So, Glee and its handling of paternity fraud and such was brought up not too far back. And I want to bring up another show. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of you will never have seen it, but in the subject of men's rights, it is a surprisingly bright light, for such an on-the-surface vapid show.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Yepp, you read that right. I was really bored a while ago and there wasn't a whole lot on hulu, and my best friend's uncle works on it, so out of morbid curiosity I watched a few episodes. And I have to say, that while a lot of it is ridiculous, it does a good job balancing sex-positivity with encouraging teens to wait, or at least to think and use protection (and takes a variety of views on various choices, male and female alike), has dealt with the father of the baby having been a kid who was sexually abused by his father and neglected by his mother and thus sent into foster care (and when they recently had him confront her, all was not magically forgiven just because she now felt bad about it) without in any way shape of form trivialising abuse just because he's a boy, and most importantly, has been championing the rights of fathers.

The last several episodes have taken the minor theme of Ricky Being A Good Dad, which has always figured in the series, and turned it into something big, where he quite justifiably wants weekend custody. And when the mother reacts against it, she is properly portrayed as just being jealous, hateful, and selfish, and most people come out on the father's side.

It was just resolved, in that he forced the issue to mediation, and while the mother changed her mind right at the end and admitted she was wrong and that she'd let the father have weekends, the mediator commended her decision but still told her it was too late to let her make the unofficial decision, and it was an official custody arrangement now, that he had sided with the father's request for weekends.

I kind of feel awful for watching such a silly show for preteens, but at the same time I really want to support a lot of the messages they're spreading. I can't believe that such a mainstream show is coming out so strongly for a father's rights, among other things. I'd have expected it to be the same old "teen boys are dogs, and the girls are either pure or sluts, and sex is always a mistake, and the boys always suck at responsibility" trash that's in similar shows. I really hope it has a good impact on the younger kids who are its target audience.