Words that should be banned from Internet and other discussions

[boot_the_grime]

Could we take the words "jock" and "nerd" and kill them with fire? Please? The relentless obsession, found all over Internet, with those incredibly narrow and over-simplified (US) highschool stereotypes and with shoving every person in the world in those boxes has gotten really, really annoying. It's almost like the old "virgin vs whore" dichotomy.

Comments

[penny_lane_42]

Honestly, I'm American and I can say that the way that American high schools are depicted in popular culture (with this very clear hierarchy and such) has absolutely nothing to do with anything I actually lived through. I will never understand how it became so pervasive.

[boot_the_grime]

How did you find the depiction of high school life in Buffy? Was it realistic and to what extent, by your experience?

[penny_lane_42]

Huh. I think some of the emotions were pretty realistic--not necessarily for me (I'm a strange one), but for teenagers in general. But I have to be honest: I mostly rewatch the post-high school seasons of the show, so it's been a while since I've seen more than an episode here and there of the high school seasons. So I'm not sure how much I can judge.

[boot_the_grime]

I have actually just finished another rewatch of season 1. The last one was last year (I'm re-rewatching seasons 1 and 2 and the first part of season 3 before I continue to rewatch and review the rest of the show). I should write a short post about my impressions later today, though they're mostly the same as the last time, so I'll just add things I didn't notice before

[penny_lane_42]

Interesting. The sports culture is definitely something that's true (much more so than the show portrays), though it does vary in intensity depending on what kind of school you're at (economically) and your location (sports culture is VERY INTENSE in the South and Midwest in particular). Homecoming Queen is just an honor--you get voted for and it means you're popular. You can put it on your college applications and such.

(there was one such couple in my class)

Seriously??? How many people were in your class? People were always getting together and breaking up in my class. I'd say that about 1/5 were in a relationship at any given time.

While on the other hand, we had the yearly excursions that were always a big deal, and I don't see it in any US teen shows.

Yeah, only rich schools have those. And they aren't usually very far--to NYC or DC if you're on the East Coast. I'm not sure where West Coast kids go.

Also, do high school principals really interact with students so much in US high schools?It's a little

[boot_the_grime]

Seriously??? How many people were in your class? People were always getting together and breaking up in my class. I'd say that about 1/5 were in a relationship at any given time. Wow, your school was much more fun than mine! So it really was like with those kids on Dawson's Creek and Beverly Hills, where everyone dates everyone at some point? ;) There were 38 or 39 people in my class, I don't remember the exact number, with the ratio of about 2:1 in favor of girls. There were at least 3 groups that hung together, and some people who didn't quite belong in either group, and who usually hung out with one or two others, and there was some overlapping. One was a group of girls who were very nice and whose tastes and attitudes matched mine, and I was close to them but was never exactly a part of that group, since they all had been friends from elementary school, while I went to another elementary school. Most of the boys, with a few exceptions, hung out together most of the time; but there was very little interaction between the boys and

[boot_the_grime]

However, there are lots of things that do resonate a lot and make me think of my high school experience. The bullying, for starters; the way that certain students form cliques, and groups of students who bully others, like those in The Pack. Someone like Cordelia is also instantly recognizable (even though she's an exaggerated version, a lot of things she says are way OTT), the "cool" people ("popular" would be a misleading word - in fact, most people hate them, but they act like they're in charge) who are usually rich, dress up in expensive clothes and are considered sexy (partly due to looking older than their years - this is something that teenagers find appealing) and who have their cliques of friends/sycophants, and spend a lot of time mocking other people. There are also people like Willow, who could be called "nerds", though it's not the same stereotype - e.g. we don't have the cliche that liking SF or comics makes you a nerd - but people who are bookish, shy and tend to dress conservatively, like their parents are choosing

[penny_lane_42]

Honestly, I always felt completely apart from any kind of social hierarchy. It never touched me. I recognize the idea of the cool people, with their money and fashionable clothes and such, but I never felt like I needed to strive to be part of them or that they were looking down on me or anything--they just had different interests, and I didn't particularly want to be friends with them. I think perhaps they were off having the kinds of parties and drama you see on TV, but I never knew anything about it. They were never mean to me, we mostly just ignored each other. My group of friends was kind of a group of girls who did well in school and never got into trouble. We were neither cool nor uncool. The only way I'd say we were "lower" on the totem pole than the coolest people is that only two of my group of friends (about 10 of us) ever dated, while nearly all the "cool" girls had boyfriends. But other than that, we kind of went about our own business.

There was a lot of competitiveness and jealousy between girlsThere was none