Posted by FreshOne at 158.96.138.106 on January 17, 2001 at 13:26:22:
In Reply to: Chasing Amy ?/Alyssa's virginity posted by Madeline on January 17, 2001 at 11:54:15:
: I was rewatching Chasing Amy and had a question about the issue of Alyssa's virginity. In the scene where Holden and Alyssa first meet she is proving her familiarity with New Jersey and says "lost my virginity there."
: Then Holden spends a long time believeing that he was the first man Alyssa was ever with, do you think Holden forgot that comment, shoved it aside because it would have skewed his picture of Alyssa, or just chalked it up to a "non-traditional" loss of virginity?
: Also, why do you think Alyssa was so careful not to reveal her sexual experiences to Holden in the scene at the swings? At that point she wasn't really involved with him, but she was clearly evasive about having ever been with a man. Anyone have opinions as to why?
: If answers to these questions have already been given by Kevin, I do apologize, I checked the summeries and didn't see anything. Besides, I'm not just looking for Kevin's answer (altohugh that'd be interesting) I'm curious to see how other people interpret these things too.
: Thanks!
: Madeline
Well, when Holden asked her about NJ, he didn't know she was a lesbian yet so he probably didn't put much thought into whether she meant traditional sex or not. Once he found out she was gay, he probably just didn't really look back at it and question, and if he did he would just chalk it up to her definition of sex.
I think the reason she was so evasive is two fold. One, she wants to make her point to him that lesbian sex IS sex, and so she focuses on that point. The other reason is that she has unconscious feelings towards Holden even though she probably doesn't want to admit it at this point. So deep down she knows she should tip toe around the point because she does desire a relationship with him, and she doesn't want to say anything to jeopardize that.
FreshOne