Posts Tagged ‘Jennifer Beals’

Quote of the Week – Gay Issues Are Women’s Issues

// April 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // All things LGBT

“Gay issues are also women’s issues because homophobia is a form of misogyny.”
-Jennifer Beals, New York Times Talk

This statement might be a no-brainer for some. The most obvious example is when flamboyant homosexual men are hated on for their ‘femininity’ and labeled as ‘not men enough.’ That is misogyny, defined as hatred or contempt for women.

Misogyny is also apparent when women are held in contempt for loving women or not seen as women simply because they may be androgynous or gender-bending.

So when I read the headline in the the Examiner article juxtaposing “Gay Right’s Versus Women’s Rights,” I went into attack mode. The writer might need to use spell check but this is the crux of her argument:

But instead, he incited another social-political battle (or battles): one that attacks those who dissent with unpopular opinions and most importantly, women and their collective integrity by haphazardly slamming a “bitch” and “cunt” label upon the beauty contestant – invalidating all of her opinions that do not resonate with his by using her femininity against her and ultimately aiming to degrade her entire worth as a person. If he had wanted to prove a political point about gay rights, he might have better expressed himself with more socially acceptable word choices instead of irrelevantly denigrating her and women through the use of his derogatory statements.

I won’t defend his choice of words and at the same time I cannot possibly come down on the side of Miss California for using the platform to spew more hatred and ignorance. “Opposite marriage?” C’mon.

At the end of the day both Ms. California and Perez Hilton are responsible for promoting misogny to the detriment of our civil rights.

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Bidding Farewell to the L Word – The Last Word

// March 8th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // All things LGBT

“I certainly hope that it leaves them wanting more. I’m not intending to wrap everything up with a neat little bow!”

Finale Special (Not the episode)

Fans remain disgruntled with the poor storylines and choppy scenes of the last season (and especially the last episode) of the L Word. Was Ilene Chaiken trying to go out on such a bad note just so to make it easier on us to say ‘goodbye?’ It didn’t help — a crime mystery centered around ‘Who Killed Jenny?’ who is an alter-ego for the writer is quite meta as in ‘Who killed the L Word?’ (Answer: Ilene Chaiken), but not particularly intriguing given that by the time it was close to be over, we all wanted to kill Jenny (And I have wanted to kill her since I was barely 18 and legal). The entire sixth season was about providing a launching pad for The Farm — the new series that serves as a spin-off for the L Word, which is based in prison and much darker. The legacy of the L word though, is in the 69 other episodes and the 6 glorious years, which comes as the end of an era for women around the world who were so hooked to this show.

Critics may not be able to comprehend that the ladies on the show are not supposed to be representative of the whole lesbian community — that is actually not possible, but rather, represented a small community of lesbians in West Hollywood who are glamorous, chic, sophisticated and more concerned about their hair and makeup than Prop 8 (the measure actually won in LA County). The show was surprisingly slammed for it’s lack of diversity but what other television program has a bi-racial, 40-something, straight and married woman as the ‘gay for pay’ lead? However, we aren’t trying to build diversity through tokenism. As the show continued, we dropped ‘identity-politics’ in favor of ‘identifying’ with the characters as we discovered that L stands for love no matter who we are. I identified with Bette Porter more than anyone else and we are miles apart in terms of ’social categories.’

Not anywhere near perfect, the groundbreaking show helped thousands of women all over the world come out of the closet, live strongly and freely and feel like part of a community. It gave our straight friends a ‘reference point’ for what lesbian life and culture is all about. More than anything, it taught us to be utterly unapologetic of our gayness. Jennifer Lewis sums it well in the Examiner:

The L Word will be greatly missed by a lot of people. Never before in television history has a show spoke to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community like this one has. The show will certainly go down in history.

There are themes that could have been better explored and with much more sensitivity. Dropping the ball on Alice’s (Leisha Hailey) bisexuality was one of the more irresponsible things that the show did given that there is a serious need to not stereotype bisexuality as a transition phase. The FTM character played by Daniela Sea, turned out to be more of a ‘token’ inclusion than a real exploration of issues surrounding transgenderism especially with the pregnant man storyline. Shane’s (Kate Moenning) lothario ways should at least have come with a ‘public service announcement’ of safe-sex.  In the last season, we get our first Asian-American character (Jamie played by Mei Melancon) with a substantial storyline, who is somehow stripped of her ‘Asian-American’ culture, save for her physical features. While Rose Rollin’s (Tasha) ‘angry black lesbian’ character gives us a lot to talk about in terms of racial issues and DADT in the military, the rich, complex and luminous character–Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals)–could have gifted us a great lee-way into a more political sphere, but we never really get there. Political messages, besides were instead delivered as soundbites and with a subtlety that is telling of our WeHO community: How much do we really care?

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Quote of the Week – ‘Politics is a lot like Sex’

// November 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Political Theory, Politics

Jennifer Beals at the L5 Convention in UK this past weekend said as one of her parting messages that politics is a lot like sex:

“If you want something, you have to ask for it,
If they’re not doing it right you’ve got to speak up and show them and
If you still don’t get what you want, then there is nothing wrong with doing it yourself!”

I want the DREAM Act, an end to ICE raids and meaningful immigration reform. I want marriage equality for all — Actually I need the state to stop telling consenting adults what they can and cannot do with their bodies. I want an end to neo-liberalism and an overhauling of global financial institutions. I want an end to the war in Iraq and for the military to be used as a LAST resort when all else fails. Someday, I want a world without any borders. The list is quite long, but sitting with it is not going to translate those wants into realities. I need to take that list and go shopping for it myself.

Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful reports from L5. I am disappointed that there was little discussion about ‘politics’ [especially Prop. 8 ] given that it was the weekend of the Join the Impact International Action for Marriage Equality but we must remember that the core audience is not political. Hopefully, more people realize that the personal is indeed political and get more active in the fight for civil and human rights.

The Last Season of the L Word But L is for Longevity not Last

// November 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // All things LGBT

This weekend at the L5 Convention, Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman announced that they would really like to see an L Word movie and we could bring it to fruition by flooding Amy Baer at CBS films with emails. Well, trust the loyal fans to have taken it upon themselves to launch this.

I would have cared less before but I am hoping that this one would be called “The L Word – The Wedding” as a homage to defeating Prop 8 whether it takes a couple months or couple years. How does everyone else like this idea?

What will cable and premium television be like ‘life after L?’ We have LOGO — Our very own LGBT programming channel that is unfortunately available only on a more expensive subscription package. As for cable television, the producer of Desperate Housewives has finally had some freedom to rein in ‘gay couples’ and (straight) LGBT icon Gale Harold as a lead on his show. That seems to be going well. LGBT characters are getting more prevalent with shows like Degrassi, Brothers and Sisters, Battlestar Galactica, though the women are de-sexualized while the men are hyper-sexualized (that might be different for Will and Grace where the gay men were devoid of sexuality).

The future of unapologetic gay-programming still seems quite bright with premium networks like Showtime that orginally launced Queer As Folk and own the L word franchise. Next up, we have a gay super-hero series called Hero for Showtime. While it has been a secret desire of mine to see Jennifer Beals in tights as Batwoman (who is a lesbian) and that might get fulfilled in some fan-fic, this one should serve the ones missing Queer As Folk action on our television.

And Leisha Hailey — our own renaissance woman — is getting her own L word spin-off show post L-word.

Follow these links for gay and lesbian entertainment news.

Why do I care about LGBT representation on the idiot box? It’s absolutely important for young LGBT adolsecents and adults to have positive representations of themselves in the media while they grow up in a homophobic and heterosexual world. It truly makes a difference in terms of self-worth and actually has redeeming educational value at times — Take it from me.

People can vote away our civil rights and liberties but how would they stop the queering–the increased presence of LGBT characters and programming–on American television that serves as an avenue to legitimate the existence of LGBT life?

We are here to stay.

This Gay Marriage (Proposition 8) Ban Better Not Pass

// November 1st, 2008 // 1 Comment » // All things LGBT, Gender

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See your Halloween No on 8 pumpkin here!

I am adamantly set against the idea of marriage. And the idea of my community co-opting the heteronormative institution of marriage and effectively saving it from ‘dying out,’ is a bit irritating. Let the straight people of the world have their desecrated, abused and patriarchal ‘union.’ I don’t want any part of it — I don’t need the heterosexual idea of ‘marriage’ to have a ‘perfect union.’ That’s where I stand on the issue.

THAT does not mean I don’t favor the right of my brothers and sisters to belong to the institution. And it deepens me sadly that people don’t understand the difference between having their opinions and beliefs, and voting to preserve the rights of someone else. This is what it is really about — no matter how you feel about marriage, VOTE AGAINST DISCRIMINATION and BIGOTRY. Vote NO on Proposition 8.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the ban on marriage is winning.

But the same-sex marriage ban is winning among people who are voting early or by mail. That means it will likely pass unless there is a strong Election Day turnout of “No” voters — a fact that places the proposition’s fate in the hands of supporters of Barack Obama, who tend to oppose the measure, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.

Early field polls suggest we are in for a tough fight. Barack Obama needs to come out in opposition of the ban but has failed to do so — African American voters, his supporters by large numbers, are voting for the ban. That is another problem. WE spend our time getting previously disenfranchised voters to start voting again and the first thing they do is go out to vote and strip away our rights?

What I REALLY want to know is why the cast of The L word is campaigning for Barack Obama in battleground states like Philadelphia, and NOT holding organizing events against Prop 8 in California knowing that the vote will be close. Hello? What would be a better show of support than these women?
Click to view full size image

Someone care to pose this question to IC, JB, Rose Rollins and co.? If the ban passes, I wonder if any of them might even think that they could have done more here in California.

If history is indeed written by victors…

// May 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // All things LGBT

I take great inspiration from this quote by Jennifer Beals at an NAACP event a few years ago:

“It has been said, ‘History is written by the victors.’ I take this to mean we can make ourselves victorious by writing, and then rewriting our own stories. In a country and culture so dominated by media, by the manipulation of words and stories, telling the tales of people whose stories historically have not been told is a radical act and I believe an act that can change the world and help rewrite history. Imagine if all of our stories were told?”

Yesterday, Ilene Chaiken, producer, writer and director of the L Word wrote something she called a rant about how when the L word is over next year, we would again be relegated back into the closet. Once again, we would hop from channel to channel trying to find some representation or other of our lives, some acknowledgment of our existence. She pretty much ends with a call to action:

And for those of us in the LGBT community, I say, if history is indeed written by the victors, let’s make ourselves victorious by writing our own history… and directing it and producing it and starring in it.

I hardly have any skills in screenwriting, much less acting. My artistic skills are also sorely lacking though I can always use Photoshop. But I think I am trying to say, in my own way, how much I believe in writing our own stories, in controlling (or trying to) our own destinies. So day after day, I blog away, sometimes about exceedingly important social issues, other times about my own addictions and obsessions, but I know that I have a space, a niche on my blog. And it does reach out to some people.

Today I told a reporter interviewing me about the pro-migrant santuary sphere what purpose or objective we were trying to achieve and I told him that as an individual I am trying to change the discourse of the immigration debate; to move beyond “illegal is illegal.” Because, seriously, besides redundant, it really doesn’t do anything to reform our broken system. But I am not too bent on convincing the Minutemen (or the Neo-Nazis and whatever anti-gay groups are called)–it is the mainstream American, the working class person that we hope to win over.

I sometimes feel a sense of betrayal to some or other aspect of my identity–it cannot be helped. I cannot possibly represent every social identity that is expected of me and neither can I vouch to speak for anyone else but myself. As an immigrant who has seen some really dark days of immigration to this country, I have been part of a movement of undocumented students, to get my dear friends to start blogs, to take back the discourse in the debate over our future. My MA thesis was mostly about a country that we left behind but a culture that we have held onto. It pains me at times to read bad news about Fiji, but I trudge on. My gayness probably shames the Indian community (that I avoid like the plague) but its my pride and empowerment, no matter how silly it might sound to be proud of your sexual orientation–after all, it cannot be helped. But I indulge myself even though I am still too shy to go to Pride or other LGBT social events to which I am invited (or maybe just a homebody)!

I don’t know what sort of history I am supposed to write or be a part of at the end of the day but I know that I don’t want to give anyone the pen or paper to write my story for me. Sometimes I feel daunted by a huge responsibility, like a wounded soldier in a war for which I did not sign up; I just want to disappear into oblivion for a few days. Other times, I write for myself out of total self-absorption (maybe like right now)! I don’t know if JB would consider my incessant blogging about our stories, our lives, our troubles as a radical act. I suppose the net has created a space for the subaltern to speak in–and the subaltern is speaking out.

This is probably one of my shout-outs to my dear friends in the pro-migrant sanctuary sphere for promoting a sense of belonging, to my idols Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman and the entire cast/crew of the L word for helping us form a community and something to hang onto, to my professors for guiding me towards the light, and to everyone reading for encouraging me to carry on. We may call this my rant. Si, se puede.