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| Photo: ABC |
My latest pieces for Butlerway, a recap of Scandal's "Vermont Is For Lovers" and "The Gender Gap," a think piece on masculinity and femininity (and what seems to be an obsession with the former) both American and by extension, LGBT culture.
An excerpt from the Scandal recap:
"If you didn’t catch it before, yes, Liv and Fitz have started up yet again, but not before having a good ol’ fashioned shouting match first. Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of their fight; Fitz was pissed Liv didn’t tell him Eli was head of B6:13, and claims she knows everything about him while she’s a dirty ball of secrets to him. She is rightly enraged he shot down a plane she still believes her mother was in, and argues the fact he could something so callous simply because it was an order is proof it’s he, not her, who needs to be protected and saved. In reality, they both need rescuing from each other. They may be in love, but it’s an all-consuming, desperate, blinding type of love, on that obliterates everything and everyone in its path. It’s fitting all this went down in the house Fitz bought in hopes they’d raise children and make jam; it’s a fantasy world, and that’s where they both live whenever they’re together.
'Everything’s Coming Up Mellie,' showed there was still a chance Fitz and Mellie could be a happy couple again, if they worked at it. And Jake, though a bit bland, carries none of Fitz’s secrets (well, besides the whole spying on her thing in the beginning) or manipulativeness, and has shown over and over that he really cares about Olivia and wants to be with her. But Fitz, for whatever reason, isn’t interested in repairing he and Mellie’s relationship; as for Liv, love also means pain, and simply being with a man, out in the open with no restrictions, is too much for her. So though she has one foot out the door, she still tells Fitz “don’t sell the house. Yet.” Just when she thought she was out, they pulled her back in."
And one from "The Gender Gap":
As men, we are socialized to be tough, unemotional, not too sensitive or expressive. Think about all the conversation you’ve had with your friends about video games, sports, movies and whatever the topic du jour was. I’m willing to bet most of the adjectives used were one of the following: “tight,” “a beast” “cool” “off the chain” or “bad ass.” Anything description beyond that is not only suspect, but unacceptable, and likely to earn you side ways glances or the dreaded “pause” or “no homo.” Like most social interaction, these codes aren’t said out loud, but everyone knows how to operate and conduct themselves. This spills over into our choices in music, clothes, hobbies and even our careers. Wanna make something wrong, uncool or forbidden to young boy or teen? Label it as “gay.”
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