lff12

The other day I was back home in north Dub and was in HMV buying a present for a sister when I spotted a real bargain - a substantial box set of seasons 1-3 of the L-Word for a mere 31 euros.  As I recall still paying not only about 80 euros to get the preorder NTSC version straight over from the US for my then girlfriend, but also the rip-off Irish duty, tax and extortionate fees for collecting it (which I might add, they don't just tax you on the value of the items, they tax you in rip-off republic for the DELIVERY charges also!!)  Fortunately the relationship didn't last beyond the 3rd season so I only managed to blow a couple of hundred on the series before I went off into the sunset of living alone and pleasuring just moi.

So I was pretty happy to pick up the lot for 30 bucks.

Anyway since I lost touch with the L-Word around season 4 I felt I needed to get back in touch before I play catch up with about 3 years of it.

I have to say, I really enjoyed it, just as much as I did when it first came out.  It was glamorous, it was sexy, and whatever would happen next!?  The whole Jenny/Marina thing REALLY broke ice I think - I think a lot of women probably do relate to accidental introductions to lesbian life the "practical" way rather than the hard old fashioned way I did it, i.e. coming out years before there was ever any joy to be had from it.  So most significiantly, I think it put the "sex" back into homosexuality.  People didn't just sit around talking politics, they interacted, they flitered, they socialised, and they got lucky!  None of the old fashioned and still common "bad wedding" model that so many dyke clubs seem to cling onto, these were exciting looking places full of attractive people.

So I thought it might be interesting to revisit the key criticisms that L-Word got at the time.  Bear in mind that this is hugely reterospective and I think a lot of the women who might have agreed a few years ago may now be huge fans.  Things have changed a lot in our world, thankfully mostly for the better.  So anyway here are the key complaints and where we stand 5 years later.

• The women are all "skinny" and look like "models"
• It is aimed at "men"
• There is too much heterosexual sex
• There seems to be some kind of problem with the idea of lesbians having hidden sex in public restrooms as the domain of "gay men"
• Its not about "us" and it will "scare" heterosexuals who are already uncomfortable about "us"

What I find particularly offensive about these criticisms is that they come from an established political mafia of lesbians who seem, for whatever reason, to aspire to conform to the "butch stereotype" that L-Word at least initially tried to evade (the introduction of Moira/Max later on in the initially seemed to contradict this).  I prefer to refer, both for simplicities sake, and in order to show the depth of my physical revulsion for such women, as "bulldykes", generally mannish, working class, all too often "victims of society".  The real issue here, is why a) feminine women were so rare in many communities (and still in some of the more forsaken places today) and b) is there some kind of negativity or lack of belief regarding feminine or "straight acting" women that has driven them out of the old fashioned lesbians comunity?  I think this can in many cases, all too sadly, be answered by a resounding "yes".  Yes, femininity is taboo within some lesbian communities as it is seen as cow-towing to patriarchal values.  The result of this is at best marginalisation of women who don't conform to the bulldyke stereotype WITHIN communities, and at worst such women may be excluded or driven out of communities by socially hostile bulldykes.  And the worst scenario of all is the lack of credibility that such women face.  Their integrity is questioned by those who are accustomed to the butch dyke patriarchy.  Its a kind of reverse homophobia.  I think Julie Serano writes extensively on the issue of marginalisation of femininity in the lesbian feminist circles well.

Is it really aimed at men?  SHO is a channel which is relatively broad reaching, but all of those involved in the early days of the L-Word had a long and established set of credentials writing for the relatively narrow lesbian community.  Rose Troche and Guinevere Turner were both involved with films previously.  There was even a mock-up of the Doral hotel in Palm Springs done in confuction with the likes of Olivia, Club Skirts, etc for a Dinah Shore based episode.  Numerous actresses with a history of parts in ground breaking lesbian films played parts from the beginning right through until the last series, even iconic series without a specifically lesbian maintext got included (for example Lucy Lawless has a small role in the last series).  To suggest this is simply "for male gazes" is simplistic and insulting for women who deeply enjoy these shows and films of the past.  I think though, the sexualisation of the entire series left a lot of viewers in shock.  Lesbian lives have traditionally been extremely coy about sexuality.  If anything many of the traditional community events are very desexualised and those that were not ran a gauntlet of extreme hostility from women who held a second wave feminist viewpoint on women as sexual beings.  I think this is the real fear of the lesbian anti sex league - they are genuinely afraid of the consequences of being "gazed upon" by male viewers and thus objectified.  I think this has roots in deeper sexuality issues with some women who may block out heterosexual pasts or feelings in order to meet a level of conformity demanded by a rather conformist community.

Too much hetero sex?  Ah come on.  This rapidly vanished after the first series.

The public restroom criticism goes back to the same sexuality arguement - lesbians don't want to be "seen" as "behaving badly" or even as "sexual" by men, for what is often deep and complex reasons, possibly relating to prior experiences of male sexuality, or perhaps a sense of need to conform to a rigid but confortable lesbian feminist ideology.  I suspect it is for this reason lesbians have been so slow in general to embrace sex-friendly happenings, though this boundary is crumbling rapidly.

The last argument really does sum up a huge part of the problem.  The traditional separtist lesbian feminist community were deeply alarmed by L-Word because they couldn't recognise their own "image."  And their position was sometimes "this is not us" - the implication being made is that this is basically straight writers and actresses playing out for the camera.  Actually the odd thing was, that from the late 90s onward, the womens scene was rapidly diversifying in most countries, helped in large by more relaxed door policies that I suspect led more to criticisms of gay venues not catering for women, a response to women who didn't have a lot of lesbian friends and who needed to socialise in mixed venues, and lastly, a real sense of embarassment at the hurt, offence and prejudice raised around "born-women-only" policies in larger events.  These led to a gradual proliferation of "mixed" venues primarily for women but permiting men entry, many of whom to this day are the subject of massive vitriol, usually completely unjustified.  This wasn't so strong in 2004 but was already well on its way in California and some of the larger worldwide communities.  By now its only in very small communities that there is still discrimination against lesbians who "look straight".

The most fascinating thing about this entire debate is that no group LOVED the L-Word more with a passion than the good old fashioned butch dyke.  These girls lapped it up more than anybody else, no doubt displaying a real hunger for a richer tapestry within the community and a desire for a bit of glamour.  Lets hope it gets picked up by other producers.