Big Mouth is not subtle about anything when it comes to puberty. However, since it carries aesops on sex-positivity, consent, puberty and relationships, it's better to make everything clear.
- Bisexuality isn't just gay people in denial or on their way to discovering that they're homosexual, nor is it straight just people who are experimenting. It's a legitimate, valid sexuality. As such, biphobia and bi erasure are 100% real forms of discrimination and should be treated as such.
- Feeling shame is an unpleasant experience, especially when it's unjust and unnecessary, but it doesn't mean that there can't be any development from it under the right circumstances. The ability to feel shame is an important part of a person's psyche. It helps you recognize what you did wrong and gives you the knowledge not to not repeat those behaviors. For example, Andrew frequently submitted to his sexual cravings but when the shame wizard came into his life, he started to try and control himself because he felt ashamed about what he did.
- On the other hand, the show also reveals that there are things you should never feel shame or be ashamed about, like your body or your sexuality.
- The show also demonstrates that repeated shaming often leads to shame spiraling, which results in self-loathing and compulsive repetition of the shameful act. For example, before the Shame Wizard agreed to moderate his influence to something more akin to guilt, Andrew became convinced he was a terrible person and chronically masturbated to an even greater degree. Later on, he controlled himself in a more healthy way. In this way, the show tries to strike a difference between shame/being shamed, feeling ashamed, and guilt (a related but different emotion).
- Well-endowed pre/teenage girls and women shouldn't have to deal with bullying from other females out of jealousy or worry about unwanted come ons from horny old men (or women). Sadly this isn’t the case as poor Gina had to deal with both.
- "Guy Town" drops several about toxic masculinity.
- While the boys initially worship Jay's father for making the titular motel a safe haven for "manly" men, they're quickly turned off by the creepy and immature habits of the all-male clientele and realize that this is the reason none of them have female companions in the first place. Meanwhile, Nick learns not to dismiss his father for being In Touch with His Feminine Side when he sees him saving someone's life with CPR, proving that a concern for the well-being of others is not unmanly, even if it can sometimes be overbearing.
- As Matthew also learns, effeminate gay men and boys like himself are not immune to being toxically masculine and that catty, dismissive and bitchy behavior is no less negative a form of toxicity than machismo.
- Don't believe everything you see online and if you're afraid that you have an STD, see a medical professional so you can get treatment or be better informed.
- Even if you haven’t had sex yet, getting tested just to be safe is a good idea, especially if you plan to become sexually active in the future.
- The way a woman dresses, be it conservatively, provocatively or anywhere in between is their choice and theirs alone, and forcing them to dress a certain way doesn’t stop men and boys from preying on them, it just punishes women for the crimes of men.
- Related, women standing up for their autonomy isn't about conforming to a standard set by rules from other women either, it's about defending your right to Be Yourself and not having to dress in ways that are uncomfortable. Missy was shamed for wearing her regular clothes by the mean girls and Jessi (which caused her to feel ashamed of her body).
- Forcing other women (and allies) to follow some unwritten rule book about what being a "real" feminist means is self-defeating, if not a form of female misogyny.
- Men can actually be taught to not be sexual predators and how to recognize potentially sexually predatory behavior and how to stop it doing it despite what some of them may tell you. Looking at someone’s body and giving them unwanted sexual comments still hurt.
- The reverse can also happen and there are also same sex examples, hold those people accountable as well.
- Sometimes, restraining your anger for the sake of remaining diplomatic will only get you so far and the only way you can keep defending yourself is to express just how angry you are.
- You are never too old to go through significant physical or emotional changes. Things like menopause or discovering your sexuality later in life can be just as traumatizing for grown adults as it is during puberty and what they are going through should be handled as such.
- If your an adult with kids it’s ok to look for happiness if your life is horrible, but your kids also come first.
- Breakups can be extremely emotional and difficult to get past, but being mean to your ex because of your pain is just you being extremely entitled and cruel.
- Breaking up with someone because you realize that person is bad for you, because you realize you are too young to date, or are just not ready for a relationship, is not only but is always the right move. You may also feel painfully sad because you loved that person, but you will be healthier and happier in the long run.
- Your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner is not your property.
- A relationship is a partnership and while your partners feelings are important so are your own, never put them over yourself or make them put you first.
- Even if you have a happy and healthy relationship, communication is always important. Matthew, through a misunderstanding with another gay couple, thought his boyfriend wanted to have sex with him and was freaking out about it. After trying to make a small sexual move on Aiden, he freaks out and is wondering what’s up. After Matthew explains his worries, fears and how he really feels, they decide to be more open with each other no matter what. Because of their young age neither feels ready to do anything sexual so stick to kissing and sending each other consensual topless/underwear photos.
- Coming out to your parents is still a challenging thing to do. Matthew, feeling nothing would change between them, comes out to his mother first as they have the better relationship, and she cuts him out of their mother-son baking tradition to his shock. While that experience wasn’t a positive one, he decides he still has to come out to his father. However much to his shock, his father already suspected his son was gay and supports Matthew unconditionally.
- Being a transgender (or non binary) teenager is extremely hard, just ask Natalie. A girl having to go to the camp where just last year she was known as a boy. Natalie has to deal with an awful camp counselor and boys who believe she is still one of them (they use her dead name more than once) and her new roommates who pressure her, a thirteen girl year old already on hormone blockers, into dressing in flashy clothes they pick out and insisting she wear heavy makeup, just to pass by their standard. Meaning she had to adopt a negative attitude just to survive the first few days (Trans fans wanted to hug her).
- Jessi is also a total bitch to her over a prank that happened last summer; while the two girls patch things up and become close friends, she also has to deal with heartbreak in the worst way, her crush despite seeing her as a boy didn’t want people to know he kissed her because of how it might affect him, he gets better but the damage to that relationship is done.
- Old habits die hard. Despite Nick and Andrew having learned their respective lessons of not sharing other people's secrets and not being possessive by the beginning of season 3 and doing their best to not make the same mistakes, "Super Mouth" shows that this is easier said than done and learning a lesson doesn't automatically cause the feelings that cause people to have these habits to go away, especially not with children who are still trying to figure out what their emotions even are.
- Matthew can still be a bitch at times, in Season 4 he makes Coach Steve believe their school trip to the 9/11 museum is actually a birthday celebration for him. However, Matthew questions why he did it. Once there, Coach Steve realizes how truly bad 9/11 was and wishes he wasn’t born on that day at all. Matthew (partly thanks to Caleb) realizes how wrong his lie was and with Caleb’s help makes right by apologizing to Coach Steve and giving him an impromptu birthday celebration.
- Anxiety manifests differently for all kinds of people. It is not always the stereotypical panicking seen in media. While Andrew deals with anxiety in the more obvious way, Jessi and Nick's anxiety cause them to become incredibly self-conscious for the former and push everyone away out fear of intimacy for the latter. It's important recognize these signs to able to help those dealing with their troubles.
- Adding to the above, while your personal problems are your top priority, it is wrong to ignore someone else's distress for the sake of your own. Nick repeatedly rejects Jessi's help and is insensitive to her troubles at times, which strains their relationship across the fourth season. On the other hand, when Jessi learns from Tito that Nick's been struggling with his own fears, she realizes why he's been acting up and that he needs help like she does, leading to their reconciliation in the finale.
- Jessi would repeat this offense in Season 5. In pursuit of her feelings for Ali, Jessi blew off Missy's Affinity Group and was completely dismissive when the latter was justifiably upset. Sonya and Shame Wizard point out that while Missy's hate blew out of proportion, it was wrong for Jessi to assert her problems over something so personal to Missy to begin with.
- You are responsible for how you behave when dealing with puberty and your life, no one else. While there may be outside influences, the choices you make and the attitude you put out there are your own. Nick learns this the hard way in Season 5 after the last few seasons of blaming his hormone monsters for his troubles. Nick Kroll stops him and points that it's ultimately on Nick for the hate he's gotten and the only one in control of his actions.
- It's ok to feel hormones and it's ok to feel sexually attracted to somebody, it's an involuntary biological process that can be difficult to control without knowledge or experience. However, acting on those hormones is a different matter entirely as you are still in control of your own actions and can do real harm to the people who are either not attracted to you, at a different age to you (too young or too old), or otherwise not comfortable with what they thought they were consenting to.
- Elijah's arc in "Asexual Healing" teaches us that being asexual doesn't mean that you are "broken", and you shouldn't force yourself into sexual actions just because others are into it or are pressuring you to do so. It's also okay to be in relationships despite being ace, as long as your and your partner are understanding of each other's needs.
