I am posting a number of links that are important. If I wasn't sick, if I was as eloquent as the sources, if I didn't have a million words to write by June, if I didn't owe progress notes I would write something brilliant, outraged, uplifting about each of these things.
The military is up to it's usual in being a dangerous training unit helping to create and justify homophobic behavior because I don't know about you but I never heard a word about this until today (granted I've been slacking on my blog and webnews reading). Thanks to Diane for pointing this out.
I really do have a lot to say on this topic, but I really don't have the energy. Thanks Molly for bringing to a wider audience.
Thanks to Twisty, I recently became aware of Kourtney. I am not a devotee of the L-Word, because I don't pay to have Sh*wtime, I have seen portions of it when I have been places that have that channel (for me, Six Feet Under would have been a reason to subscribe, if I had been able. Most importantly though I will never rent the dvds either because what I did see was horrible, except for Pam Grier who I love. Truly bad, the sterotyping was wretched, the blandness of the characters inexcusable, and the absence of anyone remotely looking like the lesbian/dykes/queers I know. For example, did the producers never meet a butch? But reading this, just put it on my banned for life list.
One of my best blog friends, Ancrene Wiseass, brought another horrendous crime that touches on race, gender, class, sexuality, athletics over academics - just everything! I told her I would link this on my site, and am finally getting around to it. Upon first reading, I had hoped, honestly I admit it, that it was an urban legend kind of this, a wild night spun out of scale with reality. But no, it's real. I even saw it being covered on CNN today, but I didn't have the stomach to stay tuned for it.
I implore you to play this video clip - it's inspiring. If only real people, people with real power spoke like this. It was so well done that even The Girl Friend left the clouds of her own laptop surfing to listen. We were both moved. Thanks Arse Poetica - another blog pal who never fails to make laugh, or enrage me, either way I just love her stuff.
I had many thoughts reading Susie Bright's take on the JT Leroy debacle. Go to January 8th 2006 "You're No J.T. Leroy - Thank God". It was so interesting to read someone's person relationship to the imaginary author, to view Susie's vulnerability up close. It brought up so many thought sabout our society's bizarre fascination with the freak, the "young genuis", why we don't value the artistry of writing enough that Laura could have just written a great work of fiction and published it as such.
There's so much more but I'm feeling worse, it's late and I've bored you enough for one evening.
3 comments:
I have written extensively about The L Word, as you probably know, so I won't get into what I've already written, except to say that 30% of the show's major characters are non-white, which could be better, but it also isn't horrible.
As for the way the women look...they happen to look pretty much like many of the lesbians I know, but certainly not all. I'm not defending this concept, mind you, but most people on soap operas do not look like most people who are watching.
Hi Diane
Actually I didn't know you wrote about the L-word. 30% isn't bad, but if what Nubian wrote about that scene is close to accurate than that number is meaningless.
As for how they look, yes it's true that most folks on other soap operas don't look like 85% of the population but that is a problem for me as well. I don't look like that, neither do the majority of my friends. When they have short and size 14 women on tv as a normal character with a love life (Suki on Gilmore Girls sort of thing) I will start to be happy. When they have truly dark skinned AA and Latino women on tv as the part of norm that exists in the world, I will start to be happy. When they show gay men in all their diversity I will be happier. When all shows STOP doing xmas shows as a standard ploy - I will do such a happy dance. We have a long way to go.
You know, I saw that show and somehow missed the part about her being caged. I just thought she was in front of a glass panel. I was completely turned off by it anyway, because I think there is way too much gratuitous sex in the show. If she was caged, I find that to be big turn-off. If she was caged and most of the people in the room were white, it's disgusting.
My guess is that the producers of the show somehow think they they don't have to follow certain guidelines because the show is about lesbians and not men/women. Many years ago, my partner at the time got into a big argument with Kate Millett (she was in town and I was doing some work with her) about her doing nudes of women. He asked her why it was any less exploitive for her, a bisexual woman, to draw nude women than for men to draw them.
Of course, I don't think it's exploitive for anyone to draw anyone nude, as long as the event is about art and everyone is polite.
Post a Comment