Recreating Femininity in "Euphoria."

Recreating Femininity in "Euphoria."

(picture via @vilaphoria on Twitter)

Lately I’ve been thinking about how well the show, “Euphoria” depicted gender and gender expression in teens. Most shows centered around teenagers never really get it right. When they have a character that is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it suddenly becomes their whole character. They usually remind everyone that they are gay all the time, present with stereotypical gay attributes, and all their storylines have to do with their sexuality.

Hunter Schafer plays the character Jules in the HBO show, "Euphoria." Both Jules and Hunter are trans-womxn, but it is not until the third or fourth episode where they even mention it. It was so refreshing to see a character presented with their whole personality.

Growing up I watched several shows solely because everyone else was talking about them. As a young girl in California, I often found myself trying to find an actress that I could look like, or try to look like, so I fit the example on screen. For fourteen year old me- Nina Dobrev, Anne Hathaway, and Margot Robbie were my beauty standards. I remember discovering "The Vampire Diaries" for the first time and that's when I bought my first hair straightener. My curly hair was a no-go in what makes me a "true girl." Jules fills in the role of what a “true girl" is for this next generation.

In the episode The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed (1x07), Jules has a conversation with a friend and mentions her quest to “conquer” femininity. Her goal is to level up and become the person she saw as always meant to be. The normal teenage girl. Yet, her status as someone who is transgender challenges the gender roles and constructs that stand in her way.

Jules recognizes social norms and goes along with them just like any other teenager, yet unlike the other girls in the show, Jules is doing it for her safety rather than just for popularity. Jules keeps talking about leveling up, saying she looked forward to certain feminine things: heels, makeup, clothing, and even her hormones. “I just felt like I was collecting herbs, or making potions in order to up my manna, you know? Just kind of kept leveling up.”

When she speaks of her

relationship with men, as she does not

(picture via HBO's Euphoria)

engage with them much outside of sex, she states “if I can conquer men, then I can conquer femininity.” This is because she recognizes men are socially the “gatekeepers” of femininity. Much of what is considered to be a "real woman" is based on the opinions of men in our patriarchal society. So, if Jules can conquer them, she can finally have the said femininity. Then she could go on with life how she wants without having to think about any "boxes she’s checking off" to be considered feminine.

Her friend asks her why she needs men like that to make her feminine and she explains, “It’s not like I even want to conquer it. It’s like I want to fucking obliterate it. And then move on to the next level.” In her way, Jules is rewriting what it is to be a “real girl.”

While I may not agree with Jules that she needs to do certain things to be herself, I appreciate how the writers of "Euphoria" explained this character and her need to conquer femininity. Especially as a trans-womxn in today's society where so many communities are trying to exclude you. This conversation itself is huge for mainstream media and “Euphoria” did an amazing job promoting it. Conversations are the first step in making a difference.