LGBTQ/THIS HAPPENED TO ME/MOVIES
The Chris Evans Scene in “Not Another Teen Movie” Woke Up My Sexuality
I already suspected I was different before that but that solidified it for me
It was this very scene in the movie that I wished that I was Janey, and not pretending that I wanted to be Chris Evans’ Jake anymore. Sure I do like sports and did enjoy watching the jocks being silly with each other and playing hard out on the field. But this is the first time I saw a man with a jock body that I wanted to be with. Not just be like.
Before then, I had started exploring the possibility that after a conservative, religious background, I was possibly “bi, maybe gay”, the thing I was taught to not accept previously. It was still 2001 at the time this movie came out. And I was in a relationship with a woman at the time.
In that age and time, coming out was still kind of risky for anyone. It was becoming more accepting but society was still viewing homosexuality or any expression of queerness as bad. I know, it was more than a generation ago, and hard to believe looking back.
My girlfriend even suggested that I might like exploring bisexuality, probably seeing something that I couldn’t see at the time, both scared and excited me. She was an openly bisexual girl at the time. She had dated a girl before she dated me and I just assumed that she was a lesbian when she asked me out.
I had been in denial for most of my childhood that I was different. I think I knew somewhere deep inside but it wasn’t until I started unlearning some of the religious conditioning I’d been given. I learned to think of gay people as nasty, perverted, and tawdry sinners as a young child. I wasn’t allowed to watch certain shows and movies growing up because they were too provocative for my family.
Now, in 2001, I was finally an adult and I was 19 years old when this movie came out. I started working at the movie theaters when this movie first hit theaters. I watched the movie a total of 15 times when it was playing in my theater.
I came back every time just because I liked how I felt when I saw Chris Evans on screen. It wasn’t until my 3rd time watching it that I realized that I liked what I saw basically because of that one iconic scene. I thought it was just because it was a fun parody movie of all of those cheesy 90s teenage romantic comedies.
Sure, that was a huge draw for me, but this movie was literally the nail in my coffin and I just didn’t know it at the time. I dated both guys and girls in the next decade before I decided to stay exclusively with men. Chris Evans played a huge role in this coming-of-age story.
His banana split definitely made me hungry for something I’d been long deprived of. This man’s beautiful physique made many of us discover things about ourselves. I’ve even talked to some straight men who enjoyed that scene.
Just saying, he’s Captain America.
He’s a generational hottie and legend. Especially for having the courage to do a scene like this. Especially when the twist at the end is that he has a banana on the other side of this, in a predictable placement.
Watch the movie or at least this clip, if you haven’t. I’m not ruining that for you. Who was your sexual awakening? Can you relate to this connection with your own sexuality?
