Euphoria is one of the most popular shows on television right now, making your Sunday night a little bit more dramatic. The second season of this beloved series focuses heavily on the various characters’ struggles with their sexualities and gender identities, an experience some Central Connecticut State University students resonate with.

Nova LaPointe, a junior at Central, said Euphoria is “presenting trans-life to people that would never think about it.” She also said this outweighs any harm Euphoria may do as it is a “show made for cisgender people, but highlights trans-life.”

Being a transgender person herself, LaPointe relates to Jules’s character and her transition to a female. Euphoria depicts the struggles those transitioning face and the beauty in that journey of discovery. 

“It’s an uncomfortable show, but what I love about it is, it shows Jules…sort of being loved, and that is a very beautiful story that isn’t shown anywhere else,” LaPointe said.

LaPointe said the show might do some harm with its graphic sex scenes and its glorified portrayal of partying, but it presents an image that many programs do not.

The idea of Jules, a transgender female, being loved and celebrated is crucial for making the show exciting and meaningful.

LaPointe said, “In the end, I know people who would never be trans allies watching Euphoria, and that makes me so happy.”

Amara Osorio, a fifth-year at Central, said that the issue of internalized homophobia is apparent in a specific character in Euphoria and how this mindset is sometimes prevalent in everyday life and our community.

“There’s this conflict that is Nate’s own queerness and attraction to Jules, and it’s a representation of his own mortality,” Osorio said. “I think it’s something very prevalent in straight males… this internalized homophobia.”

Much of this homophobia is passed on by our parents, and the character Nate mainly displays this issue in season two. Having watched his father commence in sexual acts with underage men and women, he maintains this ideology that his dad has passed on to him; the mentality that it is wrong to be who you are and you must hide from it.

“My biggest issue with it is there is so much internalized homophobia and so much conflict as to… do my desires say anything as to who I am as a person and my perception of homosexuality in general?”