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Over the past thirty years, queer women have been coming out of the media closet to enter the mainstream consciousness. This book explores the rise of lesbian visibility since the 1990s with in-depth historical analyses of representation in sports, music, photography, comics, television and cinema. Each chapter is complemented by an interview: soccer player and coach Saskia Webber, singer-songwriter Gretchen Phillips, photographer Lola Flash, cartoonist Alison Bechdel and filmmakers Jamie Babbit and Anna Margarita Albelo discuss the societal transformations that shaped their careers. From the "riot grrrl" movement of the early 1990s punk scene to screen representations of queer culture (The L Word, Orange Is the New Black), this book discusses how lesbian presence successfully infiltrated several patriarchal strongholds, and was transformed in return.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1.¿Hidden in Plain Sight: Lesbian Athletes Taking the Spotlight
Too Strong to Be Hetero-Normal
When the Best Defense Is Offense, and Taking None
Lesbianism in Sports and the Cutting Room Floor
Conclusion
An Interview with Saskia Webber
2.¿We Are Family: Tuning in to Lesbian Music
It's a Man's World-Sexism and Homophobia in the Music Industry, and the Women Who Fought Back
"I Kissed a Girl"-Lesbian Chic and Coming-Out Shocks
Are We Not Femme? Beyond Femmes and Butchies
Conclusion
An Interview with Gretchen Phillips
3.¿Looking Straight at the Lens: Lesbian Photography, from A. Leibovitz to Z. Muholi
Photography as Evidence, Photography as History
Picturing a Lesbian Aesthetic
Visualizing the Genderqueer Revolution
Conclusion
An Interview with Lola Flash
4.¿Drawing the Line: How Lesbian Comics Put the Sapphic Back in Graphics
Living in a Bubble: Self-Publication and Graphic Communities
Watching Out for Mainstream Success
What Fun Home Did for the Lesbian Funnies
Drawing Outside the Lesbian Box
Conclusion
An Interview with Alison Bechdel
5.¿It's Showtime! Lesbians in TV Series
The L Word Before The L Word
Is It OK for Males to Gaze?
The TV Lesbian as Other, and the Racial Ramifications of Lesbian Representation
The L Word Hub on the Global Chart
Conclusion
An Interview with Jamie Babbit
6.¿From Subtext to Sex Tape: Lesbians on the Big Screen
Spotting Lesbians on the Big Screen: Crossdressers, Vampires, Ghosts, and Villains
Sex, Lesbians, and Videotapes: New Queer Cinema and the Lesbian Revolution
Soft Porn for the World to See: Lesbian Sex Goes Mainstream
Conclusion
An Interview with Anna Margarita Albelo
Conclusion
Film and Videography
Chapter Notes
Works Cited
Index
About the author
Anne Cremieux is a professor of American studies at the English department of the University of Montpellier Paul Valery. Her writings focus on the representation of minorities in American popular culture. She is a founding member of Le 7e Genre, a film club that focuses on questions of gender and sexuality.
