Spring Awakening

I just saw the musical "Spring Awakening" with my friend Jean.  Everything I had heard about this show was very positive -- I believe it won Best Musical of 2008, and everyone has been talking about it as a controversial show, and as a good one to use for talking to kids about sex (not that I particularly care about the kids part, but more on that later).  I'm not ordinarily a big fan of Broadway shows -- I tend to go to more contemporary dance, opera, gallery openings, etc., but I took a chance with this one because it seemed a little different from the average broadway show.

My opinion?  I liked the dancing and the music, but the plot and moral of the story were very disconcerting.  Parents, do not bring your children to this show unless you plan to have a serious discussion afterwards!!  Basically, the story is about a bunch of teenagers coming of age in a provincial German town during the late 1800's.  None of them are educated about sex (because their parents won't talk to them about it) except for one boy who read about it in a medical book.  He tells his best friend about it, and the friend goes into a downward spiral, eventually commiting suicide.  He also has sex with one of the girls in the story (which comes off as date rape, by the way), unknowingly gets her pregnant, and he gets sent to a reformatory.   The girl later acts like it was some big romantic scene, after she had clearly screamed "NO" to him several times during the process -- this just did not sit well with me.  Seriously, date rape should not be portrayed as romantic, and if you take your son/daughter to this, you should tell them that it is wrong.  It is a non-violent scene, but she is clearly an unwilling partner.  No means no.

The girl's mother, having previously refused to answer her questions about where babies come from, cannot accept the pregnancy, secretly arranges for an abortion, and the girl dies during the procedure.  Meanwhile, lover boy gets a letter that the girl had written mentioning the baby, escapes from the reformatory, and finds out she is dead.  He nearly kills himself, but then everyone comes out of the woodwork, they do a little dance, and live happily ever after.

The morals of this story?

1- Don't have sex or talk about it; it will kill you.

2- Date rape is A-Okay!

3- Take no responsibility for your actions, and just dance off the bad times.

Yes, I'm being a little sarcastic here -- the real moral of the story is: teach your kids about sex so that they are capable of making smart decisions and protecting themselves!  And now I will seriously get on my soap box.  Why the heck do public schools in the US now teach abstinence only?  As if people are seriously going to stop having sex just because you do not arm them with information -- the only purpose the "abstinence only" programs serve is to render young people unprepared.  We figured out years ago that educating people in developing countries about safe sex practices was the solution to reducing the spread of AIDS, other diseases, and unwanted pregnancies, so why won't we provide that same education in our own country to avoid the same problems??  It just does not make sense to me.  (By the way, did you know that ever since they implemented the "abstinence only" program, STD's and unplanned pregnancies have been on the rise?).  I do not see why information is treated like the enemy here -- education is a weapon against society's problems, including health, politics, the economy, and everything else.  Okay, off the soap box...

Since I'm already talking about sex and relationships, I have an update on the relationship complications (noted in a previous post).  Guy #2, who I'm friends with, now seems to be making an extra effort.  When I was sick, he offered to do my grocery shopping for me, and kept checking in to see how I was doing.  This was really nice of him, but I hope that he is not getting any ideas.  I have really come to enjoy our friendship.  Meanwhile, Guy #3 (who is friends with Guy #2 -- guys, don't you talk to each other about these things?) has asked me out.  I didn't really know what to say because I've never been in the position of having to turn down a perfectly nice guy when I am single (usually I get jerks, or am already dating someone, making it a lot easier to say "No way!" or "I'm with that guy").  So, it was a hard response to write (he had sent me an email because he doesn't have my number), but I just told him I was taking a little break from dating and would love to hang out sometime just as friends.  I hope it works out because he really is a nice guy.  Can single people really be friends without this kind of misunderstanding?  I feel like this ends up happening with a lot of my male friends.  Ugh.