SBG 155: Never Been Kissed with Danielle Bezalel

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Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is gonna party like it's 1999! 

This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) hosts solo and hangs out with Danielle Bezalel, host of the Sex Ed with DB podcast (@sexedwithdbpodcast), your go-to podcast for smart, science-backed sex education. Together they take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the late 90s to talk about why the 1999 romcom Never Been Kissed Should’ve Been Gay.

If you’re a younger gay, you may not have seen this 90s classic; but we bet you’ll recognize the major names in the cast. We’re talking Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Molly Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and freaking Jessica Alba all in the same movie. If that doesn’t convince you to watch it at least one dozen times, we don’t know what will. The plot follows Josie, a journalist going undercover at a high school for a story, as she experiences being retraumatized by the popular girls, falling in love with her teacher, and competing for prom queen. 

As much as we genuinely adore this movie, it is impossible not to talk about the ocean of reasons why Never Been Kissed is not the wholesome, family-friendly movie it was marketed as and is instead highly problematic. We get that Josie is 25 and only pretending to be a high schooler for the sake of her journalism career; but her teacher does not know that and has no reason to think she isn’t a 17 year old student. Yet, they are the main romance that the audience is very much supposed to be rooting for. Thankfully, we have our gay glasses on and with a few little changes to the script we can see our path to a much less problematic, and much, much queerer movie. After all, there’s something pretty queer already about a 25 year old woman who has never had a romantic kiss or felt sparks from any guy. The school-sized closet Josie is hiding out in is truly made of glass. 

We know one thing for sure, Never Been Kissed Should’ve Been Gay.

Give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Email us @lezhangoutpod@gmail.com. Connect with us individually: Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida). Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster).

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