sapphic leanings, even though she slept with Emily more than once. Emily's coming out scene is my favorite ever on television. Over dinner she tells her family, "I've been making love to a girl [...] Her name's Naomi, she's rather beautiful, so I was nailing her." Emily's best guy friend treats it as just another piece of ordinary information gained on an ordinary day: "That's fine. Shall we get a taxi?" After a season of fear and misunderstanding, Emily and Naomi are finally able to confess their feelings openly to one another — even though it involves a twin brawl at a school ball. What do you think of Victoria Cruz and Deoine's story on NPR? Do you think the positive portrayals of fictional teenage lesbian couples has made a difference in society's acceptance of real life teenage gay couples? And, of course, which teenage lesbian couple is your favorite? Submitted by on June 29, 2009 - 5:00pm. |
Recent blog posts
New forum topicsActive TopicsNew Comments
|
Welcome to AfterEllen.com!
- Login
- Join Now!
News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Yay!
That is so cool.
That is so cool. At Dover High School where I graduated from in New Hampshire, a year or so before I started there a lesbian couple was voted cutest couple or something in the year book. The WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) even protested it outside our school. I still regret not being there to counter-protest...
Love this article.. I've seen half of these and now I want to watch the others. This is why I love places like Surf the Television... free shows!!
"There would be no black and white, the world would just treat my wife right. We could walk down in Mississippi, and no one would look at us twice. That's my dreamworld." - Dreamworld by Robin Thicke
Hey to a fellow DHS alumni
Agree...
LGBT characters portrayed on television definetely influences the masses.. Whether we like it or not it does. It is important when teenage, adults gay couples are presented, it helps the masses embrace in some sort of way, homosexuality. Although there is a lot job yet to do... And sadly a lot to overcome.
"It is easier to disintegrate an atom than human stupidity"-A. Einstein
I had my prom on friday....
So cute.
Love it
Naomi and Emily are by far
Brave New World
So proud of all of you teenagers who are out and proud. As the 40 year anniversary of Stonewall was just celebrated this past weekend, it's comforting to know that it was not all in vain.
Now if we could just get the legal voting age public to get on the bus!
Nancylee
Do what you love, with those you love.
http://www.3waytv.tv/
http://www.inthelandofcocktails.com/
A) That's really cool about
A) That's really cool about the two girls and yearbook thingy
B) My favorite couple BY FAR is Emily and Naomi. I thought it was really really really wonderfully acted, the writing was ridiculously good, both Kathryn Prescott and Lily Loveless have yet to reach 20, which makes them all the more relatable. And I felt that the story was told with such tenderness and honesty, and GAH I CANNOT WAIT FOR SEASON FOUR. I FREAKING LOVE SKINS.
Agreed!
i heard about that on trevorspace :]
Hollywood lesbians
No wonder the religious right is afraid that gays are indoctrinating our youth... Look at all of those photos - those aren't cute young lesbian couples, those are teenage boy fantasies. This doesn't send the message that it's okay to be gay, this sends the message that it's fashionable to be gay.
I went to a pride parade this weekend and out of thousands of young women I saw, perhaps a dozen of them looked like this (although they quite possibly could have been straight girls, just out to show their support).
My point is not to say that there's no such thing as a Lipstick Lesbian, but that Hollywood isn't doing you any favors by portraying lesbian couples like this... This is just as degrading as saying that two women having sex on camera is porn geared towards lesbians.
hmmm
hmmmm...yea a little affended by this. have you watched any of those storylines? yea..no. so, ive watch every one except sugar rush andthey all do the oposite of what your saying. it shows that its ok to be lesbian, and these shows are how i learned that. started with degrassi, then south of nowhere, then i watched the OC storyline, watched once and again online, then skins. and at the start of all this, i thought no gay is a sin...a few years later im honest with myself about who i am and im ok with who i am. and some of these storylines have made my friends more accepting of lesbians in general and even my parents dont flip when they see two girls kissing on tv now.
then umm hello? these girls are pretty gorgeous but i see pretty girls everywhere i go, yea i sang that last part. but no seriously there are a lot of cute lesbians out there, your making it sound like we are all hideous. lipstick lesbian or butch lesbian there are all gorgeous. and honestly some of my guy friends watched these shows and werelike ooo theyre hot, but then after watching their storyline for a little bit they are more open and they watched the show to see their relationship develope not to see hot girls make out. and pleasee... all these shows except skins and sugar rush were pretty conservative about the display of affection. they did it to a point where lesbians could be happy and satisfied with but also straight people wouldnt be scared away.
you get what im saying?
Yeah, uh...
I agree with Nikki, these tv shows definitly help us with visibility and the fact that you seem to find it wrong that they look like this is a bit weird. Besides, people in tv/movies are pretty much always gorgeous anyway, gay or straight, I mean, super muscular 24 year old men play teenage boys all the time...
These storylines are not about what the girls look like, come on! We should celebrate the small victories instead of over-analyzing them all the time. They deliver a positive and often realistic message about teenage lesbians as something normal and even beautiful, to me that's pretty awesome.
So yay for that.
Le sigh!
I hate when people begin commenting on things they have absolutely no knowledge of. You obviously hadn't watched a single one of these storylines and I have. The ony relationship I would describe as "stylish" was the way Marissa and Alex's ended. It was a rating stunt sadly but every other couple were genuine potrayals of teen love.
"those aren't cute young lesbian couples, those are teenage boy fantasies."
Just... wrong. Season three of South of Nowhere adressed this in a scene where a male student harrassed Spencer. He wasnted to know if she "still liked girls" and if she "did videos." He was put in his place by none other than another character on the show. During this scene, Spencer clearly showed that she thought his implications and behavior were sexist and that her sexuality does not serve the purpose to fulfill his fantasies.
The same can be said about Palex and Emily/Naomi. Both Emily and Naomi are unflattered by the sexual comments made about their sexuality. Alex refuses to allow Jay to insult Paige during Lexicon of Love when he makes some remark about Alex being experimental and having fun with him.
Sugar Rush poked fun of how men fantasize about women in it's first season and Kim is always shown to be frustrated by unwelcome male attention, directed at herself, Sugar or season two girlfriend Saint.
Jessie and Katie never had to deal with that.
"I went to a pride parade this weekend and out of thousands of young women I saw, perhaps a dozen of them looked like this (although they quite possibly could have been straight girls, just out to show their support)."
Honestly this attitude about what gay women are supposed to look at is just frustrating. I don't have the time or energy to adress this really.
*snaps for the kids*
Get it! LOL
You said everything I have said and I'm to continue (briefly) where you have left off.
I find it off putting that for some reason lesbians like myself who are lipstick are not taken seriously. I feel some of the stigma is due to the fact that lesbians that are seen participating in "heterosexual grooming practices to attract men" should not exist when you are a lesbian; hence the "mannish hairy lesbian" stereotype. The fact that they way we look still creates some unwanted male-attention, is shown (in other stupid shows) that we still want men, that's why "lesbians" in those stupid shows (not the ones mentioned) sleep with men, pregnant, or dead.
Whoever posted this just
Whoever posted this just joined several hours ago. And it says the person is straight. So either it's a striaght lurker who has an issue with feminine lesbians and wasted their first post on this issue, or it's a member of AE and has an issue with lipsticks in hollywood.
I personally find it amazing that lipstick lesbians are getting this much exposure.. Ever watch Family Guy? Lol, lipstick lesbians are like a myth almost in the straight world.
Not even my closest friends believe I'm gay. They're all guys, so they're idiots on the subject to begin with, but they can't understand why a dress and stilleto wearing female could ever like just girls. I can't even walk into gay bars and be taken seriously... I for one am loving this lipstick representation. I enjoy when the minority gets attention
"There would be no black and white, the world would just treat my wife right. We could walk down in Mississippi, and no one would look at us twice. That's my dreamworld." - Dreamworld by Robin Thicke
ok...
Have you watched any of those storylines? They are SO not saying it's fashionable to be gay, most of them are saying HEY PEOPLE ARE GAY? Seriously, have you watched ANY of these shows?
and portraying lesbian couples like what?
And who cares if there were a dozen of "straight looking girls".
I was driving home from
I was driving home from work when I heard this on NPR. It was a wonderful surprise! I especially loved that NPR had one of the girls do the report in an amateur, but excellent, report.
However, I was sad to hear that one of the girls doesn't dare come out to her grandmother, who refuses to accept differences in others. It's so horrible how families can hold us back, even if we are so free in other areas of our life...
Happened at a school nearby
Fantastic news...
Fantastic news for Victoria and Deoine. I really do believe that exposure of gay characters on tv helps young people come out. I'm a huge fan of Skins (so obviously Naomi & Emily are my favourite couple) and i know that many young girls came to terms with their sexuality because of Naomi & Emily's storyline. It's fantastic and may i also add:
BRING ON SKINS SERIES 4!!!!
I'd love to give my Kudos to Sugar Rush too, i just love the show and i only wish they'd bring it back for a third series to resolve the cliffhanger!!!
Hell yeah!!!!!!!!
Of course that the positive portrayals of fictional teenage lesbian couples has made a difference in society's acceptance of real life teenage gay couples, ´cause you know, fiction never gets so high as real life ;) it would be so nice if exists more about it but that is just a whishful thinking but I keep dreaming =D
This article just remind me all the good stuff that I lived thanks to those shows, my first one was Once and Again, and Jessie and Katie quickly become my favourite pair, after that, Spashley shows up with refreshing style and bring a story whith you can related it but the ultimate pair that takes all the glory, clasps and everything is NAOMILY, THE BEST COUPLE EVER Everyone loves Emily or Naomi as individuals and as a couple, Lily Loveless and Kathryn Prescott (specially her) have done a great job with their characters and that´s one of the reasons why Skins 3 has so many followers... Pretty nice and cute this article and hopefully, we will get an interview from our favourite couple, the bristish one lol NAOMILY it is a doubt about it lol
Naomily <3
Naomi & Emily are by far the best couple!! It was such a well acted and well written storyline and so realistic and honest. I could definitely relate to it.
Plus Lily Loveless & Kathryn Prescott are amazing actresses and not bad on the eyes either ;) They're beautiful! I can't wait for series 4 of Skins!!
But I have to give my props to Sugar Rush and SON. They were two of the first shows I started watching about lesbians. They both started airing when I was 15 and figuring out my sexuality and they actually helped me quite a bit. Sugar Rush being about british teenagers was the one I could definitely relate to being a brit teen myself. I wish it wouldn't have got cancelled!
I think it's cute about that lesbian couple getting voted best couple, more things like that should happen in schools.
I am always thrilled to
I am always thrilled to hear about my generation being open minded to same sex relationships, it gives me hope for the future.
As for same sex relationship storylines in the media are at times rating stunts, not all are, and those are the ones that I support and shed a good light on the lesbian portrayals.
I loved SpAshley, their relationship definitely had some rough spots though, lol. Degrassi's Paige and Alex was just not well thought out at all could've gone a lot better just given the work. I don't think it was a ratings stunt cause you saw just as much screen time as Marco and his various counterparts. Kim and Sugar was from Sugar Rush,I loved cause it is hilarious and was quiet similar to my own story.
Fave Teenage Lesbians>>
Hands down Vivian and Aster from 'Anyone But Me.'
Writing: Brilliant
Directing: Brilliant
Cinematography: Brilliant
Acting: Beyond Brilliant
All around a phenomenal show and I cannot wait for season 1 to become available on DVD.
Naomily
Aw Victoria and Deoine's story is such a cute one! I would love to see that happen more often. A few months ago I would have said my favorite teenage lesbian couple was Spashley but that was before I saw Skins. Naomily is quite possibly taking their place now that I've seen the show. Of course it doesn't hurt that I have a small crush on Lily Loveless. Palex was cool too but I never really got into their story.
--------
"Great. Not only do I feel creepy but now I look like I'm 1,000 and that I've been smoking meth all my life." -Sara Quin
A lesbian couple was
A lesbian couple was voted " Best Couple" in my high school! There was a really cute pic of them holding each other too in the yearbook! It was sweet :)
Awwesome!!!
I think it is great that they were voted best couple. Good for them. I am glad to know that there are high schools out there that can be accepting of LGBT people. Yay!
My favorite TV lesbian teen couple is definitely Alex and Paige. Although there relationship can be tumultuous at times, they really love each other. I also like that Paige is still unsure about her sexual orientation, and may even lean towards heterosexuality, but knows that no matter what she may turn out to be, she really wants to be with Alex. Maybe I just like that because I can relate to those feelings. I think your awesommmme Paige. You're my hero!
I loved watching Sugar
I loved watching Sugar Rush!! I think Kim represented alot if not all but most of us girlies who fall in love with their best friend, not only mentally but sexually too. I think it's great that more young teenage couples are being put forward to the media, espically when there teenage lesbians we can relate to!!
Hmm has it made a difference? I would love to think so! Well for me watching movies/ tv shows, that showed young lesbian couples helped me understand and maybe come to terms with my feelings and sexuality. Tv shows like Skins and Sugar Rush help us not only realise our sexuality but help us understand that it's okay to like girls. It also helps us deal with the fact that maybe it won't be accpeted all the time but as long as we know who we are then ir doesn't really matter who accepts it or not.
I know shows like this helped me come to terms with what it meant to be a lesbian..And set me on the right path in finding out who I was/am..If you haven't seen or heard of Sugar Rush you should look it up, I highly recommend it if your at lost to who you are!!!
My favourite..
My fav couple was Kim + Saint, they were super cute <3
Also, i love Emily + Naomi, they are by the far best couple on skins and i can totally relate to their storyline. God, i love skins :)
Sugar Rush
prom.
senior year, i asked my girlfriend to prom.
she said "no," because she wasn't out to her parents.
the entire school knew and all of our friends voted us for "couple that is most like ross and rachel" - because we broke up and got back together several times.
we must have won, because they ended up not putting that one in the superlatives.
i don't know...
it's really good to hear that things are starting to be different.
<3 maddy boom.
"incite a revolution then go work on my tan."
i think its really
Saint Rush
Kim & Sugar= Wrong x.x
kim&saint = SOOO CUTE *.*
What a feel-good story :)
Adorable!
SKINS!!!
I'm so taken by this show, now. It's the actors, I guess. They have really a great and talented cast.
Why I vote for Emily and Naomi:
1. A "I'll miss you" coming from Emily can change Naomi's lesbian fear in to lesbian lust.
2. Emily's coming out to her parents is gold. "She's rather beautiful. So, I'm nailing her"
3. Emily is pushy in all the right situations to get, still scared-by-her-feelings-Naomi to have sex with her on a lake.
I don't know, I think "Skins" is just beautiful written (even though they made Emily have sex with a guy, because she was so sad when Naomi rejected her, again). And most importantly beautiful and convincing played by the entire cast. I wonder if England is the source of talent, lately.
Sugar rush!
Spashley
Spencer is just too cute :) Plus, this show changed my life. I like the Jessie and Katie story too.
Anyway, the yearbook thing is pretty awesome.
Spashley!
South of Nowhere and Skins
SUGAR RUSH!!
lol i absolutely loove the girls from sugar rush =]]
the girls are DEFINITELY cute and the show is super funny and quirky with just enough love and drama <3
im glad they made it on here
Re-think
SPASHLEY <3
SPASHLEY <3
! I luv it - I luv it - I luv it !
Naomi/Emily AND Kim/Sugar
I can't make a choice, for me it's Naomi/Emily AND Kim/Sugar .. definitely
Naomily : so cute !!
Sugar Rush was a great TV show, very funny and very smart.
I'm thrilled to see that...
...this couple got chosen among their classmates, it give us all a little bit of hope that things are getting better, even though this process is slow, it's happening.
If I had to choose one couple, Spashley, I miss them so.
wow
I just read that and, I don't know just the fact that two gay teenagers in love can be accepted and to the point of becoming the "Best Couple" is amazing. It just makes me so happy that there are young people in this world that understand and accept gays and even honor them.
and spashley is toatally my choice. but sugar rush does give them a run for there money.
and i would choose malex but the fact that it was simply a rating stunt and the way they played out alex in that storyline really dissapoints me.
Interesting topic
the prom
I would have taken my high school sweetheart to our prom... if her father hadn't been a damn chaperone !! We were (secretly) voted Cutest Queer Couple 1980 !
We've come SO far since then! You go grrrls !!!
spashley
i miss spashley
that show helped me so much.