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Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (May 7, 2010)

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Going into production, 50 Cent and clueless co-workers – all of these topics and more were Tweeted about by queer women in entertainment this week.

If you come across tweets that you think we should feature in “Tweets of the Week” or if you find (verified) Twitter accounts for out lesbian/bi women in entertainment who you think we should follow, please send us that info at [email protected].

 

THIS JUST IN: IS CHRISTINA WORTHY OF BECOMING A LESBIAN ICON?

It’s not just gay men who have taken notice of Christina Aguilera‘s career resurgence. In fact, it appears that lesbians are almost being targeted with the release of the pop star’s new album Bionic.

First there’s the fact that several of the women she wrote songs with on the CD are queer: Linda Perry, Sia and Le Tigre. Then there’s the new video for her single “Not Myself Tonight,” in which she kisses and dances with women while decked out in bondage gear.

But then you have to consider she’s been giving us subtle hints of bisexuality for a while now, so maybe she had to put it right in our faces for us to talk about it. When she was on stage with Madonna and Britney Spears to share a threeway kiss in 2005, the tabloids ran headlines and photos about her cohorts, leaving out her liplock completely.

Then there was the Stripped era, in which videos for Dirty and Beautiful featured elements of gay sensuality, although mostly male.

And in 2006, Christina told Zoo Magazine:

Two women are way sexier than two men in bed. We have a better feel for our bodies. I love experimenting with my sexuality. Sex is a beautiful thing. I like having sex. It’s fun.

At the time, it was treated with more of an eye roll than a celebratory fist pump. Is Christina Aguilera bisexual – or was she falling into the fad of “trysexual?”

Since then, Christina has married a man and become a mother, so her sexuality was not a big topic of conversation. With pop stars like Fergie and Lady Gaga having since become more open about their relationships with women and their identifying themselves as bisexual, it could be that Christina now feels more comfortable to express this side of her in a public way.

But it could also be that she’s still attempting to capitalize on a fad that women like Lady Gaga have also proven to be successful.

So does it matter what Christina’s sexuality is? Is she “allowed” to express herself in ways like she has in “Not Myself Tonight”? Of course – she is acting in her music video, like any actor does on camera.

But if she isn’t really bisexual, it becomes somewhat of an issue that she is pretending to be for the sake of art because, unlike actors in films or TV shows, Christina is ultimately selling herself as the product. Her music and her art are very much about her, whereas she’s not necessarily portraying a character (like straight women who play gay on The L Word or in mainstream films).

The problem is not in the use of lesbian imagery (if it is used in a non-offensive way). These kinds of things, like usage of bisexuality in videos or lesbian storylines in TV shows or songs like “I Kissed a Girl,” depend much upon how they are handled. With musicians, it depends largely on their discussions of their work and what they have to say about the usage of lesbian sensuality to sell their product and themselves.

After Katy Perry had a hit song about experimentally kissing another woman, she went on in several interviews to say she was straight and it wasn’t based on a real experience. Instead of discrediting herself, however, it ended up discrediting lesbians and bisexual women who really do have experience with wanting to kiss other women, experimentally or otherwise.

From what I have seen and heard from Christina Aguilera, she is much more Lady Gaga than she is Katy Perry. She appears to be very sexually confident and fluid, and her video for “Not Myself Tonight” is enjoyable. Her album is rife with collaborations with talented and successful lesbian artists who all speak highly of working with her. And if she isn’t gay herself, she’s a wonderful ally to have.

So go ahead and watch “Not Myself Tonight,” and don’t feel bad about enjoying it.

– by Trish Bendix

WORKING THE POLL: MUSICIANS COMING OUT

More and more musicians have been coming out lately, and they have been especially notable because of the genres into which their music falls. Christian singer Jennifer Knapp, country star Chely Wright and Puerto Rican MC Lisa M all acknowledged that they remained in the closet for so long because their communities aren’t terribly accepting when it comes to gays and lesbians.

In what genre do you think it is the hardest for musicians to come out?

<a href=”http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/3164168/”>In what genre of music is it the toughest for musicians to come out?</a><span style=”font-size:9px;”><a href=”http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/”>customer surveys</a></span>

 

In our poll last week, we asked you Which lesbian teen couple is your favorite. We weren’t terribly surprised when the Naomily Army (NaoArmily?) mobilized to secure a victory.

LESBIANISH VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Trish Bendix tells me, “I want Pam to totes dyke out this season on True Blood.” If this clip is any indication of what’s to come, she just might totes get her wish!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Country singer Chely Wright turned out to be the star whose big coming out was scheduled for May 5. The news broke a few days early, and Heather Hogan gave us five reasons why Wright’s announcement matters as well as some analysis of the interviews Wright has given in recent days.

Lindsay Lohan will play Deep Throat‘s Linda Lovelace in the new film Inferno.

Three lady kisses made MSN’s list of Top 25 Memorable Celebrity Kisses. Before you try to guess which, here’s a hint: none are actually gay.

Out drummer Melissa York recently talked to our own Trish Bendix about being part of The Butchies, Team Dresch, touring with Amy Ray and joining Humble Tripe.

UK singer Katie Melua says the lines of her sexuality “are not always clear.”

Good news Guiding Light fans! Former stars Liz Keifer and Orlagh Cassidy are going to play lesbians in the movie La Lumiere. (Thanks for the tip, giftofamber!)

Josie Smith-Malave of Top Chef was number 7 on a list of 10 Worst Food Show Haircuts by the Village Voice. Luckily, all the other lesbian chefs remained unscathed. The Voice also has a gallery called “Sapphic Romance,” dedicated to all their nightlife photography featuring girls looking very into each other. (Some images are NSFW and some are NAL — Not Actually Lesbians.)

Linda Perry, Pink, Heart, Sarah Silverman, Gina Gershon, Renée Zellweger, Kat Von D and others helped raise nearly $400,000 for the women-specific services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center at this year’s “Evening With Women.”

New music out this week includes releases by Chely Wright, Nicki Minaj and The Locals. Shunda K has signed with Fanatic Records, releasing a new single with Cindy Wonderful of Scream Club called “Here I Am to Save the World.” Also, An Horse is finally working on a new album! They’ve selected former Tegan and Sara producer Howard Redekopp to work with them.

Check out our review of the new lesbian film Drool, starring Laura Harring (Mulholland Drive) and Jill Marie Jones.

ABC Family has canceled 10 Things I Hate About You, which is sad news considering Mandela had just come out and finally had a girlfriend.

Jane Lynch recently told a reporter that her own coming out experience was an affair with her teacher when she was 21, and that, “.. It was really an amazing, mind-blowing experience. She was older and I was crazy about her and it was great — really wonderful.”

The AfterEllen.com One Night Stand Up comedy special, featuring some of the lovely comics you find here each week on the site, will premire on the Logo television network next week. To warm up the crowd (that’s you), we’ll be posting clips from the special, featuring the comedy stylings of Bridget McManus, Cat Davis, Gloria Bigelow, Jennie McNulty and Liz Feldman.

AfterEllen.com reader Lisa tipped us off to a lesbian storyline developing on the Dutch soap Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden. It looks like Isabelle and Ronja are taking their friendship a step further. They have only recently shared their feelings for another and kissed.

Rihanna is working on her video for the Sapphic song “Te Amo,” which also stars French supermodel Laetitia Casta.

Ghostella’s Haunted Tomb writer and director Stacie Ponder recently debuted her new weekly comic strip,Toosday Toons on AfterEllen.com.

I Rock, a show about bands trying to hit it big (with lesbian and bisexual members included), premiered this week in Australia. If you’re an Aussie, you can watch it online.

Courtney Love told Howard Stern that she once had an affair with a female supermodel but wouldn’t say who (but would say that it’s not “Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bündchen or Janice Dickinson“).

Too much blood has been shed in the battle for good lesbian storylines on TV. It’s time to learn how to protect yourself using Heather Hogan‘s Lesbian Body Armor.

The 30-hour marathon of Buffy is coming to Logo in June, and you get to pick which episodes they play when you vote for your favorite episode.

Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s fame will be releasing a memoir, Lips Unsealed, on May 20, and her gay son James Duke Mason told the podcast Feast of Fun that, “She talks about how in the punk days she would sit on the curb on Hollywood Boulevard and make out with [her friend] Alice. My mom says in the book: ‘Back then it was fashionable to make out with members of the same sex.'”

Waterloo Road is getting crazy, ya’ll. There was some serious drama this week with lesbian French teacher Jo.

The CW is attempting to infuse a lesbian on one of their shows — again. This time, the show is High Society (which our brother site says watching is “like spending two hours in a sewer”) and the lesbian is Courtenay Semel.

Megan Fox goes wild, wild west in the new trailer for Jonah Hex.

Those South of Nowhere episodes that we were running here on AfterEllen.com will now be streaming only on LogoTV.com. Sorry for the inconvenience, but please follow the link and keep watching!

Starting this week, we’ll be launching a couple of new features on AfterEllen.com. The first is Lez Renovate, a DIY vlog from a couple of charming Canadian handy dykes. Next week, we’ll launch a relationship column, “The Hook Up,” by Anna Pulley. Since they are both a step in a different direction from our typical entertainment fare, please let us know what you think about having this type of material on the site.

Don’t forget to vote in our annual Hot 100 poll, which closes today, May 7, at midnight. And check out these Celebrity Picks for the AfterEllen.com 2010 Hot 100.

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

– by Karman Kregloe

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