Page
1 / 2 - Home
Sweeps
lesbianism peaked this month on Feb. 20 when The
L Word premiered on Showtime, featuring a grand total
of four lesbian couples kissing: Bette and Candace, Alice
and Dana, Shane and Carmen, and Shane and some random chick
in a club. Although The L Word’s representation
of lesbianism is no stunt, it deserves inclusion in the kissing
count because of its premiere date. In addition, there’s
no doubt that some viewers tuned in precisely to catch the
girl-on-girl action.
Feb.
20 was also notable for the much-publicized Simpsons
episode in which Marge’s sister Patty Bouvier came
out as a lesbian. She even got to kiss her lover, Veronica,
on Marge’s couch, but because Veronica was later revealed
to be a man disguising himself as a lesbian, it’s unclear
whether that kiss counts as a lesbian one.
Last
night on the WB's One
Tree Hill, bisexual teen Anna (Daniella Alonso)—who
kissed her friend Peyton on Jan. 25—came out to a friend
as bisexual.
But
while these numbers make it appear as if girl-loving,
full-on lesbians are winning the battle for visibility, lesbians
are far from winning the battle for acceptance. A sweeps episode
of ABC’s Wife Swap
included a Christian Republican mom accusing a liberal lesbian
mom of being a sexual predator, giving voice to the majority
of Americans—55% according to the Pew Research Center
in 2003—who believe that engaging in homosexual behavior
is a sin.
The
Wife Swap episode clearly exploited the controversy
for ratings, but it also illuminated the great divide that
became unavoidable during the last election, when the issue
of gay marriage was partially blamed for the Democrats’
defeat. That divide was widened when Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings recently objected to an episode of PBS’s Postcards
from Buster that featured a girl and her real-life lesbian
moms. Spellings’s influence was obvious when PBS decided
to not distribute the episode out of fear that federal funding
would be pulled.
Wife
Swap and the Postcards from Buster controversy
show that while Americans may be relatively comfortable with
two women kissing on a fictional TV show, lesbian parenting
is a totally different story. This is particularly interesting
given television’s over-usage of the lesbian
motherhood storyline, which has afflicted numerous lesbian
characters on TV and has even been featured for laughs on
mainstream shows like Friends.
It seems that the one thing that’s more controversial
than two girls kissing is two girls married and raising a
child together.
But
while the hate-filled backlash toward real lesbian
moms illustrates the one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance
that the gay rights movement has experienced for decades,
there are a few positive signs that emerged from this month’s
sweeps lesbianism. Only one pair of girls (Katie and Courtney
on Jack and Bobby) kissed each other purely for titillation.
All of the other kisses occurred between acknowledged lesbian
or bisexual characters.
It’s
too bad, though, that The O.C.’s lesbian storyline
has coincided so closely with sweeps dates, because the Marissa-and-Alex
relationship has been one of the best coming-out arcs to be
seen on network television. The romance, which has appeared
to be sincere, marks a major step forward for lesbians on
network television.
The
next step, though, would be to have the relationship continue
past sweeps period. Now that would really be revolutionary.
Page
1 / 2 - Home
