On the Antiquatedness of Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” Lyrics

There are a number of reasons why Avril Lavigne’s 2002 single, “Sk8er Boi,” is lyrically (and musically) obsolete. The chief cause for this antiquatedness is a result of the introduction of the song, “He was a boy, she was a girl/Can I make it any more obvious?”

The truth is, Avril, you could make it a little more obvious, as this is the twenty-first century and it’s not in any way overt what one’s sexual preferences are (or even what his/her/their gender is, for that matter). Just because one is a boy and one is a girl does not mean they were destined to intertwine genitalia.

Maybe in her Canadian ignorance, Lavigne forgot that heterosexuality isn’t the only manner in which a person can find love. And it’s not as though Lavigne can fall back on the excuse of 2002 as a motive for her short-sidedness. This was, after all, the year of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.” And so, the more time passes, the more McCarthyist these staunch “Sk8er Boi” lyrics championing the “self-evident” nature of heterosexuality become.