I recently subscribed to Curve magazine. My first issue was the Jan/Feb issue that arrived in the mail last week. Honestly, I was plesantly suprised. I expected the magazine to be entirely focused on pretty, feminine white women and dominated by fawning articles on the L Word. That is the impression I had of Curve from when I subscribed a few years ago. I had opted for Girlfriends instead, which was a bit better. I was certainly saddened that they closed up shop. So I had sort of missed getting a lesbian glossy in the mail, even though I don't exactly feel comfortable with some of the conservative, consumerist ideas I had attributed to lesbian magazines and "mainstream" lesbian culture. Similarly, I stopped watching The L-Word after the first season (partially because I don't get Showtime and the DVDs are expensive) because I don't see myself or those I'm attracted to adequately or accurately represented*.
Part of the reason I subscribed was the fact that Curve put "Lesbian Theater Awards" into their December issue. Which I just happened to see and thus picked up on a newsstand. I was extremely happy to see that Curve was paying attention to lesbian theater, which I feel deserves as much attention as music and books in a lesbian culture magazine. There's certainly some lesbian theater going on somewhere in the US every month and plenty of lesbian actresses and writers to feature and interview. Why not make it a regular column? Or at least give good coverage to the notable shows at the major queer theater festivals such as the National Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco, the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival in Ohio, and the Fresh Fruit Festival in New York. Of course, all of these events are in the summer and I'm sure it's difficult to cover them within the normal span of magazine publication timelines and still have them be relevant when they reach the newsstand, but I feel as if it's important and worthwhile to attempt. And they could at least give better information on how to find out more about queer performers and their upcoming projects and events. For example, even though they listed Adelina Anthony's Mastering Sex and Tortillas as one of their "award" winners, they didn't mention at all that it played in LA in December, the same month the magazine came out. Only half of the performers had their own webpages listed, even though The Break Up Notebook, Annie Sprinkle, Amy Salloway, and Vanda all have websites with more information about the relevant performances. So, while I'm delighted that they are covering queer performance at all, there's certainly room for improvement.
What I was delighted to discover, however, was how many familiar names and faces I saw in the January/February issue when it arrived at my door. There were some beautiful images and a short profile on the fabulous artist and blogger jackadandy, a mention of the amazing lesbian feminist theater scholar Jill Dolan as one of "Ten Powerful Lesbians in the South" (though they embarassingly said she wrote about "Wendy Wallerstein" in reference to her complex, conflicted pieces on feminism and Wendy Wasserstein), and several short pieces by local writer and artist Tania Hammidi, who I frequently run into at queer performance events. Plus, the pieces on queer Burlesque and Penny Arcade could indeed be considered covering more performance, which makes me happy. So in general, I was pleasantly suprised by my experience with Curve and I hope they manage to continue in this vein.
*Full Disclosure: I was recently exposed to a few episodes of The L Word again and I'm very close to breaking down and watching Seasons 2 and 3, despite my reservations. While I like the self-righteousness of dismissing it out of hand, it does employ more queer folks than most mainstream television and perhaps I should support lesbian self-representation even if it doesn't represent me. I do want to see more images of lesbians in media, not fewer, and perhaps that can only be achieved by supporting the ones we've got while demanding more and better queer politics. But this is a long and muddled argument, and really my point is that The L Word gets too much attention already.
Suffs
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Having seen its previous version at the Public Theater, I was frankly
flabbergasted that Suffs was transferring to Broadway. But the creative
team did the ...
1 week ago
8 comments:
Ah, go ahead watch it. It's a pleasure to diss it, argue about it, and uh, even revel in it from time to time. VV, the following rant is not about you ('cause I don't know you anyway), though is inspired, obviously, by your post. I hope you will forgive my indulgence here. I worry "we," the ubiquitous LGBT, continue to expect one show, one movie, one whatever to be all things to all of us. It's an impossible task. It is a kind of censorship. As an artist, I feel it is unfair to expect that of me, of a given play I may write, and dishonors my voice. Does The L-Word reflect my life? Nope. Do I know skinny power lesbians? Yup. Seen 'em, for sure. Yet, the show manages to portray how intertwined and complex our relationships can be. And offers some soft-porn on the side or the main.
Good point, j.d. I do want to clarify that just because the L Word doesn't reflect me or my attractions, I was never suggesting that it shouldn't exist, just that it was so pretty and upper middle class and expensive that I was disinclined to pay for it, which I may rethink as soon as I receive my next paycheck. And I'm not saying that it's particularly unrealistic - I see the power lesbians all the time and in many ways it feels fairly reflective of a certain lesbian subset of LA. The show does indeed offer many pleasures and I agree that more representations are generally better.
Hi V.Vxn! Thanks for the link and the kind words. :)
I get pleasantly surprised by Curve, too. The big thing for me is that they actually have a visual artist feature (the one-page Open Studio) every month! It's rare to find that commitment to lesbian visual art anywhere, but especially in a national pop glossy. And it often does not attempt to "celebritize" the artist, but let the art itself shine, instead.
In my case, I feel Diane Anderson-Minshall did an excellent job of detecting and presenting some of the more important aspects of my work, who I am, and what I do and did not simply package me as the Commodity of the Month. She "got" it, and she's helping our community get it, too.
This has been my experience with Curve this last year, that they have the pretty power lesbians to sell the issues and then slip in a substantial amount of actual meat. I hate to think that's the best we can expect of capitalism, but it seems to be.
I understand all that as well, VV. If my pennies were tight, the L-Word would not be on my list at all. Essentially, you've seen me burp out my own fears, which make me reluctant to be identified as a lesbian playwright. I do not want to have to wear my badges, an impoverished white trash dyke brought up by wolves, in order to be heard. Sometimes my plays reflect those badges, sometimes they don't. Pls forgive my burping in your ear. :)
J.D. - please comment away. No need to apologize; I appreciate that you raised the discussion, which is indeed an interesting and important issue.
Dandy (may I call you that?) - I agree; so far I'm pretty impressed. Curiously, most of the things with which I'm impressed have a lot to do with Diane Anderson-Minshall - she also wrote the lesbian theater piece. She's doing a great job as far as I can tell from my first two issuess in many years.
You, Ms. Vixen, have special permission to call me anything you like. :)
Were you aware that Anderson-Minshall's partner is Jacob Anderson-Minshall, who writes the TransNation column that appears weekly in the S.F. Bay Times, the Boston Bay Windows, and elsewhere? It is a truly excellent and very intelligent column, with a commitment to diversity. The two of them are also collaborating on a new line of mystery novels.
Altogether a hit couple, with a lot to contribute.
P.S. It was Diane who admitted, in a confession that she was a lesbian with a transgender husband in the Sept 06 issue, that she threw up the first time she went down on a woman. Ya gotta love that... ;-)
Dandy, I did as a matter of fact learn about Jacob in my newfound affection for Ms. Anderson-Minshall. And I read his most recent column, about which I have thoughts that I may post later. I'm very sad that I can't seem to get his column as an RSS feed - I'll never remember to check the papers for him! And I'm totally excited for the mystery novels. I totally love them both now. Who knew!
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