Andrea Meyerson interviews Jill Sobule about the inspiration for her hit single, "I Kissed a Girl" and Julia Sweeney about her famous Saturday Night Live character "Pat."

They also talk about how their new show The Jill and Julia Show, which mixes musical performance with social commentary.

Go to JillSobule.com and JuliaSweeney.com for more info on these women, and alloutfilms.com for more about Andrea.

Despite the fact that my father refers to them as “chewing-gum for the eyes,” I admit I love watching music videos. A good video can make me like a song I wasn’t that keen on when I heard it on the radio; a really bad one can put me off a song I thought I liked. But they have to be bad indeed in order to get me to switch off altogether.

Despite all that, I’m aware of a pervasive lack in the majority of music videos. Where — amidst all the heterosexual bumping and grinding and declarations of love — are the lesbians? It’s not like there is a lack of successful out lesbian singers. Melissa and k.d. and Tegan and Sara — they’re all out there. But when it comes to being “out there” in their videos — not so much. Possibly under pressure from their record companies, these singers tend to compensate for their openly gay status in life by keeping their songs and videos carefully gender neutral. In the video for their song "Speak Slow," Tegan and Sara even appear in bed with men — although to be fair, it’s made pretty clear that they are friends rather than love interests.

So where does that leave lesbian visibility in music videos? Every so often, a lesbian couple or two will appear briefly in the video of a (presumably) straight singer who wants to demonstrate his or her gay-friendliness. Vanessa Carlton has them in her video for "Hands on Me." Katie Melua has them in her video for "Call Off the Search." Ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton has one in her video for "I’ll Be There." British singer Tom Baxter has one in his video for "Better." If you’ve ever seen the video for the Nicole Kidman/Robbie Williams duet "Somethin’ Stupid," you’ll know that Nicole has a split-second moment where she looks like she might switch teams. But by and large, that’s what these appearances are: split-second.

Of course, you can always find the occasional straight male singer who uses “lesbian” imagery or suggestiveness in his videos in a clearly voyeuristic way. Fifty Cent’s video for "Candy Shop" springs to mind. As does Robbie Williams’ threesome in "Come Undone." The video for U.K. dance band Ultrabeat’s "Pretty Green Eyes" basically consists of three exotic dancers “performing” lesbianism for the benefit of the fat, ugly male singer who sits and watches them. Justin Timberlake’s video for "What Goes Around ... Comes Around" has guest star Scarlett Johansson exclaiming — with boring predictability as well as without much conviction — “I like girls.”

In the past 25 years, though, there have been a few music videos that not only feature lesbianish relationships prominently, but also do so in a way that makes it feel like they’re not designed (exclusively) for the benefit of straight male viewers. Here are six of my favorites:

1. Prince, "1999" (1983)

What saves the two ambiguously gay women in this video from being just the usual straight male window-dressing is that a) the camera cuts to them repeatedly, b) they are actually involved in the song, with the brunette apparently playing the keyboard and both women singing, and c) neither of them gets involved with men at any point in the video. The fact that Prince is such a sexually ambiguous creature himself helps — I’m willing to believe that he put them in the video as a nod to sexual diversity, and not just to build up his own reputation as a stud. And I’ll admit it — I can’t resist a blonde in a military cap. … continue reading

Last week, Spinner.com made a list of the “20 Rockin' Gay Moments.” I know, I know — another list. Stop the audible groaning. You know you can’t resist them and, clearly, neither can I. So let’s put on our yelling caps and take a look at this puppy.

Of the 20, four and a half are women (the half goes to the Equality Rocks concert featuring female performers like k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge). Of those, the highest ranking moment was No. 6 which was — wait for it, wait for it — the Britney Spears-Madonna-Christina Aguilera MTV kiss. Oy, does anyone have an antacid?

The other ladies on the list: … continue reading