It's definitely a case of YMMV, and I think it's super-empowering for people to decide how they want to refer to their own condition/state of mind.

Personally, I hate the term mental illness, both as a catch-all, and more specifically to refer to my own bipolar disorder/ADD. I don't know if anyone shares that sentiment? I personally refer to my own condition as a "mood disorder', but I'm still struggling to find a more encompassing term to replace "mental illness." My big beef is that the term "illness" feels temporary, like something you can "get over" if you find the right cure, and it's such a popular approach in self-help books, fix-it-quick therapy, etc. When in reality, it's something you live with, and learn to work with. It's part of my life, whether I think I'm 'cured' or not. I think there's also a lot of conflation between mental and emotional, and while they intersect and moods can affect your cognitive and mental capabilities, it's not the same thing.

I've found the healthiest, and most empowering and accepting way for me to think about it is that I'm, overall, a healthy person with a disability, and I don't know how common that way of thinking is. But personally, that approach has resulted in soooo much less self-hatred, anger, and frustration for not being able to control my moods, and how that interferes with my ability to function, and that the coping mechanisms I've learned and the medication I take are what enable me to function, just like with any disability.

I'm obviously not a mod, and can't offer official instructions or advice on how best to phrase things, but I think that it's a definite conundrum, because a lot of media (Buffy and Angel DEFINITELY included) portray a lot of characters as a generalized cultural construction of "crazy" without regard to how that term is applied neurological conditions (serotonin imbalances, mood disorders, anxiety, developmental or cognitive disabilities, etc.) and experiential conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. On one hand, it's tempting to pathologize what we see represented as a way to be "politically correct", but that often doesn't translate. And sometimes when forms of "crazy" are pathologized, that can be even more problematic. (Soooo much rage at how bipolar disorder was depicted in Six Feet Under, much as I love that show.)

So when depictions of "insanity" aren't based on real-life conditions, and are usually generalized because, let's be honest, it's easier and lazier, and kind of a shortcut, it's hard to find a way to talk about it that veers away from the concept of "crazy" that we're trying to evade. Drusilla isn't depicted as behaving the way she does because of a certain condition; she's just depicted as being sort of "loopy" because, as Angel explained, he "made her crazy" before turning her. I think, if you want to pathologize, both Angel in "Birthday", and Drusilla in general are suffering from severe trauma, and Angel copes with his by withdrawing into his own head in anguish and delusion, while Drusilla seems to suppress it and act in ways that aren't commonly regarded as socially acceptable.

And again, I don't know what the mods think, but I do think it's possible to talk about "crazy" as a problematic cultural construction AS reflected in what we're watching without using it in an oppressive fashion.

The Buffyverse does often feature storylines where a character's mental state or coping capacity is deliberately altered or compromised through supernatural means, and like we saw in Season Five, it's completely different than diagnosed medical conditions, so there's no real way to compare it. Naq vg'f fbzrguvat jr'yy frr rfcrpvnyyl va na hcpbzvat Ohssl rcvfbqr, juvpu, BU ZL URNEG. Gung'f fhpu n shpxrq hc qrcvpgvba bs cflpubybtvpny urnygu pner, wrfhf shpxvat puevfg. V'z xvaq bs tynq gung V'yy or bhg bs gbja naq vagrearg-yrff sbe gung rcvfbqr.

Ha, I totally posted the Mary Tyler Moore theme on MonkeyButter's comment down below!

THROW ALL THE HATS!!

Mere Smith actually said in the commentary that Cordy was based on Mary Tyler Moore, because the producers thought Charisma Carpenter looked like her, and that in another life, she would have been a great sitcom actress.

Cordy's gonna make it after all!

[youtube oBTWF1bDPn0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTWF1bDPn0 youtube]

omg the SHEEP. My grade ten math teacher used to use "sheep" as a variable because it was more fun than "x".

I can't answer for J E, but from what I've seen, it's ridiculously common for lesbians to date "straight" girls, often to the point of fetishizing the straight girlfriend as a coup. It happens alllll the time on The L Word. I haven't done this personally, as my taste tends toward "really fucking dykey", but I've got a lot of friends who basically include "conversion" as an essential trait in potential girlfriends, buuuuut that can often go sideways and kick you in the shins.

But yeah, dating someone closeted? NOT GOOD EVER. (Also, that link leads to one of my favourite blogs ever; Krista Burton is my hero.)

V cerqvpg gung Znex jvyy sernx bhg bire Q.O. Jbbqfvqr. Rfcrpvnyyl uvf nezf. Yvxr, V'z abg va gung pnzc ng nyy, ohg V qrsvavgryl erpbtavmr gung gubfr ner tbbq nezf. V guvax ur'f nyfb gur bayl erny arj znyr punenpgre va gung frnfba. Jryy, gurer'f Pnyro, ohg V'q or fhcre fhecevfrq vs uvf punenpgre cebibxrq tebva-gvatyvat nzbatfg nalbar. Rirel gvzr V svavfu Frnfba 7, V arrq gb tb jngpu Sversyl gb pyrnafr zlfrys bs Pnyro naq er-yvxr Anguna Svyyvba ntnva.

On a similar note, but flip that, reverse it, I feel like this is an okay thread to tack on the slight, wavering sentiment that I wish either Willow or Tara had been on the butch side for my own selfish reasons of personal enjoyment. Like, I love both characters as they are, and the Willow/Tara storyline is still such a huge breakthrough, and the dynamic would probably change if it wasn't a femme/femme relationship but I kinda just want some eye candy. Like I wish it made me more giddy in special ways other than "yay, representation!" but I'm just not wired that way and the overwhelming majority of girl-on-girl relationships on mainstream TV tend to fall into that trope.

It's basically why my heart explodes into mass amounts of squee and insatiable lust every time I see Brienne of Tarth.

Neil Gaiman, while not a bear of any sort, once said that the best advice another writer had given him was to put conditioner in his beard before shaving.

"fifty shades of BUTTS" totally makes me think of Butt magazine, though, and their dedication to printing in at least fifty shades of PINK.