Oh my! I really really want to see this play: "In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)" by Sarah Ruhl.
It sounds like it deals with the themes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, but with primitive electric vibrators! What more needs to be said? Anyone wanna sponser my trip down to Berkeley to review this?
That's right, folks, it's that time of year! No, Not the Academy Awards, but the GLAAD Awards!!! This year marks the 20th anniversary of the GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards and the nominees are out! My favorite category, comics, will probably be a tight race between favorites Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by Drew Goddard, Jeph Loeb, and Joss Whedon, and Secret Six, by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott. Other nominees include The Alcoholic by Johnathan Ames, Final Crisis: Revellations by Greg Rucka, and Young Avengers Presents by Ed Brubaker, Brian Reed, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Paul Cornell, Kevin Grevioux and Matt Fraction.
I must say, I'm not an Avengers or a Final Crisis fan. At all. I can't imagine how they got in the running for this award, but GLAAD generally has pretty good taste. I am particularly excited about the Buffy nod. There are times when it feels like Joss just really has a jones to see some lesbian action, but the follow through with the most recent story arc was great. More importantly, while Buffy's lesbian relationship certainly plays a role in the plot, it does not take center stage. The story still focuses on the Slayer's battle against "the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness" with relationships providing a backdrop and a third dimension for the character. So, while Buffy's rather sudden new relationship at first seemed like a frolick in Joss' fantasy world, it has ended up being drawn with affection, sensitivity, and even a shade of real world depiction...minus the superhero bit.
As for Secret Six, I keep meaning to pick it up but simply never have. I do not enjoy jumping into the middle of a story arc, so I have waited. Gail Simone is a fantastic story teller, evidenced by her current run on Wonder Woman, and I look forward to checking this story out.
Last week over at the New York Times, writer Daniel Bergner talked about sexology in his article, What Women Want.
From Bonobo porn to the fluidity of sexual desire, Bergner discusses a variety of very interesting theories. And there's highly respected women to back them up, too, like Meredith Chivers and Lisa Diamond.
There is, however, one strike against Bergner for describing the outfits and body types of each PhD woman he interviews; but the article was still an interesting read that I highly recommend.
That's right, boys and girls, if you kiss too much, you can go deaf. A 20 year old woman in China serves as the cautionary tale de jour: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7772902.stm
Here's the rundown: woman and man kiss. They keep kissing. Pressure in the woman's mouth is reduced and the eardrum gets pulled out. Ear is deaf. Papers go crazy cautioning people about the various dangers of kissing, saying "doctors advise people to proceed with caution".
We've been getting the don't have sex, don't kiss, don't do anything of a sexual nature lecture for years, in schools, media, and at home. But what better headline than a documented case and headline of a kiss making you deaf?
The Good: Obama is the next president-elect! Washington now has doctor-assisted suicide! Michigan legalized medical marijuana! Another measure to define the moment of conception as the beginning of life also failed! South Dakota rejected a ban on abortions!
The Bad: Colorado passed a measure to end affirmative action. Dino Rossi is definitely going to ask for a recount (says me, not a credible news source). It is too close to call the results of a California proposition that would require parents of minors to be notified 48 hours before an abortion procedure. If that goes through, it will definitely go down to the Ugly.
The Ugly: It looks like California will pass a ban on same sex marriage, along with Arizona and Florida. It also looks like Arkansas voters will pass a ban on unmarried couples being able to adopt (a not so cleverly masked ban on gay couples adopting).
Really trying to focus on the Good right now, but kind of having a hard time because the Ugly is...really ugly, especially the Arkansas measure and the pending California measure. Can I ask, though...When did California turn into such a conservative state? Yes, they vote democratic, but I am shocked the two propositions to end gay marriage and require abortion notification are and might pass.
Okay, so I haven't been writing for a while. More on that to come soon. But for now, I have to talk about Dexter.
I don't know how many of you know about or watch Dexter, the Showtime show about a forensics worker who kills murderers in his spare time. My understanding has been that it has met with fair critical acclaim. I have also heard incredibly positive things about it from friends and coworkers. So here I am borrowing the first season. So far, I find myself intrigued but still on the fence. I have been quite disappointed so far. The story itself is interesting but the presentation falls flat for me. The actors portray characterizations rather than characters. You've got the sociopath, the sexually abused but redemptive, and therefore pure, white woman, the hyper-aggressive and hyper-masculine black man, the stupid hot chick playing at being a cop but still needing to turn to the brilliant white man to solve her cases, the latin lover, and the hypersexual black woman.
It is this last character that I find the most bothersome. While she is not necessarily a major character, my sensitivity to such issues distracts me from the rest of the show. I know the majority of people who read this so I feel I don't need to explain the thing to death. Suffice it to say that the black female sergeant is the modern incarnation of the Hottentot Venus. Despite her position of power, every moment she spends on screen is inundated with sexuality. The story line is that the sergeant is infatuated with Dexter, our main character (who we're supposed to like? not like?). There is never anything subtle or nuanced in her winks and stares at Dexter, nor in her numerous excuses for bodily contact which seem just downright desperate. Her attraction is even described by the narrator (Dexter) as "creepy".
In a show completely entrenched in one-dimensional and often offensive characters, can an interesting story line be at all redemptive? Is there a chance that the writer/director is going for the (at least at one point) highly regarded "satire" of Desperate Housewives (I haven't seen it, so I can't speak to that charge)?
I have no idea. Maybe I just haven't given the show enough of a chance to develop yet.
So, Gail Simone's Wonder Woman has come out, and as always, her writing is good. Terry and Rachel Dodson are doing the art now, though, and I am disappointed. Remember all those muscles in the last issue? Totally gone. We are back to a softer, non-threatening Wonder Woman. Boohiss. However, next to this month's Killing Girl, Wonder Woman is a beacon of true feminism!
Killing Girl is a 5-issue miniseries written by Glen Brunswick and drawn by Toby Cypress. The last three issues have been pretty darn good. The artwork is very different, but it is not at all sexualized. Sarah, the main character, is a young woman who was kidnapped as a child, forced into prostitution, and then trained as an assassin. Now she has found her family, accidentally killed her sister, and is trying to make everything right, mostly by going after her old boss who was responsible for it all. Through it all, Sarah has remained fully clothed and not sexualized! Well, at least up through issue 3.
Issue 4 came out last week and, well...I threw up a little in my mouth. I have always really looked forward to Killing Girl's issue releases as I have been enjoying the series. This issue, though, was terrible. I knew it right from Frank Espinoza's cover, but I told myself that maybe it would still be ok.
A lot of times, comic book covers are of a sexual nature to sell copies, but have little or nothing to do with the book's content. Oh, how I wish that were true this time! So not the case. The guy on the cover is Agent Baker, Sarah's dead sister's fiance who is kinda helping Sarah but also really wants revenge for his fiance's death, revenge on Sarah. So, when he pulls a gun on her in a hotel room (where they seek refuge after a big throwdown with her old employer's goonies), Baker wants to bring her into the police so she can serve time for what she's done. Sarah, of course, does not want to go, so what does she do? SHE STRIPS NAKED AND OFFERS HERSELF TO HIM! The dialogue actually reads "Way I see it, you've got two choices. You can kill me...or you can fuck me" as she slowly unzips her usually full-coverage suit. She then gets fully naked and crawls towards him on all fours!!! ARE YOU F*&%^ING KIDDING ME?!?! He then, of course, beats the naked woman, straddles her with a gun to her head, and respectfully declines.
*very very long sigh* Such a good series that I was always so proud of for not sexualizing the female lead. And then this. Not to mention the three panels featuring talking breasts. Why focus on a talking face when you can just zoom in on scantily clad breasts and just throw in some dialogue bubbles off to the side?
So we have gone from a strong female lead that kicks ass and still has time for family issues to a sexually submissive woman who uses sex as a weapon and a bargaining tool. To make sure that it's not too much, though, Brunswick makes sure that we find out in this issue that Sarah also has developed a crush on Baker, her dead sister's fiance, in like a week, so she really does want to sleep with him, not just get out of going to jail. Great.
Well, there is only one issue of it left. Despite my outrage and horror, I have to see how it ends. I'll let you know if it gets better or worse, though the whole series is tainted for me now.
Okay, so I have had this huge crush for a while on Sabina Sciubba from the band Brazilian Girls. At a performance in New York, she appeared on stage in one of those rare instances of positive sexuality. Her outfit consisted of a nude colored spaghetti strapped leotard with with black cut outs on her bikini front, butt, across her eyes, and her breasts. Sciubba tore off the chest cut out, revealing a pasted on daggar cut out (it looks like) with a bloody tip pointed at her heart. During the show, Sciubba introduced a song by saying "This next song is called 'Thoughts are Free' which means censorship is crap." She is extremely provocative, but in an "I'm in control", positive way. It is so refreshing. This also may be me being blinded by my love for her, but I still think this is a pretty great example of fem-friendly sexiness.
It's also really interesting that in the vast majority of their performances, Sciubba has her face or at least eyes covered. She's a badass with an opinion and something real to say.
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