I don't know what I'm doing.

"Heated Rivalry” season 1 is officially being released on physical formats! (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4k Blu-ray)

Shane Hollander is fantastic autistic representation in general, but something that I really appreciate is the fact that Heated Rivalry is probably the first time in mainstream media that I personally have ever seen an autistic character portrayed as being sexual.

I think, as an autistic person, I've only ever seen autistic characters being portrayed as sexless, because non-autistic people assume we're all like that. Asexual autistics exist and they are my siblings and I love them deeply; that's not the problem. The problem is automatically being perceived that way by non-autistics. It's a stereotype rooted in the long history of autistic people (and disabled people in general) being infantalised.

So to have Shane Hollander, who is not only sexually active, but also (and this is a compliment) a freaky little slut is so refreshing. I love that Shane is an autistic freaky little slut. Because, yes! Autistic people can have sex! Shocking!

And what's better is that even though Shane is submissive, he's always treated both by Ilya and the narrative as an adult. He loves to be bossed about by Ilya and he loves to be gently bullied, but throughout it all, he's always respected and treated fairly. He is treated like an adult.

I think, in the beginning, that was likely one of the appeals to Shane about Ilya. At the start of the story, the two people he's closest to are his parents, and while David and Yuna are great, they're his parents, they still see him as their little boy, even as he's drafted into the NHL (sorry, the "MLH"). Yuna also doubles as Shane's manager, and she's obviously very protective of him. They never baby him in any way, but there's always that underlining... y'know, he's their baby, right?

With Ilya? He's just Shane. Being around Ilya was likely the first time Shane got to be someone outside of his parents' baby boy (and of course Mr. Canadian Hockey Dream Star).

"A moment that put things in perspective for me was when Liv Chu-Ouellette, on a stage surrounded by thousands, held up the Walter Cup. She was a month old when Les Canadiennes raised the banner for their 2017 Clarkson Cup championship at a 576-seat community rink"