| **warning
to non-US readers: L Word finale spoilers**
On
the season finale of The
L Word, Tina (Laurel
Holloman) discovered her life-partner Bette (Jennifer
Beals) in a compromising situation with another woman,
and Tina's subsequent confrontation with Bette led to a
violent sexual encounter that shocked many viewers with
its brutality.
I
hesitate to call what happened between Bette and Tina "rape,"
since although the violent sexual encounter was initiated
by Bette, Tina was a willing participant by the end--but
the fact that they both traded blows does not make the scene
any less disturbing. It was also unlike anything we've seen
before on TV, where lesbian relationships are usually always
portrayed as tender and loving, and it makes one wonder:
might we eventually see more woman-on-woman violence, specifically
lesbian-on-lesbian violence, portrayed in television and
movies?
While woman-on-woman violence has long
been a staple of television (witness Dynasty's
legendary Alexis/Krystle catfights), what is different about
The L Word's treatment of this topic is that it
was explicitly sexualized violence. Soap heroines
and primetime divas will continue to take it outside for
the love of a good man, or a perceived slight, but it's
rare if not completely unknown to see a same-sex love relationship
deteriorate into a slugfest.
The
women-in-prison movies of pulp-era fiction and movies were
rife with raping, beating bulldykes who
preyed on defenseless, naïve women. As soon as you
see the prison warden (large-boned, vulgar and gruff), you
know that the new fish (usually blonde, small-waisted and
scared senseless) is in big trouble. Not only will blondie
have to fight to survive prison hell, she'll also have to
fight to keep her virtue!
But
life in prison isn't supposed to be a picnic. Life in The
L Word's suburban California, however, is a different
story.
The rape of female characters is now so
routine in entertainment that many viewers don’t even
blink at the sight anymore. With
few exceptions, the violence is always perpetrated by a
male antagonist; that way, female viewers have a clear-cut
protagonist to root for.
But
what happens when the antagonist is another woman?
In the few instances of sexualized violence between women
we've ever seen on TV prior to The L Word finale,
the sexual aspect of the relationship has been mostly implied.
In 2003, Smallville featured Tina,
a deranged girl who was psychotically obsessed with Lana,
the main female character. Her shape-shifting ability made
it possible for her to get closer to Lana, but only when
she wore the body of a man Lana loved. This young woman
paid the price for her gender-crossing, "sick"
obsession of course--but because she was evil, not because
she was a lesbian.
The
same could be said of Buffy
the Vampire Slayer's Faith (Eliza Dushku) in the
1999 episode "Enemies." After chaining the show's
protagonist to a wall, holding a knife to her throat, and
making it clear all too clear that she was sexually excited
by the prospect of torturing Buffy, there was nowhere for
Faith to go but down--but as in the Smallville
episode, the sexual tension between Buffy and Faith was
only implied.
Lesbian rape is a phenomenon that has only
in the last few years received attention from the media.
Whether because of journalistic bias, or ignorance, female-on-female
rape was virtually unheard of until recently, and still
thought to be very rare. But it does happen--and not just
in prison. Unfortunately, rape is another way in which the
lesbian community is just like everyone else.
Perhaps
the team behind The L Word sought to explore this--and
with good reason. Before the Bette/Tina altercation, the
last portrayal of explicit lesbian-on-lesbian violence I
recall is in a 1996 movie called Jaded, which starred
Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, Karen Sisco). Gugino's
character was raped on the beach by two female acquaintances.
Neither woman had any prior relationship with the victim
and there was no prison or man involved. The rape scene
was a straight-up brutal assault that I found shocking and
thought-provoking at the same time. The likelihood of seeing
something like this on television, however, was minimal.
But
television's constant search for sensational content,
along with the growing prevalence of lesbian characters,
could lead to more instances of woman-on-woman violence--with
rape being the "ultimate" ratings grabber. Shows
like Xena: Warrior Princess
and Buffy showed the world that women could
be just as tough as men, even if they usually finished each
fight unmussed. This new breed of tough TV woman kicks ass
and takes names just like a man, and while she doesn't always
get everything she wants, she often does, regardless of
what it takes, or who she hurts.
Now
that kick-ass women and lesbian characters are so popular,
don’t be surprised to see the occasional lesbian domestic
violence storyline. While these storylines are difficult
to watch, they are, unfortunately, realistic and necessary.
Plus, how many more coming-out storylines or tearjerkers
about lesbians fighting for custody of their children can
we watch? Since lesbian and bisexual women finally have
the media's attention (for the moment at least), perhaps
it's time to explore the darker side of lesbian relationships.
Whether something criminal happened between
Bette and Tina or the two women just had really dark break-up
sex is still a topic of fierce debate among viewers, but
it's a debate that's long overdue. Fortunately--or unfortunately--we'll
have plenty of time to ponder it during the show's long
hiatus.
Missy
Faithfull writes from New York on sex and pop culture
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