Jules: The story of a young Trans girl, played by a young Trans girl
By: Ermiya Fanaeian
Tags: Queer, LGBT, Transgender, Euphoria, Gay

HBO’s Euphoria just released a special episode of a deep and raw conversation with the main character, Rue, speaking about whats going on in her mind since we last saw her on our screens. One of the most consistent thoughts running through her mind is her relationship with Jules, a young Trans girl she fell in love with. A character who I also fell in love with, and whose story resonates with my own and many young Trans girls.

Jules had a back story that consisted of continuous pathologization , and education, of her transness. She began recognizing who she was, and asserting who she was, at a very young age. This was met with both her own ignorance, and her father’s around trans people and trans health. The story of Jules as a child is being told on our screens during a time where young trans people have made their way to the center of the political debate around Trans people. Her story of growing up as a child being forced into psychiatric wards is being told on our screens during a time were we can only hope that most in healthcare have more of an understanding of Trans people.

As Jules grew older we began to see a glimpse of her life that shows us the journey she embarks on to find herself. And most importantly find her strength and confidence. Her dating life is met with boys who want to utilize Jules as a tool to help navigate their own sexuality and shame behind their attractions. The boys that are drawn to her are drawn in secrecy, while ensuring their attraction to Jules doesn’t leave the comfort of their own hiding. As all of us young Trans girl’s have, Jules made the mistake of trying to find any validation from these boys, only to find out that these boys were dealing with social shame so taxing they were willing to harm Jules for any ounce of secrecy.

This was the first time audiences were able to see the lengths those in daily communities will go through to hide their attraction towards Trans women. For many, this was the first time they saw the anger that is placed on Trans women for the shame those men feel being attracted to us, with an urge to want to blame someone. For many, they saw for the first time how the influence of cis women, parents, friends, school, and work sparks this anger within these men. And for the first time the audience witnessed how we are not the saviors of these men, nor are we here to coddle them through their finding of self.

Like many of us, Jules quickly realized all of this with her complicated intimate relationship with Nate. Nate was not a unique case, nor was he a fictional story that only existed on the files of Euphoria’s writers room. The character of Nate is an on screen embodiment of the types of men we have been dealing with since even before Christine Jorgensen stepped down from her plane and straight into a press conference about her being trans. Nate’s father was of course an awful influence navigating his own sexuality in a weird, unhealthy, fetishizing way that stripped Jules of her youth. But Nate’s father is a problem hiding his sexual life behind a respected community name and powerful positions. and he is no more fictional than Nate’s character.

Jules ends up with a girl who is in love with her. Rue and Jules share vulnerable and intimate moments were they begin to miss every second without each other, and begin to become dependent on one’s company. The relationship that Rue and Jules build with one another is far from perfect, with Rue dealing with addiction and Jules dealing with being in love with an addict. And sometimes it seems best if both stayed single to focus on their own wellbeing. What their relationship, and all of the relationships in the show, has taught us is that the perfect relationship doesn’t always exist. I hope to see Rue and Jules begin to re-build a healthier relationship as we follow along Jules and her story further.