“I can’t really imagine what my teenage years would have been like if heterosexuality hadn’t been the norm”
BY IONE GILDROY, IMAGE BY PARAMOUNT
If you’re LGBTQIA and on social media, it’s unlikely you’ve missed the discourse around this year’s new Mean Girls film.
When the film was released, there were extensive discussions around the singing, costumes and script, but the most popular topic of conversation in LGBTQIA online spaces has been around the sexual orientation of Renée Rapp’s Regina George. Renée, who has recently come out as a lesbian, said in several interviews that her take on the character was “very gay”, which left some fans disappointed when Regina was not explicitly LGBTQIA in the film.
But maybe Regina is more representative of a lot of queer women than we might at first think. For me, when watching Mean Girls, I was struck by how Regina’s experience reflected my own experiences of compulsory heterosexuality.
In order to be accepted in her circle, to be accepted as queen bee, Regina has to perform heterosexuality. She chooses to date Aaron Samuels, someone she doesn’t seem to particularly care for but who is the attractive, perfect, popular jock. She uses this relationship to maintain power, control and her status as chief plastic.
The new Mean Girls film also further explores the relationship between Regina and Janis ‘Imi’ike, Janis Ian in the original film, who is described as a “loud and proud” lesbian by Auli’i Cravalho, who plays her in the film. In the 2024 iteration, Janis isn’t bullied for her sexual orientation; she gets to go to prom with a woman rather than being saddled with a random male mathlete at the last minute.
But even in a world more accepting of LGBTQIA people, Regina is still aware that being LGBTQIA could impact her social standing. We discover that Janis came out to Regina privately when they were friends, which Regina then used to her advantage, putting on a “show” with Janis during a game of spin the bottle to get attention. Regina avoids the question of whether her own interest played a part in this, by saying: “I knew she would let me. She’s, like, obsessed with me.”
All of these clues suggest that maybe Regina is just a victim of compulsory heterosexuality like so many of us have been.
I know so many people who would’ve realised their sexuality much earlier in life if they hadn’t had to deal with compulsory heterosexuality. It’s so hard to recognise your true feelings when you don’t know what you truly feel, and what is wrapped up in what you’ve been made to think you should feel.
Like Regina, I felt like I had to perform heterosexuality in order to be accepted. For me this manifested as picking a boy to fancy, a boy who was declared attractive by other girls at school, to show that I was thinking and feeling the same things as everyone else.
Everyone has different experiences with compulsory heterosexuality, but it seems that Regina acts in several ways similar to what a lot of people have experienced themselves.
I can’t really imagine what my teenage years would have been like if heterosexuality hadn’t been the norm. I know I would’ve been able to come to terms with my sexuality far quicker than I did, and I wouldn’t have had so many confusing stops on the way. I doubt I would’ve even had to question my sexuality if being straight wasn’t what I felt I was expected to be.
I think it’s so important that we work to dismantle heterosexual norms, whether that’s through having more LGBTQIA representation in films and media or having more education in schools. Only when we’ve done this will all young people growing up LGBTQIA be able to be comfortable in themselves.
Ione volunteers as an ambassador for Just Like Us, the LGBT+ young people’s charity. LGBT+ and aged 18 to 25? Sign up here!
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