DVD Double Standards

A friend of mine gets the ‘Sugar Rush’ DVD for her 18th birthday. She is understandably very excited, and jumps up and down lots. No one bats an eyelid. She lends me the same ‘Sugar Rush’ DVD and I am suddenly conscious of eyebrows raising across the room. Talk about double standards.

I have to admit this isn’t the first time I have faced eyebrow bullying for Channel 4’s adaptation of Julie Burchill’s novel. I did watch it religiously when it was being aired, until I was carted off to baby-sit a group of younger girls from school at a summer camp. Not only did our accommodation not have plugs (or heating), but also the television in the common room was turned off every evening at 9.55pm. No fair.

So as I was just texting to the outside world on my one battery bar, I heard the girls discussing it, yes, they were discussing what happened in ‘Sugar Rush’. I was initially shocked, but gathered myself to beg what they knew from their friend on the phone. My interest in ‘Sugar Rush’ then raised eyebrows.

I do have a reputation as ‘lesbian in denial’, but really, if watching lesbian-themed dramas incriminates me – surely it also incriminates everyone else? All those 15 year olds who gathered around a mobile to hear the news. My friend who received the DVD as a gift for her 18th. The people who were likewise hooked to the series, but who aren’t gay.

However, raised eyebrows were a small price to pay for the DVD. It really is excellent in a kind of trite, tacky but wonderful way.