I do not play about Jackie being a lesbian who experiences severe compulsory heterosexuality. That is 100% canon to me. She looks absolutely miserable when Jeff asks her to go down on him, she finds every excuse to avoid having sex with him, and when she finally does have sex with a man it’s when she’s passively suicidal, no longer believes in love, and wants to lash out against Shauna. The catalyst for Jackie’s despair and complete loss of hope is discovering Shauna’s betrayal, and when she learns that Shauna and Jeff slept together, her devastation is focused solely on Shauna.
Any time Jackie is with a man it feels like self-punishment or destruction. It’s something she’s doing to herself, not for herself. She is a character suffocated by expectations of perfection and social influence, forced to perform a version of femininity and romance that doesn’t actually fit her. Jackie as a closeted lesbian makes so much sense for her story and her tragic end. Those slumber party make outs were definitely happening.


















