Butch, Femme, the L Word: A Tearjerker
Unfortunately, I only wish I could say that this week's episode was a horrific, error-ridden affront to actual lesbian behavior. The class wars continue to rage and the ladies insult and abuse each other. But the best I can say is they aren't MY people. Certainly there are lesbians for whom this sort of close-minded interaction is regular. I could issue a call for friendly or kind dykes, certainly. I know I don't want lesbians everywhere represented as so bigoted. Then again, this seems to be a natural progression for them.
They ostracize anyone without a manicure and impressive hair product. I'm sure my people would feel just as uncomfortable at that dinner table as Moira did.
The true problem with the last episode is once again with Shane. Why is she, of all people, so nasty to Moira? I feel ambivalent about having a trans-teaching moment on 'The L Word' but I feel even worse about NOT having a butch-femme teaching moment. The last thing young queerdom can take right now is another caged conflation of butch/trans/gender-variant topics. We have to remember that the ladies' learning moment is meant to be one for the rest of the audience (unproblematically heterosexual males included.) Okay, so right now they don't understand her, they think she's a freak. And then what, acceptance? Moira's transition can be accepted but her rough-and-tumble dykehood can't?
It's the writing here that falls on it's face. The show proves to be a relic of close-minded lesbian feminism, where butch/femme meant capitulation. But, guess what dear readers? It isn't the 1960s anymore. Rejecting femme, rejecting butch, are not effective ways to escape the infinite domain of male expectation. Just like grunging it up is just as much "giving in" to the patriarchy as people think pumps and lipstick are. No need to marginalize another community in this Halberstamian love fest (and I DO mean that in the worst way).
I'll take a different opportunity to talk about how the writers make Carmen (the woman of color) capitulate to her parents. I'm too angry to verbalize all of the problems with her huge, loving, easily-duped family and their cultura.
They ostracize anyone without a manicure and impressive hair product. I'm sure my people would feel just as uncomfortable at that dinner table as Moira did.
The true problem with the last episode is once again with Shane. Why is she, of all people, so nasty to Moira? I feel ambivalent about having a trans-teaching moment on 'The L Word' but I feel even worse about NOT having a butch-femme teaching moment. The last thing young queerdom can take right now is another caged conflation of butch/trans/gender-variant topics. We have to remember that the ladies' learning moment is meant to be one for the rest of the audience (unproblematically heterosexual males included.) Okay, so right now they don't understand her, they think she's a freak. And then what, acceptance? Moira's transition can be accepted but her rough-and-tumble dykehood can't?
It's the writing here that falls on it's face. The show proves to be a relic of close-minded lesbian feminism, where butch/femme meant capitulation. But, guess what dear readers? It isn't the 1960s anymore. Rejecting femme, rejecting butch, are not effective ways to escape the infinite domain of male expectation. Just like grunging it up is just as much "giving in" to the patriarchy as people think pumps and lipstick are. No need to marginalize another community in this Halberstamian love fest (and I DO mean that in the worst way).
I'll take a different opportunity to talk about how the writers make Carmen (the woman of color) capitulate to her parents. I'm too angry to verbalize all of the problems with her huge, loving, easily-duped family and their cultura.
posted by RNovack at 10:26 AM
1 Comments:
I wrote a page about this issue for Quench. I think it speaks for itself. Take a gander.
There are always problems with television. Someone is always going to be annoyed. I am one of those people who is annoyed at certain issues with the L-Word - but I'm also as confused as to why you read huge problems into what seem to be obvious moments.
The world of the L-Word is West Hollywood and its environs. It's privileged, wealthy, arrogant and insular, and this is a great flashpoint for DRAMA, which is why we watch television.
Personally, I found Carmen & Shane to be acting perfectly normally: Shane wants to please her lover and goes along with a charade, which so many of us do. Carmen operates in another culture, one where the rules have forced her into a place unacceptable to many wealthy, white viewers.
The only thing that surprised me was Carmen's seeming inability to understand Moira/Max. Of all the people at that table (other than Jenny!), I expected she would have understanding and familiarity for outsiders, particularly those from non-privileged backgrounds.
Although it's true that Shane comes from poverty, she clearly has moved into a very different world, and her adaptation has been as a chameleon. But Carmen? Shame, shame.
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