11 October 2019: When I walked into my ENGL 204 class a few minutes early today, the students were talking about all sorts of things, including TV. “Has anyone seen the new Batwoman?” one girl asked. I said that I had and some people asked about it.
This student—the only English major in the class, someone who is bright, outspoken, the good kind of weird, and unapologetically queer—went on a mini-tear about Ruby Rose. (I mean, right?) Another student across the room—a sociology major who is on the softball team—immediately shared her enthusiasm.
And they sat there, in the minutes before the class started, talking about how hot Ruby Rose is. And not in a “straight girls talking about other pretty women” way. Two women openly talking about their attraction for another woman. Neither student seemed scared or uncomfortable. They were having a blast.
I hadn’t noticed these particular students talking to each other much at all before then. They seem very different: different majors and career plans (one wants to write, one wants to be in law enforcement, one is an athlete, one is…not?), but they couldn’t stop talking about Ruby Rose.
And it was no big deal. No one batted (or rolled) an eye. In fact, the (presumably mostly straight?) students who didn’t know who she was were taking out their phones and looking her up—and also quickly saying, “Whoa!” (Ha.)
The kids, as they say, are alright.
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