You know what I miss? I miss attractive fictional lesbians.

[thejollyape]

Don’t get me wrong, there are some good-looking contemporary lesbian and bisexual characters and in some cases they’re even portrayed by attractive ladies. But in fiction they are still not attractive, to me. The key point here is; to me (keep that in mind before you attack me). They’re good looking and all, and on rare occasions the character is

Comments

[xenasgrrl]

"They’re not female queers, they’re what the mainstream think a female queer should be

[thejollyape]

straight acting characters who are supposedly gay Bo really is the prime example of this. There is nothing, absolutely nothing about her that is the least bit queer. It's amazing though because even explicit sexual scenes with other women still does nothing to make her come across as anything but straight. And she's also, probably because of it, one of those very unattractive bisexual characters out there. Then there's also Lauren on that show, which I do have a weak spot for, but if we are to be honest that's more likely influenced by the actress than the character (something that ties back into the main point

[xenasgrrl]

Yep. There have been a few shows (on Logo, the gay channel here in the U.S. that has actually stopped showing anything good anymore and mostly shows straight TV now) and movies that depicted queer women living actual QUEER lives...who were mostly surrounded with other queer women and some men. Who caught the flavor and essence of what it means and feels like. But sadly so few and far between, and they never seem to do well enough to stay on (the TV shows).

[thejollyape]

That's really what I miss the most, fiction that's relatable and parallel to my own experiences. Sure I want escapism as much as the next person, but most TV at the moment is so incredibly alien that I feel like I can't keep up because they're talking an ancient and incomprehensible language. I'm just not following. It's like Japanese game shows, but without the entertainment or chock value.

[relax_o_vision]

I think female sexuality is still a big taboo in general. We're not supposed to have an identity on our own, so the queer women we get to see are sold as "label" free. And they're always femme, because anything else would make them actual queer characters. So they don't talk about their sexual orientation and they're most often shady characters, too. Take Kalinda in The Good Wife as opposed to Alicia's brother on the same show. While I love Kalinda, it also annoys me that we have yet another non-defined female sexual creature who doesn't talk about who she is at all. But gay guys? Of course we talk about homophobia in that context. Because men are even when they're on their own. Women define themselves through their relationships, always

[thejollyape]

taking the queerness away from us and give it to straight women.

This is almost more depressing. Especially since in so many of the cases they lift everything from lesbian culture and "traditions" and make it explicitly straight and yet when we comment on the subtext, comment on the obvious we are then called delusional and told we desperately see gays everywhere. Which, well obviously we are more inclined to see gays, because that's our point-of-view. But damnit it feels frustrating to have something that is more often than not linked to homosexuality washed of the homosexuality. Especially considering this happens alongside the straight-washing of the few "label free" female characters there are.

[atomiclava]

Definitely a lot to think about, but yes I've noticed a lot of this, too, but mostly in the reverse, by giving straight female characters queer traits. Or really, it's more accurate to say making female gay characters straight. Like, Arya Stark from Game of Thrones is the best example I've seen recently. She's such a little baby lesbian. She is exactly like I was at her age. But, while the show hasn't officially made her not gay, the weirdest thing about the situation is the huge fandom desire to romantically pair her up with Gentry. It freaks me out. The majority of the audience sees this character and wants her to be straight. Like, it's okay for her to be a tomboy because she'll grow out of it, her "hormones will kick in" and fall in love with a man. Like that is the only way the audience will accept her as she grows up

[thejollyape]

It's making you feel ridiculously impotent. Like the person above you commented, Jane Rizzoli is another perfect example of this. Which is even worse considering the show actively and quite blatantly play with lesbian subtext but at the same time vocally denounce the existence of it. What we have, or had is taken away and striped of its power and in return we are handed a piece of straight furniture with the words "sexually fluid" written across them. And I'm sorry, but writing gay on a chair does not make it a gay chair any more than having a het acting character say they're gay.

So as an end result, what is our is taken out of our hands and neutered. What we don't want is forced down our throats. Over on AfterEllen they usually refer to it as "visibility", personally however I think "bullshit" is a more fitting description of it.