Brittana And Their Physical Touch

Sequin smile, black lipstick

THIS!!!

Santana Lopez in the early seasons: a case study in compulsory heterosexuality, part 1 - season 1

Once upon a time I decided to take a deep-dive into Santana’s relationship with her sexuality in the early seasons and specifically her sexual and/or romantic relationships with men. Today is the day we finally do that, or at least the first half of it by covering season 1. Thank you to anon from the other day a few weeks months back for the final push and for putting into words a lot of what has been living in my mind rent-free for ages.

Before we really begin, I want to establish a few things. First, like Anon said, all of what I’m going to detail is really just a happy accident as Santana wasn’t actually written to be a lesbian and therefore not one struggling with comphet in season 1. We can acknowledge that authorial intent, or rather the lack thereof, but still find meaning in how the show actually turned out and how it reads in retrospect, now that we know that Santana is a lesbian. I think this is important to note because my goal with these two posts isn’t to argue that it’s always been that deep; far be it from me to give Glee too much credit. No, I’m simply arguing that, intended or not, a comphet reading still exists and makes Santana’s character all the more fascinating in the context of her later journey and characterization. Aka we’re going to read into things but hey, if the things present themselves in such a fitting way then why not.

Second, let’s define what comphet even is before we go any further. So compulsory heterosexuality is what it says on the tin and usually refers to lesbian women who, because of outside pressure or internalized homophobia, feel like they have to conform to heteronormative standards and be attracted to and be with men. It’s often associated with the erasure of lesbianism and female desire, as outlined in Adrienne Rich’s essay who popularized the term in the 80s. I don’t want to recite a whole wikipedia page here so going to link it here and proceed with the definition from above. Alternatively, see the Equality Archive for more of an overview. It’s something many lesbians struggle with to differing degrees, whether that includes lying to themselves as well or just forcing themselves to be with men even though they know they’re not attracted to them due to heteronormative expectations and a fear of being perceived differently. It’s often the explanation as to why a lesbian woman has been with men in the past and yet identifies as a lesbian. As an aside though, lesbians don’t owe anyone an explanation for anything and can do whatever they like 😊 But the concept of comphet can help explain these tendencies and make sense of one’s own identity.

Okay, with that out of the way, I’ll be exploring through the course of two posts how this concept of comphet relates to Santana and her relationships with men as portrayed in seasons 1 and 2. This first post is going to be divided into two main portions, her relationships with Puck and Finn in season 1. Since Santana isn’t a main character in season 1 and just serves a purpose in others’ stories, most of her stuff does relate to the two boys and it’s through those relationships that we get a glimpse at her character.

This is an important thing to note about Santana’s beginnings as a character and therefore her season 1 story: that it’s not actually about her. What I mean is that she starts out as a background character who, even as she starts getting less generic lines, is still ultimately there as a supporting character to main players. She starts getting actual plotlines in the second half of the season but they’re still not about building her own character; they’re about stirring the pot for the main cast, so the story she does get makes sense from that perspective but also serves the point I’m trying to make about comphet. I’d also just like to acknowledge that it might sound counterintuitive to center a discussion about a lesbian around her relationships with men but that is exactly what comphet is, at the end of the day, so I figured the way to combat it would be through deconstructing it.

And now, without further ado!

Puck - the safety net and mutual use

Keep reading

every time i remember that the quinntana hookup is canon, 10 years is added to my lifespan

this is so sad..im glad they put everyone & the eras tour team’s safety first but my heart is broken thinking about all those who were waiting to see her this week some who never saw her live would’ve seen her, some flying from different countries, others spending so much money

santana lopez has adhd (part 1)

^the adhd lesbian flag^

(*disclaimer: i have adhd myself and work in education/educational psychology, which is the basis of this post in which i get wayyyyy too analytical about a fictional character; however, i'm not a psychiatrist or doctor and am not qualified to diagnose real people with adhd or anything else ... seriously, our only representation is cis white boys whose adhd is an explanation for them being the class clown and treated as a joke so please don't get salty at me for claiming a fictional character that isn't a cis white boy as part of the adhd gang)

(credit to @dojasrivera on twitter for making the og adhd!santana thread; i unfortunately wasn't able to see it as i only found out about it after their original twitter account got suspended but there may be some overlap between their thread and this post)

this ended up being really long and tumblr cut me off so there is going to be a part 2

impulsiveness - let's get this one out of the way first since this is obviously really central to santana's character; she has a tendency to just kind of say whatever she thinks in the moment without thinking about the consequence and it often gets her into trouble.  she also just does random shit like try to get into a physical altercation with lauren zizes who is in the wrestling team, and later move into kurt and rachel's apartment completely out of the blue and go through their stuff for some bizarre reason (which is funny in a tv context but also like ... santana wtf don't go through their stuff).

difficulty initiating and maintaining friendships - santana has maybe 2 secure close friendships throughout the series (brittany and mercedes) and even then there are some complications; brittany because they're in love with each other, and even mercedes competed with santana over puck (ew) but that was resolved by the end of the episode.  all of santana's other female friendships (except tina but they're not really all that close and even they have a one-sided feud in season 4 where surprisingly santana is the unbothered one) appear to be sources of stress and anxiety for her because they revolve around competing (see her storyline with rachel from 5x09-5x13).  it's also established that santana is close friends with quinn throughout the series (even if they have a tendency to compete with each other) but santana says in 5x10 that quinn doesn't live too far away from her and yet she never makes the effort to see her, even though they ended their senior year relatively amicably.  she's way more forgiving of other people than she's given credit for, but she just craves acceptance and friendship from this bunch of misfits so much and is really insecure about whether or not she has it.

rejection sensitive dysphoria - this could literally describe like 90% of her interactions with people (mostly people that aren't brittany).  the entire pezberry feud is essentially santana experiencing rsd around her friendship (or lack thereof) with rachel and then doubling down on rachel's expectations of her to save face.  another example is in 2x20 when kurt wins prom queen and santana's immediate first thought is "everyone hates me".  this post from themostrandomfandom suggests that santana has an anxious attachment type.  even in some of her interactions with brittany, she's anxious about their relationship and needs reassurance ("you didn't say you love me back" in 2x18, "are we dating or what" in 3x04).

disorganisation - santana's bedroom (see 2x15 and 4x04) and locker (see the scene in 3x22 with her mom) are both literal disaster zones, and according to brittany, her car would qualify her to be on "whoreders" (honestly same)

difficulty with time management (chronic lateness) - "i like to make an entrance" aka she lost track of time and knew she was going to be late so she planned it (credit: @smolbrittana on instagram)

emotional reactivity and difficulty with emotional regulation - santana has very visceral reactions to all emotions, positive and negative (see this post by themostrandomfandom) (see this post by drshebloggo); she's very easily affected by external stimuli (e.g. the scene in 1x03 when she gets her tanning privileges revoked).  she feels her emotions really intensely and it takes her a long time to calm down.  she has rage (and of course i'm obligated to include this awesome compilation by literallylebanese).  in the hurt locker scene (2x15), santana articulates really well that she has so many big feelings that she doesn't know what to do with so the only thing she can do about them is lash out at other people. it's also worth noting that santana is extremely defensive and reactive in her social interactions with others; she's very rarely the one to "shoot first" (for lack of a better term) and a lot of her lashing out against her peers (i.e. getting revenge on finn/quinn in 2x12, her interactions with rory in 3x04/3x06, most of her interactions with rachel in 5x09-5x12, her monologue to kurt in 6x03) are in response to perceived wrongdoing/criticism/rejection (i'm not justifying these but context and motivation matters). she also has really visceral reactions to positive emotions; her whole face just instantly lights up when brittany smiles at her or touches her or someone compliments her.

poor financial management skills - homegirl literally blew half of her college fund on post-breakup retail therapy (maribel lopez seriously i love you but why would you just hand this child a cheque if you knew she was getting a scholarship)

impulsiveness around romantic relationships - u-haul lesbian jokes aside, santana moves very fast with dani, calling dani her girlfriend within like 5 seconds of meeting her, it's unclear when she and dani officially break up (my headcanon is that things went somewhat sour after dani voted to kick santana and rachel out of pamela lansbury, especially based on what we know about santana and her feelings of anxiety around real and/or perceived rejection, but i guess we'll never know). it's possible that dani may have been a hyperfixation.

poor adult interactions/distrust in authority - homegirl has this in spades; her abuela literally threatens to beat her up with a chair and tried to sell her once, and sue mistreats all the cheerleaders on a regular basis. even will schuester who she says she likes kicks her out of glee club, refuses to defend her and pushes for her to get suspended after the finn incident (as does shelby corcoran), and shames her for reporting his subpar teaching, so that's educational trauma on top of that and she has a tendency to challenge them, mr schuester especially.

compulsive fidgeting - often has a nail file or one of brittany's funky pens, also often fidgets with her hands when she's nervous - mostly around her britt-britt (see also)

extroverted introvert - santana is simultaneously brash and outspoken while also being bashful and socially awkward (see her interactions in 5x02 with dani)

(part 2)

My name is Chappell Roan. I am your favorite artist's favorite artist. I am your dream girl's dream girl.

Some cozy Kurtanchel vibes for @katimanki for the @gleeful-holiday-art-swap ! Hope you're having a happy holiday season ☕❄️

i'm sorry unique and WHO

The Ultimate Glee Ship Tournament: Round 2 Match 19

Santana and Brittany should’ve been senior prom queen and king.

This is something I’ve believed since Prom Queen 2x20. 

Let’s start with why I believe this would be a perfect full circle moment for Santana’s high school experience. 

Santana Lopez had from the beginning wanted to be McKinley High’s “top hoe”. 

In season one we are introduced to her as Quinn’s second in command, but it’s made obvious that she wants the full glory. 

Of course we don’t know why popularity is important to her yet, but we’ll get there. 

When Quinn becomes pregnant Santana takes the opportunity to take over the cheerios. 

She does support her friend with the New Directions, but as far as one-on-one chats and encouragement go, she gives nada. She is even out right cruel about Quinn’s situation, there’s no denying that. 

Throughout season one she focuses her attention on the two most popular guys. Noah Puckerman is her on-again-off-again boy toy who she feels nothing for until someone else wants him. Finn Hudson is purely a conquest to cement her place on the Cheerios.

Onto season two. We find out why Santana is so cagey and cruel. Santana is in love with her best friend Brittany Pierce. But with raging internalised homophobia and the general homophobia of the time and place she suppresses these feelings. 

We finally get insight from Santana herself, she’s scared of being herself and the consequences. 

As she starts to address and deal with these feelings she lashes out, but she also shows her soft side. We begin to see that she can be a “hardcore friend” when she wants to be. 

Then we get to Prom Queen. After Kurt is announced Santana breaks down and tells the last of her insecurities. She has been an outcast all her life and believes she always will be. She wanted to be prom queen so that there would be one night where she felt normal and accepted. That’s why popularity has been so important to her.

Finally, season three. Santana and Brittany start dating officially, yay! But in secret as Santana isn’t ready to come out publicly. 

Then disaster strikes and she is outed to the entire state by Finn Hudson. I will not start talking about this event because I will never stop. Because of this she comes out to her parents who are supportive, but up next is her abuela who is suggested to be her main caregiver, and definitely the person Santana looks up to the most. When she comes out to her she is rejected and disowned. Santana’s worst fears have come true, being herself has had terrible consequences. 

Despite this heartbreak she moves on. Throughout this season we get to see Santana Lopez’s friendship in full force. 

She gives Brittany the confidence to run for Senior Class President, she helps Kurt when Blaine is assaulted, forgives Finn for his unforgivable act, makes up with Rachel, goes to help shut down Sebastian’s bullying, etc. Now to Senior Prom. 

Promasaurus is the perfect episode to complete Santana’s high school arc. Her and Brittany winning prom queen and king, respectively, would show her that being herself isn’t something that always ends in rejection. 

Her whole life Santana has known she is different from the norm and wants to feel fully accepted by her peers, this is how it happens. Unlike Prom Queen, where she doesn’t win, she is finally being her full self and for once she is being rewarded for it. 

Her metamorphosis from a conniving, cruel, scheming mean girl to an open, warm, still snarky, out-and-proud lesbian is complete. Now she isn’t popular because she’s feared, she’s popular because she’s herself and she’s brave. 

The relationship with Brittany that took her so long to come to terms with in fear of rejection is being put on a pedestal.  

There are also the real world effects. Seeing a sapphic couple be Prom royalty and be celebrated by their peers would be instrumental to young queer kids, even in a TV show.

In conclusion Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce should have been Prom royalty. The story line was set up for over a season, and it is much more meaningful than what actually happened. Thanks for your time.

they were my heartstopper