Read: Jan 5th - Short story 'Stone Cold Butch'

January 5th

Read: Grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters, Short story 'Stone Cold Butch'

Giving up a considerably failing unentertaining book can be easy, doing the same with a short stories anthology is probably a big mistake. After all, you never know what hidden gems you might find.

Today's story started off, shall we say, clichéd (yes, there's clichés in every story). A teenager handing in a video because they didn't want to write an essay, I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt in at least two different places. One was a television show. Why do students feel that handing in a video when they've been assigned an essay is acceptable? You might not like the concept of writing an essay, but in education in the 21st Century, we often have to do the things we don't want.

I hate writing a learning review for my college course, doesn't mean I'm recording myself saying it instead. I write it, because that's what I've been assigned to do.

Now, onwards with the story.

It got better...if you can ever call the story "better".

Cam is the main character this time. I'm not sure if all these people go to the same high school or not, but if they did, that's a lot of gay girls they have. There's a feel that they do though, perhaps in different years/at different times.

They wrote Cam being asked on a date as carefree as anything, as though her being gay isn't an issue. Which it isn't. But we know from experience that fiction can portray it in such a way. Being gay in fiction is sometimes tokenistic, other times it's just 'such a big deal'. All very well for a 16 year old who's unsure of herself.

I don't know her age but I placed Cam as about 17/18, vulnerable, has had many girlfriends (well at least one, plus someone she fooled around with).

This story, her story, was not about her sexuality. Sure they mentioned it and her idea that shaving her head would make her look like a boy could be considered to do with her sexuality, but it's not.

It's because her dad has been abusing her since she was six years old.

Who wouldn't want to find ways to repulse him after years of abuse, abuse that stops you being able to have sex or even accept a date with a girl without feeling like he's there, involved.

Unlike the case of the brief 'self-harm' mention in a earlier story, it was surprising how you can actually approach a deep situation in a short story. But it can't be one line, flitted away like it's an insignificant part of every day life. It must be built into the entire story, explored, felt and somehow Cam's story did just that.