Last Saturday night I was up far later than I should have been working on things for Primary the next morning. I’d had a busy week and my procrastination was catching up to me! (I’m the first counselor in the Primary presidency but was also filling in for the chorister). When I finally finished, I decided to get in bed and watch TV to help me unwind a little, and I came across a show called “Girlfriends” on the new CW network. I’d seen part of “Girlfriends” once before and in that episode, one of the characters, Lynn (who is biracial), indicated that she’d been adopted by Caucasian parents. So when I came across the show again, my interest was piqued and I decided to watch it.

To my great disappointment, the show was utterly appalling. The language and sexual innuendo were bad, but worse was the storyline about the return of Lynn’s birthmother, Sandy:

A scatterbrained, intrusive, obnoxious woman appears at the door and immediately grabs the face of Lynn’s roommate and begins examining her from every angel. She isn’t trying to determine whether this woman is her birthchild (Sandy appears certain she is), but rather which of her lovers might have produced this child. She rattles off a couple of possibilities (Dan? Ted?) as the roommates stand around looking bewildered. Finally Lynn comes into the picture and Sandy realizes she’s had the wrong girl in her grips. She introduces herself as Lynn’s birthmother, and after a few moments of confused silence from Lynn and her friends, Sandy bursts out with, “I’ll say it for you – ‘Where’ve you been you all this time, you floosey?’”, or something to that effect, followed by raucous laughter.

After the initial awkwardness, Lynn and Sandy begin to get to know one another and become friends. Later, however, Lynn is mortified to witness her birthmom behaving promiscuously in a hot tub. Sandy thinks Lynn is a prude. Lynn also learns that her birthmother is trying to put together a documentary (read: trying to get funding that is unlikely to materialize) about sexuality, and Sandy manages to convince Lynn to quit her job and join her in the documentary-making business. Lynn’s inquiries about the circumstances of her placement in an adoptive family are met with insensitive, vague responses about the timing not having been right and that a baby would have put a damper on the plans she had at the time.

After working with Lynn and beginning to regain her trust and build a relationship, Sandy ultimately abandons Lynn a second time when her prospects for funding of the documentary fall through. Lynn is hurt, but musters the courage to ask whether she can go with her birthmother and help find financing. Sandy rejects her offer and tells her only that she’ll see her again sometime.

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