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Simon Has a Bone to Pick

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Simon: What are the other things?
Noah: I don't want to bring them up.
Simon: Do you want to talk to the school counselor?
Noah: I did. It didn't go well.
Simon: Oh. Well, not every counselor is a good match. If you need more help or you want to talk, come by my, okay?
Noah: Okay.
Simon: Just so you know, I want my class to be a safe place, so tell me if there's anything I can do to ensure that.
Noah: I don't think Mrs. Castle feels that way.
Simon: You want me to talk to her?
(image of Simon saying to Paige "The way YOU'RE treating students is negatively impacting MY CLASS.")
Noah: No.

Making People Cry

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Simon: They say as a teacher, you'll inevitably make a student cry at some point.
Lily: You can't really MAKE someone cry. You're responsible for what you DO to someone, not their emotional reactions. Like, your emotions are a chaotic amalgamation of all your past traumas, your expectations and desires, the stories you tell yourself, your physiological state, AND what happens to you. You walk around with all that stuff loaded up like a bomb, someone says one little thing, and then BOOM! It all explodes. No one can predict or control the bundle of causes and effects. And the pressure to MAKE someone FEEL BETTER after you've hurt them can get in the way of the actual compassion that would HELP.

Other People's Feelings

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Simon: I think you can make someone cry. They say "you can't hurt anyone emotionally because we're all in charge of our own reactions" and that's bullshit.
Lily: I agree. It's easy to justify treating people like garbage with that mentality. There's a balance between "I don't care about your feelings" and "I'll do anything to keep you from being sad!"
Sasha: This is why I had to get out of my parents' house. They act like I’m responsible for keeping them happy, and if I do something they don't approve of, I'm being CRUEL to them. Like... wearing leggings.
Simon: Your parents dislike you wearing leggings?
Sasha: Yeah. They say they're indecent and I should have more self-respect.
Lily: Funny how "SELF-respect" often involves denying your own wishes and caving to what other people want.

Modesty

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Lily: Modesty is a weird social construct. If a woman can say that the sight of a penis is an assault on her, isn't that like a man saying it's distracting to see part of a woman's breast?
Simon: That's different. Breasts are not sexual organs.
Lily: It doesn't matter. The cultural enticement of a body part depends mostly on popular narratives and taboos, not its sexual function. Otherwise, gynecologists who are attracted to women wouldn't be able to do their jobs because they'd be too distracted by all the vaginas. We adjust to what we’re used to seeing.

Breasts

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Simon: Yes, modesty depends on social norms, and we need to CHANGE some of them. I don't think covering the genitals is a problematic norm as long as it's enforced equally for all genders. But the BREASTS are a double standard. Those who have to routinely USE their breasts for their biological purpose are the same people who are expected to keep them covered, while a DIFFERENT half of the population can reveal our bare chests in many public settings.
Lily: Good point.
(a woman tries to breastfeed her baby at a pool next to her topless husband. She hands the baby to him and says, "Ugh, why can't YOU do this?")

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