Comments on: LOL-Word

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:54:43 +0000

I’ve been getting into the beginning of the second season of The L Word, and it looks like the show had decided not to have an extended, fairly explicit heterosex scene in every show, and to have more butch women, which is good. But it seems that it always has to have a good-looking, basically likable straight man as a main character. Now that Tim has gone away, Shane and Jenny had to get a roommate, and of course it’s a straight guy who has the money way in advance. But he’s the obnoxious filmmaker who put hidden cameras in every room of the house except the bathroom. So… why is almost every young straight male portrayed as one of the “duh, lesbians are hawt” morons? There actually are straight guys who are cool with lesbians without wanting to intrude into their lives, and others who just don’t like lesbians. I think only this type of young straight male is shown because this is one of the shows main target audience groups.

Oh yes, the sex scene in season one where one of the two women was wearing high heels in bed: is anyone other than straight men AT ALL turned on by this? I only see high heels in bed in straight porn.

And are the lesbian sex scenes toned down in order to not alienate straight women? I’ve wondered this for a while. Okay, in the second season there’s the scene in the pool between Helena Peabody and Tina (or should I say Tina’s big-breasted body double?), but otherwise, it’s mostly tepid stuff.

I’m saying this after having seen episode 9 of Queer As Folk’s final season (American series), specifically the scene between Lindsay and Melanie where Lindsay waited up for Melanie to come back from a date. As far as passion and heat, well, why is something like that in a show that was predominantly aimed at gay men and only secondarily at lesbians, rather than in a show with lesbians as its core audience? It was far more exciting than any intimate interaction between anyone on The L Word, at last so far (early in its second season).

And, if there were those of you who were happy and grateful that I said what I did about The L Word in an earlier post, and what I said seemed self-evident, WHY DID IT TAKE A MALE TO SAY THEM? just wondering….

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:56:54 +0000

I live in rural New England, so you KNOW that the dykes I know don’t look anything like The L Word women. As a matter of fact, the hetero women I know don’t look anything like The L Word women. If you need to dress for temperature swings, precipitation (frozen or liquid), bringing in firewood, and the possibility of getting stuck on dirt roads, you will not look like The L Word women.

That said, TV doctors don’t look like my primary care provider, TV cops don’t look like the ones I see around my neighborhood, TV teachers don’t look like my sister or the other educators who are near and dear to me … If there WERE any shows featuring librarians, mail carriers, pizza delivery people or housepainters, they wouldn’t look like the ones I know, either. TV World is its own private Idaho.

By: Maggie Jochild

Maggie Jochild — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:48:28 +0000

Thanks, Josh. I’ve watched clips and never seen a single woman who remotely resembled the dykes I’ve known. Just not my lesbian reality.

By: Lilithe

Lilithe — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:55:28 +0000

OMG, OMG, OMGoddess thank you!

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:20:09 +0000

Based on having seen the first season (so far), I don’t think it’s deniable that The L Word panders to straight people, particularly straight men. I just can’t imagine that every single lesbian out there would enjoy the at least one explicit, extended heterosex scene per show, nor do I think that the near absence of gay men in the show, and the negative characterizations, with heterosexist stereotypes, of virtually all the gay men who ARE shown, is a big draw for most lesbians either, but I know who WOULD like it.

Come on, a lesbian couple is going to go around to straight men rather than the gay men they know when they need a sperm donor?

Also it seems to me that the butch women they started to show toward the end of the first season are homelier than the fem women, which fits nicely with the views of many straight people.

I have enjoyed the show so far and will watch more episodes, but it’s clear the show’s creators felt the lesbian audience wasn’t close to lucrative enough by itself to sell the project to Showtime.

By: Mac-guy

Mac-guy — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:50:22 +0000

Ahem. Not all male interest in lesbians is sexual. I for one identify as Stuart does: “a butch dyke in a man’s body.” I find myself drawn to lesbian culture and ideas principally because I prefer the Feminist-Liberal thinking and the spirit of the quest toward something new and different. Admittedly, I am turned on by the thought of women having sex but even sexually, I rather more appreciate the idea of the union of sensuality with everyday life than simple girl-girl porn. I will not say that my views are mainstream male, but I do wish that people would recognize that there are nuances in male thought.

By: Deena in OR

Deena in OR — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:45:54 +0000

Oh, but Danyell and others…the true test of being an ICHC fanatic is whether or not you post in the comments section. Nawt seccund danze, ennyone??

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:30:09 +0000

I will never forget a couple of weeks ago, sitting around a huge table in a restaurant with my family, while my sister’s close friend, who we grew up with, and who is straight, proceeded to loudly and reverently summarize the entire L-Word ouvre for me, beginning from season 1 episode 1 to the present. I couldn’t stop thinking, this is surreal, but I sat there amused, and listened to her.
Where I came from, 25 years ago straight women would never admit in public to having watched that show one time, on pain of death, let alone spend 20 minutes glorifying it while simultaneously recanting plot lines so she could indulge herself in a fugue-like reverie of all 4 – or 5 or however many it is – seasons of the show. Her ostensible goal, though, which in itself was surreal, was to try to get me, the lesbian, interested in watching the show. What’s more, if we did have this exact situation happen back then, it would have wreaked havoc at that dinner table, in that restaurant, with those same people present. In the early 80s, I feared that my parents would commit me to a mental institution if I came out, or disown me, or send me to aversion therapy, while my life would additionally be made miserable from the harassment of every man, woman, and child within a 20-mile radius of my home (and the L-Word fanatic sitting next to me definitely would have been one of the ones I was afraid of being harassed by).
But here we are now, sitting in a restaurant discussing the L-Word at a big family gathering, while the children sit next to us on either side, (my nephew and niece), and sisters, parents, and strangers join in and out of the conversation while maintaining their own conversations, like it’s all the most normal thing in the world.
I don’t think my fears were completely unfounded, but I do wonder what kind of difference I would’ve made for both myself and for other gays and lesbians had I had the guts to come out then instead of waiting until I turned 20.

By: Danyell

Danyell — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:18:11 +0000

So glad I’m not the only dedicated daily visitor of icanhascheezburger!

By: June

June — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:55:48 +0000

Slate did a great slide-show essay on the lolcats phenomenon.